Gwinnett Prep Sports

GAC's Rafe Chapple

CHATTANOOGA -- Rafe Chapple didn't ride a bus for two hours to Chattanooga to have a bad game. The junior quarterback threw for 219 yards and five scores as Greater Atlanta Christian defeated Howard 42-20 Friday night.

"Rafe is a good football player," Spartans head coach Tim Hardy said. "He executed the game plan and set the tone for tonight."

GAC (4-1) opened the scoring with 10:24 left in the first quarter when Chapple connected with Chris Williams on a 52-yard completion for the touchdown.

Brandon Holzgrefe, who converted the first of all six extra points he attempted, then gave the visitors a 7-0 lead.

The Hustlin' Tigers responded with a touchdown but the failed conversion left GAC with a 7-6 lead. The Chapple to Williams duo connected twice in the second quarter to increase the GAC lead.

With 9:15 left until halftime, the tandem scored on a 29-yard completion and with 6:11 left in the quarter from 59 yards. With 2:40 left in the quarter, Peter Whiteneck scored on a 16-yard pass from Chapple and gave the Spartans a 28-6 halftime lead.

Howard scored early in the third quarter to cut the lead to 28-12, but Chapple found Cam Boyd from five yards out to increase the GAC lead to 35-12 with 1:31 left in the third.

Micah Abernathy closed out the GAC scoring with a 58-yard run in the fourth quarter.

As pleased as Hardy was with his offense, he was also very excited about the defensive effort from several of the Spartans.

"Chris Williams had a great game both on offense and defense," he said. "He had four tackles and a sack to go along with his three touchdowns."

Keying the defense were Trevor Dedecker, who had six tackles, and Corris Crockett, who had six tackles and a sack.