By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor

The Evangel Christian School Lightning fell on the road at unbeaten Tabernacle Christian School 32-14 Sept. 30 in eight-man football action.

Evangel recorded 182 total yards of offense, compared to Tabernacle’s 355 total yards, and completed four of 15 passing attempts for 52 yards.

“We made a lot of mental mistakes. We had a few bad snaps that kept us out of scoring position,” said Evangel head coach Del Clayton. “But our kids played hard and stuck in there. They didn’t give up.

“I’ve got to hand it to Tabernacle. It’s easy to see why they are undefeated, and why they have scored as many points as they have,” Clayton added. “But we’ve got a big game coming up next Friday (against Hope Christian School), so we’ve got to go back on Monday and stay focused.”

Tabernacle scored first about midway through the first quarter on a 32-yard run by Freddy Goodgame. A missed two-point conversion gave Tabernacle a 6-0 lead.

The Torches scored again early in the second quarter when quarterback Eddie Johnson connected with Goodgame on a 37-yard touchdown pass, giving Tabernacle a 12-0 lead.

Evangel answered with 2:28 left in the first on a 1-yard touchdown run by Josh Flanders, cutting the Torches’ lead to 12-6.

Tabernacle added a touchdown with 15 seconds left in the first half, and added another pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter, giving them a 32-6 lead over the Lightning.

Evangel’s final score came with 3:05 left in the game when quarterback Nate Scott connected with Clay O’Neal on a 43-yard touchdown pass. Hayden Brown added the two-point conversion to bring the gam eot 32-14.