Since 1995, FC football has played second fiddle to the Immanuel Eagles losing blowouts and tight games alike. But on Aug. 30, the campus underdogs beat Immanuel with a dominating defense and the clutch play of senior Sam Fisher.

Since ’95, when an extra point turned into a two-point conversion gave the FC Eagles an 8-7 win, the campus has waited for a chance to break the strangle-hold of “the other” private Christian high school.

This year’s team crusaded much of the summer to beat Immanuel and grabbed an 18-13 victory in what coaches were calling the biggest game of the season.

“I appreciated the fact that we had three weeks to prepare for this particular game,” defensive coach Chris Schultz said. “This preparation time was important for us not just because the wing-T is difficult to defend, but because we knew that Immanuel has traditionally had good athletes.”

Austin Livingston, ’03, and Rene Charest, ’04, helped lead the defense with six tackles each and Livingston made a crucial red-zone interception in the third quarter.

“I felt that the most difficult thing for us was being able to jump high enough to defend and counteract the size of Immanuel’s Jacob Wild, (03)” Livingston said. “I definitely felt that we did a good job of stopping their running game.

Although giving away a few deep passes, the Eagles were able to hold Immanuel’s offense to just 57 rushing yards on 20 attempts.

The team is now gearing up for the Sept. 6 game against the Fowler Redcats, where they hope to settle a rivalry that was only intensified by last year’s close16-14 loss.

“Last year’s game against Fowler was a disappointing loss for us,” quarterback Sam Fisher said. ” We hope to make up for it this season.”

Fisher led FC’s attack against Immanuel with two rushing TDs of 4 and 7 yards while passing to Brian Casey, ’03, for the other.” “Patricia Hill” “With both teams returning over 10 starters and revenge on the minds of FC players, Immanuel’s #8 rated offense was shut down in the first half and FC went on to defeat the host Eagles, 18-13 on Aug. 30. FC racked up 224 yards rushing and, except for a couple of blown coverages, dominated the game. Colby Hunter, ?03, left, is shown here enroute to one of FC’s 19 first downs.” “Patricia Hill” “After consecutive losses since the 1995 season, the sun finally set on Immanuel’s victories over FC in football as FC defeated the host Eagles, 18-13 on Aug. 30.” “