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GREENVILLE — Despite having less than 200 yards of total offense, the Adams County Christian School Rebels still managed to defeat the St. Joseph Catholic School of Greenville Fighting Irish 30-16 last Friday night.

After a sluggish first quarter in which neither team scored, ACCS found itself trailing Greenville St. Joseph 8-0 after a 27-yard touchdown pass from Victor Baker to Ar’mon Hannah with 7:53 to go in the second quarter and Javeon Byars’ two-point conversion run.

That lead did not last very long. CJ Ferguson returned the ensuing kickoff 81 yards for a touchdown and Coleman Carter’s two-point conversion run tied the game at 8-8 just 29 seconds later.

“A three-hour bus trip got us off to a slow start,” ACCS assistant coach Matthew Freeman said. “We started (to get going) the second quarter and then put the game away. They played well overall against a very athletic St. Joe’s team.”

Carter threw a seven-yard TD pass to Colton Rabb and Carter’s two-point conversion pass to Riley Roach gave the Rebels a 16-8 lead with 1:38 to go until halftime. Then with 8:11 left in the third quarter, Carter connected with Roach on a 28-yard TD pass and Caleb Daugherty added the extra point for a 23-8 Rebels lead.

But it was the Fighting Irish defense that kept Carter from having a good passing game. He completed just five of 13 passes for 42 yards with the two TDs and one interception. He also led the ACCS in rushing with 79 yards on 13 carries. Adrian Walker 61 yards on eight carries, including a 28-yard TD run early in the fourth quarter.

“St. Joe’s athleticism. They were able to limit the big plays,” Freeman said. And while the Rebels lost the turnover battle two to nothing, their own defense came up with some big stops to keep the Fighting Irish from getting back in the game.

AJ Givens led the Rebels’ defense with eight tackles while Sean Kerry Tohern and Ja’Coby Gaines had seven tackles apiece. Roach had six and a half tackles as well as a half of a sack. Aiden Roche’ had three tackles to go with two and a half sacks. Maddox McDonald had one sack.

“Defense played good. We had four sacks tonight,” Freeman said.

Greenville St. Joseph’s offense was held to 156 yards of total offense with only 28 of them on the ground. Its final touchdown of the game was with 17 seconds left on a 20-yard pass from Baker to Jaleel Moore.

ACCS (7-3) returns to MAIS District 3-5A action next Friday at 7 p.m. when they welcome district and cross-town rival Cathedral High School to Bobby Marks Stadium for the Rebels’ Senior Night game.