By CHRIS MEGGINSON | For the Reporter

COLUMBIANA – Kingwood Christian snapped a two-year skid against cross-county rival Cornerstone Christian, handing the Chargers a 49-7 loss on their home field Friday, Sept. 21.

It’s the Lions’ first win over CCS since 2015 and the most points KCS has ever scored in the series.

“Offensively, our offensive coordinator Mike Robinson had a good game for them. He made a lot of good play calls tonight. We did not make very many mistakes on offense. Our mistakes we made were mostly on defense. We had a few dropped interceptions. Other than that, we had pretty solid play on defense as well,” said KCS Coach Todd Bradford.

Payton Long lived up to his surname, scoring twice on the two longest plays of the game, first an 80-yard touchdown catch from Garrett Pickelsimer, and then a 70-yard touchdown run in the second half. He finished the game with 189 yards of offense, including 109 yards rushing on seven carries.

Tyler West, who also scored twice, a 14-yard run to start the scoring, and a 56-yard catch for Kingwood’s second touchdown, finished the game with 81 yards rushing on 17 carries and had three catches for 76 yards – a total of 157 yards.

Jayton Denard (18-yard run), Antonio Ruiz (3-yard catch) and Irvin (15-yard catch) also scored touchdowns for the KCS offense.

Austyn Franklin added a safety in the first half to add defensive points on the board, aiding the Lions’ 30-7 halftime lead. Pickelseimer finished with 144 yards on 4-of-8 passing and three touchdowns, while Sam Henry also had a touchdown pass.

Mason Collins converted five of KCS’s six point after touchdown kicks.

Cornerstone’s only score of the night came in the second quarter on a 30-yard pass from Nick Green to Jake Blankenship.

“They (Kingwood) have the upper hand. They have more seniors and more experienced football players than we have right now. It’s just one of those seasons for us right now,” said CCS Coach James Lee. “We’ve got a very young team. We have three seniors and the rest of the guys playing are very young or have never played football before. The future is going to be bright at Cornerstone.”

Kingwood (5-1) will host Chambers Academy on Friday, Sept. 28 in a non-region game before closing out the season with three region opponents. Cornerstone (1-5) will travel to Coosa Valley Academy (1-5) for its next game.