Phoenix, AZ- Call it a trap game.  Call it a poor start.  Or call it a lackluster effort.  All of the above came back to haunt #20 Arizona Christian on Saturday as they fell 38-28 to Warner.  Sophomore Damario Fair led the ground attack with 101 yards.  Senior Miko Kennedy-Goff topped with 7.5 tackles.

With the team potentially looking past Warner to what essentially will be the CSFL championship game next week against Wayland Baptist, the Firestorm played arguably their worst half of the season.  The first 30 minutes of action saw ACU give away three fumbles in a span of 14 offensive plays, give up the ball on downs twice, and also punt twice.  Five first half sacks did not help either.

The lone bright spot was a six play 75 yard drive in total of 57 seconds that was capped by a 36 yard pass play from Junior Gerrit Groenewold to Senior Donovan Smith for a touchdown.

At the break, ACU found themselves down 24-7 as the Eagles (4-2) scored on four straight possessions.

But after punting on their first two possessions of the second half, the Firestorm (5-3) looked like the team they have been most of the season as they cashed in touchdowns on their final three drives. 

Junior Derick Hughes made an eight yard grab from Groenewold.  Junior Justin Carroll stretched out just breaking the plane on the end of a five yard Groenewold pass.  Carroll then busted through the line for an eight dash for the final score of the day.

Groenewold concluded his day 23 of 40 for 264 yards and three touchdowns.  Fair averaged 20.2 yards per carry thanks to a nice 51 yard run.  Sophomore Alan Freeman recorded a game high 70 yards receiving.

Often overlooked, potentially the biggest offensive weapon of the day was Junior Derek Brush.  The punter/ kicker added to his NAIA leading punting average of now 45.6 yards after averaging 52.5 yards on Saturday.  He nailed a 61 yard punt.  As a kicker, he converted all four extra points and 43.8 yards on kickoffs (with the average drug down by two late onside kicks).

Behind Kennedy-Goff, Junior Malik Sawyer and Senior Will Johnson produced 6.5 tackles.  Senior Kori Hurd delivered 5.5 tackles highlighted by two going for loss including a sack.  Senior Timothy Clayton reeled in his first interception of the season.

Head Coach Jeff Bowen stated, "Tough loss.  We didn't give ourselves a chance, especially early in the game.  So as players and coaches we will need to come out with our "A-game" next week against Wayland Baptist.  The CSFL Championship is on the line."

Next Saturday, the Firestorm will host Wayland Baptist at Shadow Mountain High School at 7:00 pm.  Both will hit Saturday 4-0 in CSFL play with just one CSFL game left the following week.