As several Classical Academy players on their sideline encourage the home crowd to rise, others took a knee or shifted their focus to the turf at Dutch Clark Stadium.

On the field, Andrew Brown locked in at the right time to find a Wright brother in the end zone.

Brown connected with Elijah Wright on a 4-yard touchdown pass with 30 seconds left in the game to give the No. 3-seeded Titans a 42-36 win over No. 9 Wellington for the 2A championship Saturday.

“I’m so lucky — all the glory to God,” coach Justin Rich said. “It took so many things to get us to this point. To get to coach these kids is amazing.”

The Titans (13-0) last played in the championship game in 2020 during the COVID season and fell 35-34 to Rifle.

This current crop of seniors, 22 total, were eighth graders during that season and channeled that energy from the loss four years ago into their victory against Wellington.

“I remember watching that game and we came up short by one point,” Brown said. “We won this and it feels good; not only for us but for all the alumni. They came in and worked their butts off. I give this to them. They pushed us. Again, all glory to God.”

The Titans built a 14-0 lead in the second quarter after Brown connected on a 2-yard pass to Zach Mediavilla, his second receiving touchdown of the night.

Jackson Schipfer made it 21-7 with a 3-yard run with 2:32 left in the second. But the Eagles (10-3) shifted the tide over the next three minutes minutes.

Wellington scored before the break to make it 21-14 at halftime. Then, following a 35-yard kickoff return to start the second half for the Titans, Brown threw a pick-6, just his fourth interception of the year.

“That was a bad play by me and I owned that,” Brown said. “I told the guys that wasn’t going to happen again and they trusted me and I trusted them. It wasn’t a play I wanted to happen, but I’m glad we pulled it out.”

The Eagles failed on the two-point attempt, which kept the Titans ahead 21-20 with 11:39 on the clock in the third.

Both teams traded touchdowns but the Eagles took the lead with 4:35 left in the fourth after Tanner Gray punched it in for a 4-yard run and Wellington converted its two-point conversion to make it 36-35.

No one on the Titans’ sideline flinched at the Eagles taking their first lead of the game.

“We had four minutes and knew we had plenty of time,” Wright said. “When we got down to the four-yard line, we knew what we were going to dial up. It worked against Basalt, and we were like we’re going to dial it up again.”

Rich said the Titans “iced the game” in a similar fashion in the semifinals and believed TCA could duplicate that success.

“It worked earlier in the season and it worked against Basalt,” Rich said. “Our (offensive coordinator) Jody Jones had confidence in it. Even if he didn’t make it, we’d kick a field goal.”

Brown faked the hand off, pulled it back and flicked the ball to Wright for the final score of the game with 30 seconds remaining.

“It’s amazing,” Wright said. “Coach called the play and I’m like, ‘This is going to work.’ When Andrew threw it, it came right to me, and I caught it. It was an amazing feeling to go ahead on a touchdown like that.”

Players celebrated accordingly on the TCA sideline after the play. Some dropped to one knee, knowing they needed another stop to get the win.

Others embraced and held up their index finger to symbolize how close the Titans were to their first title.

For Rich, he remained poised throughout the final 30 seconds and, after the game, searched for the perfect words to describe how the Titans helped bring this goal to fruition.

“This win tells you that TCA is building great young men in the classroom and on the field,” Rich said. “They love each other, and they won’t give up on each other, and they just keep on fighting.”