Airline outlasts Evangel in a district battle of the ages

It was one of those magical nights of high school football that will forever be etched into the minds of those who watched Airline remain undefeated by outlasting Evangel Christian 47-42 in a District 1-5A contest Friday night at M.D. Ray Field.

The stars abounded on the field, especially at the quarterback position where Airline’s Ben Taylor, a Northwestern State commitment, faced off against Evangel’s Peyton “Pop” Houston who has been on recent recruiting visits to Oklahoma and Texas. The two young men more than lived up to the hype going tit-for-tat with their extraordinary arms and legs.

It wasn’t until the final buzzer sounded, just as Houston completed a first-down pass to the Airline 5-yard-line, that the Airline faithful could relax knowing they’d defeated the Eagles for the first time — ever.

Kenny Darby’s 23-yard TD reception from Taylor in the corner of the end zone with a minute remaining provided the winning margin.

“The play was designed for me, and I knew it was coming to me,” said Darby, who spent virtually the entire game on the field playing both ways. “It felt good. I went over there and got hyped and celebrated with my team.”

It appeared the Vikings (4-0, 2-0) would run away with the contest building a 21-7 advantage on ECA (1-3, 1-2) in the opening minutes thanks to some sloppy play by the visitors. Personal foul and holding penalties plagued Evangel throughout the contest. But the talented Houston kept leading his team back and when he found Nathan Green for a 26-yard score with under four minutes remaining, his Eagles led 42-41.

“It was a great game and kudos to Airline,” Houston said. “They got up on us, but the power of God came within us. We’ll keep working. All we can do is get better from here. It was probably one of the funnest games, but I wish we had come out on top.”