Smoking for Jesus football wins state

The Smoking for Jesus Ministry Christian School football team won the state championship of the Texas Christian Athletic League, beating Houston Texas Christian 65-20 on Nov. 13. 

This is the second year in a row that the Eagles (10-1 overall, 3-0 district) won the crown.

Smoking for Jesus took the lead early in the game and never let go of it. The Eagles capped off their state title run with about three minutes left in the fourth quarter when freshman Michael Richards scored on a 15-yard running play. Then, the game’s most valuable player, senior Isaac Legier, got the point-after conversion. The game ended with that score due to the league’s mercy rule. 

“It is awesome,” Eagles head coach Charles Frazier said. “I sat last night looking at the trophy. They can’t take it from us. We’re the two-time champs. We went back to back. We did it.”

He said “the fun part” was giving the junior varsity players some time in the game in the final minutes. 

“I told them, ‘This is the biggest game you’ll ever play in,’” Frazier said. “My JV looked at me like, ‘Are you serious?’ The JV put the last touchdown on the scoreboard.”

Earlier in the season, Smoking for Jesus played the Tigers and prevailed 64-14. 

At the state championship game, Texas Christian arrived confident for the rematch. Frazier said he told his players all week that he expected the Tigers to play better than they did in the first game.

“(The Tigers) came to play,” he said. “I told our players, ‘They’re not going to give it to us.’ It is hard to beat a team a second time. It was hard, definitely. They pushed it, mainly because of penalties – that’s what hurt us.”

The Eagles came ready to play, too.

Coach’s son Charles Frazier Jr. sent a clear message of Smoking for Jesus’ intent when he scrambled 80 yards, the length of a six-man football field, for a touchdown.

“Charles stepped up big time as a leader. He took over the game for me,” the elder Frazier said. 

During the touchdown run, a defender grabbed Frazier’s face mask and forced his head around, but Frazier refused to go down and managed to cut loose for the score.

“It was a very intense game, just like any championship,” the coach said.

jfierro@thepicayune.com