CCA aims for 1st state title vs. Tallulah

JACKSON -- It has been a year of firsts for Christian Collegiate Academy.

The Bulldogs won their first division championship in football and are now in the school's first state championship. CCA will face Tallulah (La.) for the MAIS 8-Man state championship at Millsaps' Harper Davis Field at 10 a.m. Thursday.

Both Tallulah and Christian Collegiate are seeking their first state championships.

"To say we are excited is a understatement to be the state championship game. We are going to have butterflies in our stomach until the game starts," CCA coach Joe Roberts said. "We've just got to go into this game like any other game we've played all year and execute."

The Bulldogs have already faced the Trojans once this year. CCA defeated Tallulah 46-38 back on Sept. 25.

In that game, CCA rushed for 330 yards, 272 of those by quarterback Devan Roberts. He also reached the end zone five times.

Tallulah does have the upper hand on playing in a state championship. The Trojans are making their second straight trip to the title game after losing to Sharkey-Issaquena last year.

"The goal from day one was to get back to this point," Tallulah coach Bo Barton said. "These kids now know what to expect

in a state championship game and how to handle the distractions throughout the week. So hopefully we can use that to an advantage."

The Bulldogs (12-0) are led by senior quarterback Devan Roberts, the coach's son.

Roberts has passed for 1,554 yards with 23 touchdowns and just one interception. He has rushed for 1,415 yards and 22 touchdowns.

Running back Trey Clolinger has rushed for 639 yards with 11 touchdowns to help lead a CCA ground game that is averaging 213.7 yards a game.

"This is a life long dream that I have had since I was a kid is to play for a state championship," Devan Roberts said. "If we can gain control the line of scrimmage with our running game and contain their running game, I think we will be alright."

This story was originally published November 16, 2015 at 8:59 PM with the headline "CCA aims for 1st state title vs. Tallulah ."