Phoenix, AZ- After a slow start, Arizona Christian rolled through the final three quarters as they beat Lyon 56-17 on Saturday.  Senior Ryan Esslinger led the offense by passing for 267 yards on 27 of 36 attempts and five total touchdowns.  Senior Joshua Carter topped defensively with eight tackles and a pick six interception.

The ACU defense came out ready to play as Junior Trumaine Smith and Junior Zhi'irKane James recorded an interception on the first two drives by the Scots (2-5, 0-4 CSFL).  Lyon kicked a field goal on their third possession of the night to grab a 3-0 lead which stood up through the end of the first quarter.

Offensively, the Firestorm (5-1, 3-1 CSFL) could not get anything going as they managed just four total yards of offense in the first 15 minutes of action.

However, on the third play of the second quarter, Carter picked off a pass and bulled his way into the end zone for a pick six that pushed ACU ahead 6-3 (pictured below).  Senior Derek Brush converted his first of eight extra points for a 7-3 advantage.

A three and out for Lyon sparked the Arizona Christian offense and they covered 67 yards in nine plays capped by Esslinger running untouched down the middle from 14 yards out for a touchdown.

Lyon used a 73 yard kickoff return to set up their first touchdown and make the score 14-10.

With time winding down in the half, Junior Damario Fair carried the rock to the house from 13 yards out.   

ACU held a 21-10 edge at the break on 155 yards of offense.

In the third quarter, Esslinger went to the air to find the end zone as he connected on a 38 yard toss to Junior Rick Smith (who ended his night with 77 yards receiving), a 24 yard TD to Junior Kendrick Murphy, and a 13 yard TD to Sophomore Alan Freeman.

The first play of the fourth quarter saw Senior Justin Carroll rumble his way for a touchdown from 32 yards out.

Esslinger put an exclamation point on the evening with a two yard run.

The Scots added their final touchdown with just four seconds remaining in the game.

Arizona Christian rolled up 354 yards of offense in the second half as they concluded the night with 509 yards offensively.  Lyon was consistent with 114 offensive yards in each half and ended with 228 yards.

Smith added seven tackles to his interception to wind up just behind Carter for tackles.  Senior Robert Harding III and Sophomore Brent Clemons concluded their evenings with six tackles.  Senior Ricky Bradley, Senior Quintin Riley, and Junior Austin Schleier all followed with five tackles.

Head Coach Jeff Bowen commented, "We are very proud of our guys and their bounce back performance from the previous week.  I thought our guys played extremely hard.  The defense really controlled things early and then the offense got things rolling.  It was a great team effort to get to 5-1. We are looking forward to another great challenge next week with OPSU coming into town."

The Firestorm will stay home this week and on Saturday get their first look at new Central States Football League foe Oklahoma Panhandle State who is 3-0 so far in CSFL play.  Start time is scheduled for 7:00 pm at Shadow Mountain High School.