Russell Christian Academy’s Seger Moore carries the ball during the Warriors’ game against Victory Christian last week. RCA plays Tabernacle Christian for the ACEA eight-man state title game tonight.

Only once this season was Russell Christian Academy faced with a close game.

Back on Sept. 28, the Warriors hosted Tabernacle Christian out of Gardendale, Alabama, and came away with just a 37-34 victory. It was the closest point margin in RCA’s undefeated season, so it’s no surprise to the Warrior coaches that Tabernacle will be their opponent Friday in the Alabama Christian Education Association’s eight-man football state title game.

RCA (9-0) earned a berth in the championship game, which will be played at 7 p.m. Friday at Tuscaloosa Christian, after shutting out Victory Christian 38-0 last week in the first round of the ACEA eight-man playoffs. It’s the second year in a row RCA has made the title game, with the Warriors taking a 32-0 win for their school’s first state championship in football.

“A lot of people, a lot of other teams didn’t think we’d have a chance of getting this close with all of the talent we lost off last year’s team,” RCA head coach Andy Braddock said. “For the kids to come out in the beginning of the season with the changes we made, they got after it, bought into everything we were doing and gave 100 percent with the leadership they showed, so it means everything to be going to Tuscaloosa.”

Senior receiver/defensive back Vincent Reynolds said he and his teammates, especially his fellow upperclassmen, are all eager to prove the doubters wrong by finishing the season with another championship.

“It means everything,” Reynolds said. “It’s for a two-peat, and (hopefully) we’ll go for a three-peat next year, even though I won’t be here.”

But Tabernacle (6-3) won’t be an easy opponent if the two teams’ regular-season matchup is any indication.

“They block well, they’re really big, they outweighs us across the line, and they have big running backs,” Braddock said. “They know how to block and run the ball. We did fine with them on offense — we didn’t have the ball for but seven minutes, though, and the rest of the time we spent on defense. It’s going to be a real dogfight Friday night. I’m sure they’ve made some changes to adjust to us, and we’ve also made some to adjust to them, so we’ll be ready for them.”

Reynolds remembers the game during the regular season and said he and his teammates need to perform more like they did in the final two quarters than they did in the first two.

“They really power ran it a lot, ran it down our throat, and we didn’t have an answer for it in the first half, but in the second half we came back and hit them in the mouth,” Reynolds recalled.

Even with the opponent having a size advantage, Braddock said it will ultimately come down to which team is more disciplined. 

“We have to go harder than they do,” Braddock said. “Eight-man football is assignment football. Everyone has an assignment on defense. If everyone does their assignment and fills their gap, and the linebackers come up and put a helmet on them, we’ll stop them.”

Reynolds said he and his teammates will have to be prepared to match Tabernacle’s physicality, especially since the game will determine which team is state champion.

“Every time the ball is snapped, you have to go full throttle,” Reynolds said.