By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Sports Editor 

CAMP HILL – Prepping for the ACSC State Championship game and a chance to repeat as champs, the Evangel Lightning traveled to Camp Hill to take on Lyman Ward Military Academy on Friday, Oct. 19, in one final regular-season game, and gained even more momentum with another dominant win.

While the Lightning got off to a sluggish start and actually fell behind 8-6, they were able to bounce back on both sides of the ball for the remainder of the game to pull off a dominant 60-36 victory.

“They have a lot of confidence right now in everything we are doing,” Evangel head coach Tim Smith said after the win. “We have gotten so much better and are getting healthier. It’s been a tough year with injuries but every week they just keep showing up. They are working so hard.”

Now, the Lightning have not only won four consecutive games since losing 40-28 to Bessemer Academy on Sept. 21, but have won each of those four games by at least 20 points.

During that span, Evangel has also scored at least 52 points for an average of 60 points per game over the last four. To counter that, the defense has given up an average of just 24.5 points per game over that stretch.

In this game, the defense didn’t play as well as Smith would have liked, but at the end of the day, giving up 36 points in 8-man football isn’t bad, especially considering teams often score closer to the 50s.

“The defense wasn’t as good as it has been tonight,” Smith said. “The last two weeks were so good giving up 22 and 0. We just started kind of sluggish tonight, which is what allowed them to come out and take an early 8-6 lead.”

After that, however, it was all Evangel, as the Lightning went on to outscore Lyman Ward 36-6 the rest of the first half to take a 40-14 lead into the half.

That led to a hot clock in the second half, but Lyman Ward didn’t quit battling despite Evangel having their backups in.

Lyman was able to convert some scores and get some onside kicks to make the game closer, which allowed Smith to put his starters back in to close the game out with a 60-36 victory.

Evangel was helped by the return of Noah Shears and Chase Jones who were both back. While their stat lines didn’t jump off the page, just their presence on the field was key.

Shears ended the game with 50 yards rushing on seven carries just eight weeks after breaking his ankle, while Jones totaled 58 yards and two touchdowns just seven weeks after a meniscus tear that led to his knee being drained.

“We are starting to get healthy and get some guys back and should be even healthier next week for the championship game,” Smith said. “They are believing and feeling good.”

Dawson Humphries made his impact felt in different facets of the game this week, returning a kickoff for a touchdown and also adding a pick-6 to his stat line.

Defensively, Hunter Green ended the game with 10 tackles, while Samuel Graham and Will Parker each had five tackles apiece.

Evangel will now square off with Ezekiel in the ACSC State Championship game on Friday, Oct. 26, looking to defend its title against a team the Lightning beat 60-22 earlier this season.