Evangel Christian had two prime opportunities late in a back-and-forth second half to stun highly ranked Neville and its home crowd.
But, each time, the Tigers stood tall and shut down the Eagles’ final punches to escape with the 33-32 win in the season opener at Bill Ruple Stadium.
Neville senior safety Jayden Reed, a Louisiana (Lafayette) commit, wrapped up a tackle for loss on a potential go-ahead two-point attempt after an Evangel touchdown midway through the fourth quarter.
And junior linebacker Jakobe Collins busted through the middle of the line on a 40-yard field goal attempt in the final seconds to block the kick and extinguish the Eagles’ early-season upset bid.
“Let me tell you one thing: It was 33-32, the good guys won, so that’s all I care about,” coach Mike Collins smiled on the Neville Tiger Network broadcast immediately following the contest. “I’m gonna tell you that right now. Our guys just kept fighting and kept fighting and, you know, we did a lot of — crazy things happened tonight, and the chips fall where they may at the end of the ball game. And we got the opportunity to come up with a big block on the field-goal attempt.”
Evangel stormed to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter with a six-minute opening march powered by running back Damari Drake (Grambling State) en route to a 3-yard finish from 2026 defensive lineman Ashton Dawson (Arkansas), then a “tush push” touchdown from junior quarterback Peyton “Pop” Houston later in the period.
But Neville punched back in the second quarter behind its own 2027 passer, Parker Robinson, who went 4-for-4 down the field, including a gorgeous over-the-shoulder strike to fellow junior Emaude Sledge to set up a 1-yard Ja’Marion Roberson run across the goal-line.
A sack by senior safety Julian “JuJu” Burns put the Eagles behind the sticks on the following possession and paired with an Evangel personal foul to set the Tigers up on a short field.
And Robinson again stepped up, rolling out right on a fourth-and-12 and finding tight end Mason Hart for a circus conversion to set up another Roberson score for the 14-14 tie before halftime.
“I think we took a lot of grit away,” Robinson said. “They’re a tough team. They fought hard. I mean, they never gave up. And that’s something that we needed to learn. We really needed a challenge like this. And just props to them. They’ve got a really great squad, and Pop’s a good player. He’s a tough player. And it’s always gonna be a good game with people like him and the athletes they’ve got. So I think it was a really good test for us, especially the first game of the year, and I think it’s gonna help both of us make really good runs the rest of the year.”
The teams traded blows back and forth during a chaotic second half.
Evangel reclaimed a 20-14 lead on a deflected punt chased in for an Amare Chambers scoop-and-score.
And when Neville knotted the game back at 20-20 on a third Roberson score, the Eagles needed mere seconds to strike back with an 82-yard touchdown from Houston to Johnny Casey Jr. (Louisiana Tech) to reclaimed a 26-20 edge into the fourth.
The Tigers took advantage of a fumble recovery to set up a game-tying touchdown from sophomore running back Jarvis Blackston.
And special teams miscues began mounting as a theme for the night, and one that would prove particularly costly for Evangel down the stretch.
Neville senior punter Brooks Yerger flipped the field and pinned the Eagles back inside their own 5, where a penalty further stalled them and set up a punt junior cornerback Kayden “K.J.” Jones would house 55 yards for the home team’s first lead at 33-26 after the extra point.
The explosive Evangel offense countered again with a Demarkus Evans reverse to midfield, 30-yard Houston dash off a low snap an 18-yard Drake glide for his second end-zone trip.
But Reed and the Tigers snuffed out the potential go-ahead two-point attempt to cling to the 33-32 advantage.
And when the Eagles set themselves up for a final field goal shot at victory, Jakobe Collins was instead quickly into the backfield for Neville’s game-sealing block.
“It’s never not entertaining when we play these guys,” Mike Collins said. “It’s unbelievable, I swear. It’s two times we’ve played here, it’s been decided by a point. And we go over there and we finally take the lead toward the end of the ball game over there last year. But up until then, it was nip-and-tuck the whole time. And, you know, they’re well-coached, they’ve got good athletes, they’ve got good players and the quarterback’s fantastic. But I’m gonna tell ya, our guys just kept fighting and kept fighting. We could’ve laid down early in the ball game and said, ‘to heck with it.’ But that’s not the way we’re built, and I couldn’t be more proud of ’em.”
