Cade Mintz ’21 had just snaked his way 72 yards down the field for one of Christ School’s nine touchdowns when he spiked the football in the end zone closest to Noland House and Young House.
The touchdown celebration was a metaphor for the 94th installment of “The Game.”
Christ School has now beaten Asheville School 40 times in the history of the oldest high school rivalry in the Carolinas, but never as emphatically as Saturday. The Greenies set school records for points and margin of victory over the Blues in a 63-7 home win that had a running clock for the entirety of the second half.
It was also Christ School’s ninth consecutive win in the series (a record for either school). Afterwards, head coach Nick Luhm dedicated the game to retiring Headmaster Paul Krieger by handing him the Fayssoux-Arbogast Trophy which has not left campus since 2011.
The Greenies (3-2) needed just two plays from scrimmage to score a touchdown in the first half, and only one play to score in the second half.
A.J. Simpkins ’22 threw touchdown passes to Cade (72 yards) and Charlie Browder ’21 (6 yards), and fellow junior Bryce Sain ’22 accounted for a pair of rushing scores (2 and 29 yards). Painter Richards-Baker ’21 had a 71-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and caught a 5-yard touchdown pass from Tray Mauney ’23 on the final play of the third quarter. Tray also connected with Gabe Berardi ’22 for a 50-yard touchdown pass and plowed in for a 7-yard quarterback keeper touchdown.
Saturday doubled as Senior Day for 16 Greenies and Corey Taylor ’21 made it even sweeter for himself by breaking a 59-yard touchdown run on the very first play of the second half.
The full list of seniors who received pregame recognition on Saturday were Mikey Peralta, Lex Long, Wilson Handy, Cade Mintz, Painter Richards-Baker, Mickey Meguiar, Corey Taylor, Sean Dow, Charlie Thomas, Garrett Rathburn, Stewart Buchanan, Ian Adams, Charlie Browder, Robert Donovan, Aidan Williams, and Patrick Wilds.
Fernando Machuca '22 nailed all nine of his extra-point attempts Saturday.
The all-time series record in the Christ School-Asheville School rivalry now stands at 50-40-4 in the Blues’ favor. The Greenies have won 17 of the 20 meetings between the two rivals since Mr. Krieger first arrived on campus in 2000.