The Ellwood Christian Academy Eagles had opportunities, but ultimately fell one point short, as they lost 14-13 to the A.L. Johnson Eagles Thursday at Memorial Stadium in a non-region game.

Mike Stokes, head football coach of Ellwood Christian Academy (3-2, 2-1 Class 1A-Region 3), said his team gave a great effort, but came up short.

“It was a hard-fought game by two pretty decent football teams,” Stokes said. “We just came up short. We fought, and we fought, and we fought. I thought that for a minute we had it, but that’s just how it goes sometimes. We win and we lose, and tonight we just came out on the short end of the stick.”

A.L. Johnson (3-2, 1-2 Class 1A-Region 1) struck first on a drive where an Ellwood muffed punt set them up on the right side of the 50-yard line, when quarterback Demarcus Woods went in from 5-yards out with 7:26 left in the first.

Woods ran it in from 12-yards out after a penalty on the 2-point conversion, and gave A.L. Johnson an 8-0 lead.

Ellwood got a spark when Jmiere Solomon picked off Woods’ pass with 3:16 left in the first quarter.

Solomon’s interception started a drive that ended with a 26-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jalen Furlow to Devonte Cleveland with 11:51 left in the second quarter. Ellwood didn’t convert the 2-point conversion, making it an 8-6 game.

Ellwood was able to maintain momentum, as Furlow capped off another drive with a 5-yard touchdown run with 3:30 left in the third quarter, as Marquis Gullet added the extra point to give Ellwood its first lead of the game at 13-8.

A.L. Johnson was down, but not out, as running back Castillo Huggins pounded the ball in from 3-yards out with 6:59 left to play, putting his team ahead 14-13.

Ellwood turned the ball over on downs its next drive, but got a break on defense, as Deriaun Glenn recovered an A.L. Johnson fumble and returned it into A.L. Johnson territory at the 41-yard line with 4:51 left in the game.

But Ellwood turned the ball over on downs again, as they couldn’t convert the first down, and A.L. Johnson ran out the clock.

Woods had 84 yards on 16 carries for A.L. Johnson, which was held to 90 yards of total offense on the night and turned the ball over twice.

Furlow led the Ellwood offense, which had 117 total yards, as he was 7 for 13 with 86 yards passing.

Ellwood will take the field again Friday, Oct. 5 at a region opponent in the Class 1A No. 3 Maplesville Red Devils.