Barrett Donahoe wants physical play to be the calling card for the Heritage Academy football team this season.
Coming off a scrimmage at East Rankin Academy last week in which he felt that trait was lacking, Donahoe was pleased with how his team responded Saturday in a 12-0 victory against Winston Academy in Louisville.
The teams played two 15-minute quarters in their final tune-up for the first game of the 2012 season next week. Heritage Academy will kick off the Donahoe era at 7 p.m. Friday when it plays host to the Lamar School.
“I felt like we played pretty good,” said Donahoe, who coached football at Copiah Academy and at Marshall Academy prior to becoming football coach and athletic director at Heritage Academy. “I thought overall we played with some intensity. … It was pleasing to see how physical we played up front.”
Donahoe said his team worked on improving the physicality of its play all week. He believes the Patriots do have some strong kids on the roster and that is something they will have to use to their advantage if they are going to have success this season. Delivering an effort like the one they did Friday night is the first step, Donahoe said.
“We feel when it is time to be physical we can put the most physical team on the field,” Donahoe said. “I am pleased with the way executed our run game scheme, we tackled much better, and we still have a long way to go. I feel we were the most physical team on the field (Friday night), and I hope that carries over to the season.”
Parker Dunaway scored on a 30-yard pass from Cade Lott in the first quarter. Hunter Anderson added a 35-yard touchdown run in the second quarter to account for the scoring. Donahoe said Anderson, Parker Short, Parker Turner, Cade Upton, Lott, and Hudson Bean all contributed in the ground game. He said it is imperative all of those players play a role without senior Miller Puckett, who is out with an injury.
“Our ability to give it to that many guys and gain positive yards is what we hoped to accomplish last night,” Donahoe said. “I think overall that group was very good. They don’t have the most experience as far as varsity running sets, but they understand our run scheme and they understand what we’re trying to do (out of the pistol). All of our running backs ran the ball downhill and had a lot of success gaining positive yards. I think it is going to be something that carries over to the season.”
On defense, Donahoe said Heritage Academy “swarmed to the ball” and played extremely well. He praised the efforts of Brady Clark and Bryant Bonner for playing solidly and showing him the team has more depth on its lines than he might have thought. He also said Mark Thatcher, who had an interception, and Dunaway were key in coverage and that Anderson played well at middle linebacker.
“We tackled well and, once again, we were physical,” Donahoe said.
Oak Hill Academy, Immanuel Christian each win quarter
WEST POINT — If Donahoe was pleased in his team’s performance, new Oak Hill Academy coach Daniel Merchant also was pleased with his squad effort Friday night.
Oak Hill Academy, which is coming off an 0-10 season in 2011, lost to Pickens Academy (Ala.) 7-0 and defeated Immanuel Christian 8-0.
Like Donahoe, Merchant, who coached at Nettleton last season and coached football and baseball before that at Immanuel Christian, has been preaching physical play to his squad. He liked how the Raiders responded as they continue to prepare for their season opener next week against Newton County.
“I think the nerves got to us in the first quarter,” Merchant said of the initial 20-minute quarter with a running clock against Pickens Academy. “We played a lot more physical and got after the ball on defense and scored when we had to (against Immanuel Christian).”
In the first quarter, Oak Hill Academy had a touchdown called back and it fumbled the ball and gave Pickens Academy a short field, which it capitalized on to score that quarter’s only points.
In the second quarter, the Raiders capitalized on a fumble by the Rams and scored on a 3-yard pass from Conner Baird to Drake Riley. Jeb Stevens had the two-point conversion.
“We did a better job running the ball,” Merchant said. “We had runs of 30, 8, and 15 yards and did a better job up front blocking against Immanuel than we did the first game.”
Merchant also was pleased with the play of his defense. He said Drake Riley had five tackles, a sack, and a forced fumble, Joseph Caskey had four tackles and a fumble recovery, and Dakota O’Bryant had three tackles and a forced fumble.”
Immanuel Christian defeated Pickens Academy 21-19 to take a positive out of its opening night. Justin Tate, the brother of former Starkville High School standout and current Mississippi State University track and field standout Tavaris Tate, had a 70-yard touchdown run and caught a 70-yard touchdown pass from K.C. Cunningham. Joshua Dantzler also had a 50-yard touchdown run.
“We looked pretty good,” Immanuel Christian coach Greg Watkins said. “We have some things we still have to work on. There were some defensive assignments that we blew, but I think we took a pretty big positive out of it.”
Watkins liked how his team responded having to play back-to-back quarters. He said that should help prepare his team for its season opener next week at Winona Christian. Unfortunately, Watkins said the Rams will have to do a better job of keeping the football. He said the Rams committed several unforced mistakes that hurt them.
“We can’t make mental mistakes and take plays away from ourselves,” Watkins said. “We had about five or six of those. We showed we can score on any play, so taking away a play could be a touchdown. We have to make sure we execute a whole lot better.”
Watkins hopes his players learned Friday how important turnovers will be to the Rams. He believes everyone on offense appreciates having to hold on to their blocks at least a second longer to give Tate and Dantzler enough time to make a second player miss. If they do that, it could translate into six point for Immanuel Christian.
“The backs and receivers did a pretty good job (blocking), and I think everyone saw the urgency of holding the blocks to give the guys an opportunity to make some plays,” Watkins said.
Watkins also was impressed with the play of Cunningham, who is in his first year as the team’s starter at quarterback.
“K.C. did a real good job,” Watkins said. “He had a couple of good runs, he executed on his fakes, and did the option a few times and read that real well. He is picking up his reads a whole lot quicker than I expected. If we can just keep progressing right there I think K.C. is going to make an outstanding QB.”
West Lowndes loses to French Camp
MABEN — Second-year Anthony King’s team didn’t score, but he still took plenty of positives out of a loss to French Camp at West Oktibbeha County High School.
“Overall, we did real good,” said King, who is in his second season as coach at the school. “We need to work on our special teams.”
Despite the 11-0 loss, which included two safeties and a blocked punt, King liked how his defense responded. King talked in the preseason that the Panthers would have to be more aggressive this season if they were going to improve on a 2-9 finish in 2011. Judging from that unit’s effort Friday night, King feels they are on the right track.
“They were fast and physical. That’s what we wanted,” King said. “We have worked hard in the weight room (in the offseason and in the preseason). I think the offensive line did a good job for a young line.
“We got some good work in, and I take nothing but positives from it. We know what we have to work on for next week.”
West Lowndes will play host to Montgomery County next week.
n In the other quarter, East Webster beat West Oktibbeha 7-6 in the other scrimmage. Wilbur O’Briant scored for the Wolverines, while Tiberias Lampkin scored on a 6-yard run for the Timberwolves.
n In other action Friday night, Central Academy didn’t score in a controlled scrimmage against Calvary Christian and Kemper Academy in DeKalb.
The Vikings ran 10 offensive plays and had 10 plays on defense against both teams.
Russ Taylor and T.J. Coleman led the offense, while Taylor, Coleman, and Colby Robbins were the leading tacklers.
Softball
n New Hope 12, North Pontotoc 2; New Hope 28, Union 10: At Eupora, The Lady Trojans had an offensive explosion coach Tabitha Beard said may have been the biggest since she has been coach of the program.
New Hope clubbed two home runs in its first game of the day at the Eupora High tournament and than smacked 11 home runs and had 37 hits in its second victory.
“That was amazing,” Beard said.
Against Union, Kaitlin Bradley was 4-for-5 with a double and a home run, D.J. Sanders was 4-for-4 with four home runs and a walk, Lauren Holifield was 5-for-5 with three home runs, Kasey Stanfield was 4-for-4 with a double and two home runs, McKenzie Harvey was 3-for-5 with a home run, Erin Stanfield was 5-for-5 with a double, Ashley Reed was 3-for-5, Taylor Blevins was 2-for-4, Kaitlin Oswalt was 3-for-4, R.J. James was 3-for-4 with a triple, and Anna Kate O’Bryant was 1-for-1.
In the first game, Bradley was 4-for-4, Sanders was 3-for-4 with two doubles and a home run, Holifield was 2-for-2 with a home run and two intentional walks, Harvey, Erin Stanfield, and James were 1-for-3, and Reed and Oswalt were 2-for-3.
Bradley got the victory in the first game.
New Hope will play host to Smithville at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Heritage Academy volleyball wins
The Heritage Academy volleyball team evened its record at 1-1 Saturday with a 3-1 victory against Amory at the Mississippi University for Women’s Star Recreation center.
“With two matches under our belt, you can really see the hard work that the girls put in in the spring an in the summer paying off,” Heritage Academy coach Liz Fields said.
Natalie Harvey, Harli Sesser, and Mary Douglass Kerby led the offense in the victory.
“It was a well-deserved win,” said Liz Byrne, who works with Fields as coach of the team. “The girls had great chemistry and teamwork.”
Fields said Molly Chain had at least a 10-point service run to lead the Lady Patriots to a 2-0 victory in the junior varsity match.
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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