Elijah Kothe scores late TD as Faith Lutheran hands Legacy first loss

Elijah Kothe shed three tacklers on the way to a 48-yard touchdown catch with 1:48 to play to give Faith Lutheran a 22-19 home win over fourth-ranked Legacy on Friday.

Kothe’s TD catch from Sagan Gronauer gave the Crusaders a 20-19 lead, and Christian Marshall tacked on the 2-point conversion run for the final margin.

“When we play our brand of football and stay after it, we see that we can compete against this level of talent,” Faith Lutheran coach Vernon Fox said. “Leading up to tonight we have not played a full game. Against teams of this caliber it’s hard to dig out of hole.”

Josh Hong had two key interceptions for Faith Lutheran (3-3, 2-1 Northwest League), including one to halt Legacy’s final drive with less than a minute to play.

“Ultimately every area stepped up and that speaks to how much of a team victory this was,” Fox said. “We did some things well enough to put ourselves in a position to win.”

Legacy’s Samuel Turner rushed for 308 yards and a touchdown on 42 carries, but the Longhorns were unable to pull away from the Crusaders.

Jalen Alapati caught a 13-yard TD pass from Roberto Valenzuela with 4:56 to play to give Legacy a 19-14 lead, but the Longhorns were couldn’t hang on.

Marshall ran for 142 yards on 14 carries, and Saundre Spiller scored on runs of 13 and 16 yards for Faith Lutheran.

“Just a matter of those guys on the line executing,” Fox said of his offensive line. “We’re coached very well up front. When those guys are clicking on all cylinders, they really do a good job.”

Valenzuela added a 1-yard TD run for Legacy (5-1, 2-1).