By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor

The Hope Christian School Eagles battled to a 56-28 victory over the visiting Tabernacle Torches in eight-man football action on Oct. 19.

Hope finished the game with 219 rushing yards and 241 passing yards.

“With the exception of Evangel, this is the toughest team we’ve faced all season,” said Hope head coach Tony Nafe. “We discovered what the depth of our team was tonight. We had great performances by a number of players.”

After the Torches lit up the scoreboard first, Hope added a pair of first-quarter touchdowns: One on a 41-yard pass from Dillon Thompson to Charles Streets and the other on a 22-yard Thompson rush.

Tabernacle scored again to start the second quarter, but Hope again answered with two of their own.

The first came on a 48-yard Thompson rush, and the second came when Thompson connected with Josh Clevenger on a 4-yard pass.

Tabernacle scored one touchdown in the third quarter, while Hope added three.

Thompson connected with Reid Allen on a 4-yard pass on the first, Thompson hit Clevenger on an 8-yard pass for the second and Thompson found Streets on a 13-yard touchdown pass on the third.

The Torches again opened up the fourth quarter with a touchdown, but Hope added their final points of the night on a 51-yard rush by Jacob Evans.

Defensive standouts for the Eagles were Jonathan Misso with 10 tackles, Zach Gramstad with eight tackles, Andrew Whitson with eight tackles and two pass deflections and Immanuel Drew, who recorded two tackles and two sacks.

Hope will host rival Evangel Christian on Oct. 26 to determine the Alabama Christian Sports Conference champion.