The Fayette Christian School Crusaders varsity and junior high boys and varsity girls teams stay record perfect heading into the recent holiday break. Here’s a recap of their recent games:

Varsity boys

The varsity boys improved to 6-0 on the season after wins at Adams County Christian in West Union and at home against Belpre Christian.

At Adams County Christian, the Crusaders had four players in double figures. Lane Hufford led with 15 points. Zander Ivey added 13 points, Brady Bumpus scored 12 and Nicholas Epifano added 11 points in the team’s 57-23 win over the Eagles.

The Crusaders were a perfect 8 of 8 from the free throw line. They had only 11 turnovers and forced 25 getting 11 points off of the Eagles turnovers.

The Crusaders next faced Belpre Christian on Dec. 17th and escaped with a 46-43 win.

The visitors after a two-plus hour drive to Fayette County showed signs of being tired as they fell behind to the Crusaders 20-4 after the 1st quarter.

Belpre rallied in the second period as they outscored the Crusaders 20-3 with Ashton Yeater and Ryan Delay combining for 12 of the team’s points.

Belpre led 36-33 going into the fourth period but with 1:19 left in the game, Nicholas Epifano hit two free throws to give the Crusaders the lead for good at 45-43. Lane Hufford then sealed the game hitting 3 of 4 free throws in the final seconds.

Hufford finished with a game-high 19 points while Epifano added 17. Zander Ivey, who hit two big three-pointers early in the contest, finished with eight points and Brady Bumpus chipped in two points.

The Crusaders shot 17 of 51 from the field (33 percent) including 2 of 13 on three-pointers. They won the game at the

free throw line hitting 10 of 17 for 59 percent. The Crusaders had 19 turnovers and gave up 21 points.

The Patriots were 18 of 51 from the field (35 percent) but were only 4 of 13 from the free throw line for 31 percent. They committed 29 turnovers leading to 16 Crusaders points.

Varsity girls

The varsity Lady Crusaders improved to 4-0 for the season after a 21-19 win at Adams Christian in West Union.

It was Makenna Granger leading the way scoring 12 of the team’s points including back-to-back threes in the second half.

Letisha Knepp added five points in the contest while Katelynn Crichton and Emily Barker each scored two points.

The Lady Crusaders were 1 of 6 from the free throw line.

The Eagles were led by Asha McElroy with eight points. The Eagles were 2 of 8 from the free throw line.

Both teams played very loose with the ball as the Lady Crusaders had 20 turnovers giving up eight points.

The Eagles turned it over 19 times and gave up four points.

In a junior high girls game, the Ross County Christian Eagles defeated Fayette Christian, 25-20.

Letisha Knepp had 18 of the Lady Crusaders points and Elli Lewis added a two-pointer.

The Lady Crusaders were 5 of 12 from the free throw line. They had 20 turnovers giving up a total of five points to the Ross County Eagles.

Ross County was led by Rylee Elliott with 13 points. Her team turned the ball over 20 times as well, giving up six points.

Ross County was 4 of 6 from the free throw line.

Junior high boys

The junior high boys Crusaders kept their record perfect after sweeping the Eagles of Ross County, as well as Adams County and the Patriots of Belpre Christian.

The Crusaders defeated Ross County Christian by a 48-17 score. Brady Bumpus poured in a career high 30 points and added 10 rebounds in the game. Bumpus was 13 of 19 from the field (including 1 of 2 on three-point field goals) and 5 of 6 from the free throw line. He had 11 of his points in the third quarter when the team expanded a 24-15 lead with a 15-2 third quarter. Then the Crusaders held the Eagles scoreless in the final quarter.

Nate Crichton added eight points, Drew Pontius scored six points with two points each from Justin Wines and Jake Crichton.

Next it was a trip to West Union to play the Adams County Eagles. The junior unit won by a 37-12 score.

The Crusaders had balanced scoring, led by Jake “J.P.” Crichton with nine points, including a three-pointer.

Brady Bumpus and Drew Pontius each scored eight points while Gage McDaniels scored six points, Justin Wines added four and Nate Crichton had two points. The team forced 24 turnovers which led to 18 points. The Eagles took advantage of 14 Crusaders errors, scoring nine points.

The Crusaders hosted Belpre and defeated the Patriots, 37-19. The Crusaders again showed balanced scoring as the team improved to 6-0 for the season. Jake Crichton led the team again with nine points with six points each by Brady Bumpus, Nate Crichton, Drew Pontius and Gage McDaniels. Justin Wines chipped in with four points.

The Crusaders had only eight turnovers giving up only two points and forced 12 turnovers, scoring 10 points off of them.