As he left his perch on top of the press box after Thursday night’s game between West Alabama Preparatory and Cornerstone Christian, the Cornerstone cameraman spoke briefly to some of the trailing WAP fans.

“Your boys didn’t quit,” he said.

The Titans’ effort and dedication will have to be consolation enough for WAP’s supporters after a second consecutive blowout loss, this one 51-0 to visiting Cornerstone.

Cornerstone took the game by the throat in the first quarter and never left the outcome in doubt, scoring on each of their seven first-half possessions and forcing WAP turnovers on two of their first three possessions.

Kirk Johnson opened the scoring with a 6-yard scoring run after the Chargers had picked off Mark Geiger on WAP’s initial possession. The lead grew to 13-0 after QB Jon Ray found streaking Xavier Scott with a perfectly thrown 35-yard touchdown pass. Scott then scored his second touchdown in less than 30 seconds, returning an errant Geiger pass 60 yards for a score and a 19-0 lead with 5:35 remaining in the first.

The Titans responded with consecutive first downs on their following possession, the second coming via a 15-yard Gene Samuels run around right end to take the ball into Charger territory for the first time. But the Titans were stopped on fourth-and-short and turned the ball over on downs. The Chargers took advantage of the good field position by converting their own fourth-and-short on their way to an Austin Vinsant touchdown run to put Cornerstone up 25-0.

Things would only get worse from there for the Titans as three more first-half TDs left WAP in a 45-0 halftime hole.

The Titans refused to quit, however, moving the ball into Charger territory multiple times in the second half. Several tough Greg Yelverton runs on the Titans’ opening possession of the third quarter resulted in a pair of first downs and first-and-ten at the Charger 40, but WAP would get no closer.

In the final possession of the game, big runs by Yelverton and Wesley White helped the Titans move the ball down to the Charger 35 before a 4th-and-10 pass slipped through Yelverton’s fingers and time expired.

The Titans made a committed effort in the second half on defense as well, no player moreso than junior defensive end Joseph Luker, who despite playing with what appeared to be a painful ankle injury stripped Cornerstone’s Andrew Shears on a fourth-quarter run and allowed Samuels to make the recovery.

Yelverton finished as the game’s brightest star for the Titans, running for 65 yards on 17 carries and making WAP’s only reception.

WAP will return to play at home next Friday against East Memorial of Wetumpka.