It may have been raining, but the end of Unity Christian School’s contest Saturday was a bright spot for the budding program.

In just their second varsity football game, the Lions outlasted Faith Covenant Academy to open their home schedule with a 14-8 win at Calhoun’s Phil Reeve Stadium.

“It’s great to get a win and I know the guys are happy about it,” UCS head coach Joe Curtiss said.

“To come out with the victory, we can feel good about it but we definitely have to get better.”

After miscues cost Unity Christian some momentum early on, the Lions stood tall and scored 14 unanswered points against their first National Christian Schools Athletic Association opponent.

With FCA holding on to a slim 8-7 lead with two minutes left in the third, Eagles quarterback Matthew Terry threw an interception to Unity Christian’s Sam Watts on his own 42-yard line.

The senior found a lane down the left side and made it into the end zone to put his team ahead. Andy Calvert kicked his second extra point of the day and put his team up by six with 1:57 left in the quarter.

“We do good on defense,” Curtiss said. “The kids are running the defense well. We were in Cover 2 on that interception and we were waiting for them to come back to that play.”

The Lions (1-1) took advantage of a pair of Faith Covenant’s six fumbles and stuffed them in the red zone during their final drive of the game.

“We had some missed tackles … but I really like the way our kids are getting to the ball,” Curtiss said.

UCS got on the board in the second quarter as junior Reece Bryant took the handoff on the first play after a fumble recovery and went 26 yards for a touchdown with 9:28 until the half.

Quarterback Jackson Bishop was 5-of-14 for 72 yards and two interceptions and the Lions’ running game was affected by three fumbles that were picked up behind the line of scrimmage.

“We’ve got a lot of things to work on,” Curtiss said. “It doesn’t matter if we win or lose right now, it’s if we’re improving.”

The Lions were scheduled to play the game Friday night at Pepperell’s stadium but changed venues to Calhoun after Friday’s rains made the field soggy.

UCS will hit the road for their longest trip of the season Friday as they play the New Creation Center Crusaders in McDonough.