It’s a three-peat! Fresno Christian fends off Sierra for eight-man section championship
Winning a Central Section championship never gets old for the Fresno Christian football team.
Just ask Eagles coach Mick Fuller and even tight end/defensive back Jude Sheppard, who was battling a fever earlier in the day.
No way was he going to miss the game against Sierra.
And it came down to the final second when the Chieftains’ Aaron Irvine threw a pass into the end zone intended for Logan Kilbert, but the ball was knocked away by Joshua Kubota as Fresno Christian pulled off a 34-26 victory in the eight-man high school football championship Friday night.
“Three undefeated seasons,” said Sheppard, who said he woke up with a 103-degree fever and “thought I wasn’t going to play.”
Winning another section title was good medicine.
“We just stuck together,” he said.
Eagles quarterback Logan Stotts threw three touchdowns. Kubota finished with five receptions for 111 yards.
Fresno Christian seemingly took control of the game in the second quarter, outscoring Sierra 21-0 for a 28-12 halftime lead.
The Eagles held on for the win.
“My boys have poise,” Fuller said. “They have tenacity. They set a goal at the beginning of the season: They wanted to run the table — and they just weren’t going to be denied.
“We had some adversity. We had to deal with penalties and we made mistakes and we made bad plays. But the kids pushed through and they have more grit, more determination, more fire than any group of boys they’ve ever coached.”
This story was originally published November 18, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
