It was a clear, sunny Friday afternoon, a perfect day for football at Benedict College in Columbia. The air filled with excitement as the undefeated Christ Church Cavaliers defended their 1A Football State Championship against the Carvers Bay Bears. The Cavaliers and the Bears battled for the lead the entire game, but the Cavaliers were able to come out on top behind a game winning touchdown run by Demetrius Anthony. The Cavaliers claimed their third straight championship with a big win in this key match up on November 29.

Christ Church Episcopal School, which finished the year 14-0 and 3-0 in region, extended their win streak to 40 games with a 28-21 victory in a game which featured a combined 49 first half points and a combined zero second half points. This unbelievably long streak is the eighth longest in the country (according to maxpreps.com) and is just one shy of tying the state record of 41 games set by Summerville High School in 1980. Over the course of this great year, Christ Church has outscored their opponents by a remarkable 645-147. The Cavaliers defeated Lewisville, Williston-Elko and Lamar on their road to the championship. The team, coached by Don Frost, are led by senior quarterback Demetrius Anthony, whose touchdown run with 58 seconds left in the first half gave the Cavaliers the lead, and they never looked back. Anthony passed for 175 yards and ran for 90 yards in the championship game. Coach Frost describes Anthony as “a playmaker,” and Anthony now looks to move on to play football at the next level in college. They are also led by star senior wide receiver and captain Quan White, who has been named to the South Carolina North-South all-star game. The final two keys to this big victory for the Cavs was their tenacious defense and offensive run game. Defense was crucial to Christ Church especially in the second half as Will Wynkoop forced a fumble and Taylor Carsten had a clutch interception on the Bears final possession. They were also able to run the ball very well in this game behind running back Dorian Dickey who had a 60 yard touchdown run. This win was the fourth championship in Christ Church school history.  

Carvers Bay High School, a small public high school, is located in the tiny town of Hemingway, two hours east of Columbia and two hours north of Charleston.  The Bears finished 12-2 on the season with their only losses to 2A Andrews High School and Christ Church in the championship.  They were led by star nose tackle Naquez Pringle who is highly recruited and has multiple scholarship offers to continue to play football in college.  The Bears beat Baptist Hill, Estill and Allendale-Fairfax to advance to play in the championship.  Carvers Bay was hoping to win their first state championship since 2006.  

Following Thanksgiving on Thursday, the Christ Church Cavaliers and the Carvers Bay Bears suited up on Friday for the class 1A Football State Championship. This high pressure game resulted in a big win for the Cavaliers to clinch the state title for the third consecutive year.