Arlington High Point Blanks ACS 4-0

By Mike Erwin, Photos by Mike Erwin

CROWLEY — Arlington High Point Prep Academy is off to a flying start under new head coach Mike Lum after the Eagles soared to the championship of the Crowley Nazarene Sixman Flag Football Tournament on Saturday afternoon.

High Point wrapped up the title by scoring on all four of its possessions and shutting out Azle Christian 4-0 in the finals of the tournament that featured seven Texas Christian Athletic Fellowship (TCAF) schools. Lum was thrilled with his team’s effort.

“Being new this summer, I’m really proud of the boys because they’re catching on quick and they’re athletic. Conditioning-wise I felt we were really ready to play. We’ve done a lot of running and weight lifting and have put in a lot of hard work,” said Lum.

Quarterback Caleb Herring ran for one score and passed for another in the final, while Cade Arceneaux and Sergio Gordon rushed for one touchdown each.

The format called for each team to get six possessions consisting of four plays from the 30-yard line. High Point needed just two snaps to reach the end zone on its opening drive against Azle Christian. Arceneaux caught a 26-yard pass to open the game and scored on the following play from four yards out.

Herring sped around the left end for a 28-yard touchdown run on the Eagles’ next possession and they extended their lead to 3-0 by halftime when Gordon eluded the Crusader defense on a 30-yard TD scamper.

High Point sealed the win on the opening play of the second half. Herring rolled to his left and fired a 30-yard strike to Garrison Simons for an insurmountable 4-0 lead.

Lum enjoyed a victorious return to six-man football after leaving the 11-man ranks, where he most recently coached at Cedar Hill Trinity Christian.

“I’ve been around the sixman game before, but this is the first time in a long time. I like the game because it’s so high-scoring,” said Lum. “We moved the ball and scored touchdowns today and that sounds good, but the reality is that we didn’t give up any touchdowns. If you can play defense in sixman football then you’re going to have a chance to win about every game you’re in.”

The tournament began on Friday with round-robin action. High Point earned the No. 1 seed entering Saturday’s bracket play and had to knock off Azle Christian twice to earn the trophy. Lum said he’s hoping the Eagles can build on the triumph as they prepare for the start of pre-season drills.

“We did some good things, but I told the boys everyone looks good in shorts and T-shirts,” Lum said. “We’re excited about today and what we accomplished, but now we have to put the pads on. We have a lot of work cut out for us. But we’ll take this and build on it. With God’s help, we’ll move on to bigger and better things.”

Earlier in the day, Azle Christian was knocked out of the winners’ bracket with a 2-1 loss to High Point. But the Crusaders rebounded with a come-from-behind 4-3 win over Irving Faustina. Caleb Crawford provided the winning touchdown with a 30-yard catch-and-run on Azle Christian’s final possession to set up the rematch with High Point.

The tournament was hosted by Nazarene Christian Academy, which bounced back from a winless first day to go 2-2 in bracket play and make it to the final four. New Nazarene Christian head coach Jesse Erhart said the event was a success.

“It was a great tournament and it was great for us” he said. “Now we’re three weeks ahead of where we should be because we were able to work out some kinks in a live scrimmage type of situation.”

Fort Worth Glenview Christian, Hill School of Grapevine and Mineral Wells Community Christian also participated in the flag football tournament.