By Ken Lay
Concord Christian School has had a historic season on the gridiron in 2026.
The Lions, who notched a win at Halls during the regular season, won their first-ever playoff game Friday night as they ran past Fayette Academy, 49-21, Friday night at Farragut High School’s Bill Clabo Field.
It took just 10 seconds for Concord (8-3) to find its way into the end zone. The Lions hit on a big play on their first play from scrimmage when freshman quarterback Dylan Brown connected with Dasani Moulden on an 80-yard touchdown pass.
Lions’ coach Steve Matthews couldn’t have scripted a better start for his team against the Vikings, who made the long trip to West Knox County from Somerville, in the Memphis area.
“We knew that they had a long bus ride and we wanted to get them early,” Matthews said. “They’re also a Wing-T team, so we wanted to get a couple of touchdowns ahead of them, and we came out early and made a play over their heads.
“We like to strike quickly, especially against a Wing-T team, try to get them in a hole to where it takes them off what they like to do.”
Concord was certainly able to accomplish that mission. The gut-punch was only the beginning of the misery for Fayette as the Lions racked up 35 points in the opening frame. They would go on to amass 547 yards of total offense, including 289 passing yards and 258 rushing yards.
CCS, which will host Friendship Christian on Friday in a second-round tilt at Farragut High School, got a pair of touchdown runs from Maurice Smith to move further ahead.
Smith, a sophomore, scored from 14 yards out before coming up with a 79-yard scamper to make the score 21-0.
Brown added a 52-yard scoring strike to Andrew Lumsdaine, and Moulden had a 20-yard run to make it 35-0.
In the second stanza, Todd Lundy had a 16-yard scoring run, and Brown threw a scoring strike to Amar’e McKenzie from five yards out.
Fayette Academy did score a pair of touchdowns before halftime and trailed, 49-14, at the break
While the Lions scored their playoff victory, Matthews cautioned his team about its next game.
“We have some good young kids, but this is all new to them,” Matthews said. “I told them that it’s only going to get harder.
“Friendship Christian is a tradition-rich program, and they’ve been here before, and they’re coming in here expecting to win. We played Halls earlier this year, and we beat them, and we were really high coming off of that. Then, we came out (the next week) and laid an egg. I hope we learned from that.”
