FLAG FOOTBALL: Alabama Christian earns first victory in school history
ACA’s Nora Burgess avoids the stop by LAMP’s Amira Rudolphi in the Monday showdown at LAMP Field. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
It took almost an entire season, but Alabama Christian’s flag football team finally discovered the winning formula as the Eagles defeated LAMP 25-6 on Monday afternoon at LAMP.
The game had been postponed by inclement weather and rescheduled for Monday, which proved to be beneficial to a team playing its first year of flag football.
“It feels good to kind of sketch your name into the ACA history,” ACA coach Josh Gaines said. “But we wanted it more for the girls than we did for the program because they’ve worked so hard. It’s great to put in Alabama Christian Academy’s history books as getting our first win in the first year of the flag football program.”
The Eagles may be learning the ropes of their athletic program’s newest sport, but they scored in just about every way imaginable on Monday, with Nora Burgess scoring on a 26-yard punt return, Addi Newkirk pulling in a 34-yard touchdown reception, a Maddie Owens’ interception setting up another score and quarterback Anna Gleason scoring on a 1-yard keeper early in the fourth quarter to round out the scoring.
“I thought we played well,” Gaines said. “I thought Addi Newkirk had a great game. She did what we wanted her to do and stepped up big-time. With volleyball (playing in the South Super Regional on Wednesday), we lost a couple of big parts and she stepped up. Anna Gleason stepped up and threw the ball the way we needed her to and I thought, all around, we played a great game.”
The same couldn’t be said for the Golden Tigers, who had trouble pulling ACA flags and, outside of a Chloe Thomas 66-yard touchdown bomb to J’kyria Eutsey, did not play particularly well on either side of the ball.
“The way we’ve been playing lately, I didn’t even recognize us tonight,” LAMP coach Michael Thornton said. “This is not characteristic of how we’ve been playing the last couple of weeks. We missed a lot of tackles, we made a lot of mistakes on both sides of the ball, too many turnovers, didn’t execute the way we had been.
“They definitely outexecuted us, that’s the long and short of it. They did a really good job, taking what we gave them, and we didn’t take advantage of what they were giving us.”
Thomas completed 13 of 34 passes for 131 yards but was intercepted three times. Eutsey was the top receiver, catching six passes for 90 yards. Makaylyn Johnson led LAMP rushers with 20 yards on five carries.
Defensively, Johnson had seven tackles and a pass breakup, while Kalayja Nowden had six tackles and a pass breakup.
Gleason completed 10 of 25 passes for 108 yards to lead the Eagles, with Newkirk catching five passes for 72 yards. Burgess had 41 yards on five carries, while Peri Laine Holley had 18 yards on four carries and Emma Redmon had 12 yards on four carries.
Defensively, Holley had nine tackles and Olivia Mays had seven.
For Gaines, there was some satisfaction in watching practice pay off in the game after starting the season with seven consecutive losses.
“It makes you feel really good, what you’re pouring into the girls,” Gaines said. “To put the pieces together that you’ve been working on from the summer all the way up to here, it feels really good and makes you proud.”
LAMP (3-9) closes out the 2025 season on Tuesday at Booker T. Washington in Tuskegee.
ACA (1-7) closes out the 2025 season with road games at Tallassee on Tuesday and at Charles Henderson next Tuesday.