The First Academy football snaps Edgewater's 28-game streak in comeback win

For the second consecutive week, The First Academy football went on the road and beat a juggernaut program in a nail-biter game, that was decided in the fourth quarter. 

The difference this week was that TFA was the team coming back from the deficit — the Royals were down 10 points with 7:54 left to play in the game — and it just so happens that the team they were up against was an Edgewater Eagles program that hasn't lost a regular season since Sept. 3, 2021.

With 1:09 left in the fourth quarter, Royals quarterback Salomon Georgers Jr. hit reciever Demetrice McCray — who caught the game-sealing interception to ice TFA's Week 1 win — for the game-winning touchdown pass to put the Royals up on the Eagles, 28-24.

It wasn't over just yet, though. Edgewater still had the ball with a little over a minute to try and march down the field and win this game. But just as McCray did against Lipscomb Academy in Week 1, Royals' defensive back Danny Odem iced the TFA win with an interception on the Eagles offense's final drive of the night; snapping their 28-game regular season winning streak.

Including the game-winning score, Georges Jr. connected with McCray twice for touchdowns on the night, while running back Jaelyn Powell scored TFA's first touchdown in the first quarter and fellow RB Ryon Smith scored another rushing TD; after Georges Jr. found McCray for a deep shot that put the Royals on the one-yard line. 

"I think the thing that was glaring was the resolve, the ability to keep fighting through adversity," TFA coach Jeff Conaway said. "I felt like our guys had a chance, multiple times to fold it in and concede and walk away with the loss, but they kept fighting, and our defense manufactured some big stops late. Our offense found ways to create touchdowns and extend drives. And very proud, proud of our players and our staff for the way they handled themselves."

Still, despite the great comeback win and praise he gave his team following, Conaway and his staff know that though this is one of the biggest wins in the Class 1A school's history, there's still a murder's row on their remaining schedule — including Seminole High, Rabun Gap-Nacoochee High (GA) and three district games. 

"(The win) builds confidence, but that's all it does," Conaway said. "We haven't done anything yet. We haven't reached our goal. It's play after play and day after day, we want to get better. We want to make a playoff run, we want to make a championship run. So right now, it's (all about getting) as good as we can get, so that we can extend our season and keep playing late in the playoffs."

Next up for The First Academy will be the 0-2 Treasure Coast Titans, as the Royals host its first home game of the season with kickoff set for 7 p.m., Friday, Sept. 6.