CHARLOTTE – Gutsy call for a gutsy team.
Coach Chad Walker burned a timeout to buy a few more seconds Friday. But everything in his mind was saying that Christ School needed to go for a 2-point conversion to win its NCISAA Division I state playoff game at Charlotte Latin, rather than extend overtime.
And after everything the coach saw his team overcome this week, he liked the odds even more.
Tray Mauney ’23 bullied his way into the end zone twice in overtime – first on a 10-yard quarterback keeper, then again with the 2-point conversion run that followed – to give the Greenies a 36-35 win.
Christ School (6-5) was without at least 10 players Friday due to lingering effects of the flu, and stars like Zack Myers ’23, Cayden Jones ’24, and Cooper Perone ’24 haven’t suited up in weeks due to season-ending injuries. Many other Greenies have missed time as well with various aches and pains.
“You look back at Tuesday’s practice and we only had 18 guys available. And they were going against garbage cans because we didn’t have enough players for our team periods,” Coach Walker said.
“We’ve talked about resiliency with this group all season long and they showed it again tonight. So many guys stepped up, some in areas that were different for them. I don’t like to use the word ‘proud’ a lot, but I’m so proud of these guys. They are going to keep fighting and we can’t wait to get back down here next week.”
Indeed, Christ School advances to the second round which will be a Nov. 11 game at defending state champion Charlotte Providence Day (10-1). The Chargers beat Charlotte Country Day, 56-7, on Friday night.
The Greenies dropped their season opener to Charlotte Latin (10-6 on Aug. 19 in Arden) and Friday’s rematch didn’t look great at times either. The Hawks (5-5) drove 80 yards in under three minutes on their opening possession, which included a single pass attempt, to take a 7-0 lead.
Tray threw his lone touchdown pass of the night to Brewer Nitcher ’25 – a 4-yard connection at the 8:12 mark of the second quarter – but Christ School was behind 21-7 at halftime. The Greenies managed to hang around in the second half. Their defense stiffened up, and the team got a pair of touchdown carries from Kaden Brown ’24 (1 and 12 yards) sandwiched around an electric 66-yard pitch to Vincent Lytle ’24. Friday was the first game for Kaden since suffering a knee injury Sept. 2 against Carrollwood Day (Fla.).
Christ School had a chance to win Friday's playoff game in regulation, but it was not meant to be. The snap was high on a 32-yard field goal attempt with under 10 seconds to go and the kick missed. That play was still fresh in Coach Walker’s mind when he made the fateful decision to go for two points.
“We had a high snap on the field goal and (Charlotte Latin) got a little penetration up the middle as well,” Coach Walker said.
“It was just one of those things where we felt like we had the momentum and it didn’t look like No. 10 could be stopped. The analytics looked good. So, we put the ball in Tray's hands and let him make the decision, and he had a heck of a run.”
Jack Shimer '23 is averaging a team-high 7.0 tackles per game for the defense, which only gave up seven second-half points to Charlotte Latin. Other leaders include Jordan Edgecomb '25 (5.2 tackles per game), Josh Harrison '24 (5.1), Eythan Serrano '25 (4.2), Jakob Iwanek '24 (4.1), and JoVaughn Hudson '23 (4.0).
