Barrett Donahoe doesn’t like the modus operandi the Heritage Academy football team has been using the past three weeks.
The M.O., or method of operation, the Patriots have followed has put them by at least two scores in the first quarter against Clarksdale Lee Academy, Pisgah, and Starkville Academy.
Just like in the first two games, Heritage Academy couldn’t overcome an early two-touchdown deficit in a 35-14 loss to Starkville Academy on Friday night in a Mississippi Association of Independent Schools Class AAA, District II game at C.L. Mitchell Field.
“That’s our M.O. apparently because it happens every week,” Donahoe said. “We did it at Clarksdale Lee, we did it at Lamar, we did it last week at Pisgah, we did it this week against Starkville. That is what we just talked about. I begged them. I told them, ‘Guys, we focus on it as coaches. Can you focus on it as players on how we have to be better early? We have to do that and figure out a way.”
Donahoe said if he had answers to explain why the Patriots have started so slowly the past three weeks it wouldn’t have happened again. Still, Heritage Academy was back in the game after an 80-yard touchdown run by Dontae Gray with 7 minutes, 6 seconds left in the third quarter. Michael Ledbetter’s kick cut Starkville Academy’s lead to 21-14.
But the Volunteers (5-1, 1-0 district) showed why many consider them to be the favorite to win Class AAA. Quarterback Houston Clark (9 of 14, 201 yards) hit wide receiver Colt Chrestman with a 15-yard quick-hitter that helped make it 28-14.
On their next possession, Clark and Chrestman hooked up again, this time on a 24-yard pass to the right corner of the end zone.
Donahoe pointed to a play on Ledbetter’s extra point that might have contributed to his team losing the momentum. On the kick, senior offensive lineman/middle linebacker Thomas Cooper had someone roll into his leg and was forced to leave the game. He didn’t return. Cooper said the injury was diagnosed as a sprained medial collateral ligament. He said he planned to go to the doctor Monday to get a full diagnosis.
Without Cooper, Donahoe said Heritage Academy had trouble containing Starkville Academy’s running game. The Volunteers gained 169 of their 247 yards rushing in the second half.
“It knocked the wind out of our sails in a big hurry,” Donahoe said. “Who gets hurt on the extra point? That is just a freak thing that happens.”
Cooper said Heritage Academy can take positives from the fact it played with a team that many consider to be the favorite to win Class AAA. Still, he said moral victories are little solace when you keep making the same mistakes every week.
“We had them on the ropes,” Cooper said. “We moved the ball on them pretty much all night. We think we are just as good as they are. We could have easily beat them, but they are a pretty good team all around.”
Ledbetter, a senior running back/defensive back, said the “roughest” part of the game is the first few minutes when players are trying to work the nerves out and settle down. In the past three games, the first quarter has proven to be the Patriots’ biggest problem. Against Clarksdale Lee Academy, Heritage Academy fell behind 21-0 in the first half before battling all the way back, only to lose 35-34. Last week, Pisgah jumped out to a 14-0 lead en route to a 45-24 victory.
The script held true Friday night, as Starkville Academy needed seven plays and 2:58 to take a 7-0 lead on a 1-yard sneak by Clark and an extra point by Sam Cox. The Volunteers built on that momentum thanks to a sky kick that Gray was unable to field inside the 20-yard line. Three plays later, Clark scored on a 13-yard option keeper and Cox’s kick made it 14-0 only 4:28 into the game.
Heritage Academy assistant coach/defensive coordinator Bruce Branch challenged the Patriots after the Volunteers’ second score by saying, “Act like you want to be out here.”
Ledbetter said the Patriots’ inexperience could play a role in the team’s recent inability to start quickly. But he also said he gets caught up in the excitement at the beginning of games and he is one of the team’s most experienced players.
“Like coach said before we left the field, if you take away the first five minutes of the game away it is a 21-14 game,” Ledbetter said. “There are times in the game when we didn’t respond well, and that’s what hurt us.”
Heritage Academy was able to move the ball for significant stretches once it gained possession. The Patriots used an 11-play, 69-yard drive in the first quarter to cut the Volunteers’ lead in half. Heritage Academy showed good balance on the drive, as quarterback Dylan Barker, who has moved into the starting lineup due to an injury to starter Tyler Anderson, was effective running the read option and keeping the football or giving it to Gray (15 carries, 98 yards). Barker, who rushed for 51 yards and threw for 74, also completed two passes on the drive.
But that was by far Heritage Academy’s best drive of the evening. In nearly every other drive, the Patriots committed one or two mistakes — a dropped pass, a penalty, a loss of yards on a read option, a sack — had something happen to knock them of their rhythm — Ledbetter lost an ear piece in his helmet on the first series of the third quarter — or committed a turnover (two interceptions by Barker).
Despite the miscues, Donahoe and his players know they can reverse their fortunes and get back on track. Heritage Academy will face a challenge next week when it plays Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 1A member West Lowndes. After that, Heritage Academy gets back to MAIS Class AAA, District II action with a game against Winston Academy.
“We have to come in Monday with our heads up and have people step up and be leaders,” said Ledbetter, who paused as he watched Cooper shuffle past him on crutches. He said “definitely” when he was asked if he was going to have to be one of the players who emerged to help the team find its way and get back on track.
“Me being a senior, I have made more mistakes and I have put that on myself,” Ledbetter said. “I feel like I have made more mistakes this year than I ever have.”
Cooper will have to wait to get his diagnosis to see if he will be able to be an active participant in the Patriots’ climb back to .500. He admitted he took a “selfish” late hit penalty in the second quarter that gave Starkville Academy a first down. Starkville Academy then used six running plays to extend the lead to 21-7 on a 7-yard option run by Drake Gordman.
“I think we have the momentum, we have the energy. We just have to put it all together and come out here and make it happen on Friday night,” Cooper said. “We had good practices this week all week. We had a lot of energy, but the first quarter is hurting us. We are slow. We have to fix that down the road.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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