The Heritage Academy football team’s confidence continues to grow.
That’s a good sign for third-year head coach Sean Harrison because the Patriots are moving into the stretch run of a regular season schedule that will help determine if they are able to accomplish all of the goals on the check list that rests against a far wall in the team’s field house.
“The past two weeks we have gotten back to going out there and having fun,” Harrison said. “There are plenty of mistakes on film, but none of those are effort mistakes, so that is what I have been proud of the last two weeks.”
Kelvin “K.J.” Smith had 31 carries for 235 yards and four touchdowns to lead Heritage Academy to a 41-20 victory against Leake Academy last Friday in Madden.
Carter Putt was 12-for-19 for 216 yards and two touchdowns to help the Patriots improve to 5-2 and 1-0 in the district.
Heritage Academy will try to build on that victory at 7 p.m. Friday when it plays host to Winston Academy (2-5, 0-2) in another Class AAA, District 2 game.
“I was proud of the kids for executing the game plan to run the football and then run it some more,” Harrison said. “I just felt like we a clear advantage up front. I am really proud of those guys for going ahead and taking advantage of that.
“K.J. continues his role. It has been fun to watch K.J. If you go from week one to week seven, it is remarkable how much faster he has gotten.”
Harrison attributes Smith’s success to his losing 10 pounds since the start of the season. He also feels Smith is more comfortable in the offense and know what he needs to do to be successful. It also helps, he said, when you’re a bruising north-south runner who makes it tough on would-be tacklers.
“He has gotten out of the habit of making people miss. He runs through people,” Harrison said.
Harrison also praised the efforts of senior Noel Fisher. He said Fisher had a couple of big catches and had an interception, pass breakups, and tackles from his safety position to help solidify the secondary.
Through seven games, Heritage Academy (261 points) is ahead of its scoring pace from the last two seasons. A year ago, the Patriots scored 202 points in their first seven games en route to a total of 313. In 2016, Harrison’s first as head coach at the school, the Patriots scored 258 points in their first seven games. They went on to score 35 points or more four more times in a 10-3 season that helped them finish with what is believed to be a program-record 486 points.
Heritage Academy advanced to the third round of the MAIS playoffs in 2016. This season, all of the goals the Patriots have listed on their checklist are still in play. To get there, Harrison knows his team will have to get healthy. In previous weeks, numerous Patriots have been out of action and have been seen wearing protective boots on the sidelines. Harrison said Wednesday more players are losing their boots each week. He added he expects to have at least two of those players back next week for what could be a winner-take-all game against Starkville Academy for the district title.
Harrison has said all season he likes the maturity and the leadership of his team. He hopes the return to health of players continues to bolster the team’s depth for what he hopes is a long postseason run.
“We’re looking at being as close to healthy as we were when we started rolling into playoffs,” Harrison said. “We’re still with the theme of every week getting better at what we do and worrying about us and making sure we execute what we’re supposed to execute and in three weeks we will be where we want to be.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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