The time is now.
The confidence and momentum the Heritage Academy football team gained from a season-opening come-from-behind victory against Lamar and an overtime win against Lowndes County neighbor Caledonia have vanished.
If the Patriots aren’t careful, their playoff hopes might disappear, too.
Heritage Academy will try to prevent that from happening at 7 tonight when it plays host to Magnolia Heights.
“There is no tomorrow. Our backs are definitely against the wall,” Heritage Academy coach Brad Butler said. “We’re in a position where we have to win them to get to where we wanted to go at the beginning of the year.”
Heritage Academy (2-4, 0-1 Mississippi Association of Independent Schools Class AAA, Division 2, District 1) has lost three in a row, including a 42-0 loss last week to Jackson Academy. Butler said his team, which also is 0-3 in the conference, has virtually no margin for error with four regular-season games remaining. He still believes his team has the potential to make a run in the playoffs, but he said the Patriots have to deliver a more consistent effort.
“We haven’t done anything to put ourselves in a good situation yet, so it is now or never,” Butler said.
Butler is optimistic because he said Heritage Academy had its best practice Wednesday since he can remember. He said he was pleased with the intensity throughout the afternoon workout, and that effort and focus is just what the team needs to help it escape the roller coaster ride it has been on for much of the season.
Butler said the Patriots’ inability to put an entire game together has led to the up-and-down play. He said things have changed where one unit will play well one week while the other will struggle.
Last week against Jackson Academy, Butler felt Heritage Academy moved the ball well at times but hurt itself with costly penalties and mistakes that made it difficult to stick to its ball-control plan. He said the team took lessons from that loss and is ready to implement them tonight.
“Even during games we have roller coasters,” Butler said. “We just have to be more consistent and shooting ourselves in the foot with turnovers and penalties.”
Heritage Academy committed four times in the first half against Madison-Ridgeland Academy and five times against Clarksdale Lee Academy.
Those mistakes are magnified when things aren’t clicking consistently on either side of the ball. Butler said the Patriots won’t be able to do that against any of the teams remaining on the schedule, including Magnolia Heights (1-5, 0-1) if it wants to have a chance to extend its season into November.
“It all starts with intensity,” Butler said. “Get excited about playing, have fun. That’s the reason we do this. It is supposed to be fun. The only way I know how to have fun is to get after folks and to win some games. That helps everybody out. It becomes contagious.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 36 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.