COLUMBUS — For the first half of their game last night in Columbus, Heritage Academy owned the field against Kemper County, racing out to a 24-point lead.
But for the Patriots, Friday night was a tale of two halves.
The teams’ first-ever matchup featured a huge second-half momentum swing in which Kemper County outscored Heritage, 14-0.
Fortunately for the Patriots, they brought a 37-13 lead into halftime and held on for a 37-27 win.
The Patriots started out strong, scoring a touchdown 30 seconds into the game. Heritage quarterback Joshua Tate managed to get his team to the end zone in only two plays, setting the momentum for the game early.
“I mean, I feel like the other team knew that’s how we were coming,” Tate said. “We were going to set the tone.”
The Wildcats quickly answered with a score of their own, but Tate was just getting started.
On the next drive, he found Chris Willis for the Patriots’ second touchdown of the game.
“Chris Willis, he’s the guy,” Tate said.
On Kemper County’s next drive, running back Damarius Yates made it to the end zone. Then Willis ended the first quarter with his second touchdown of the night, leaving the score at 22-13.
After their initial flurry, the Wildcats were stymied in the second quarter, white Heritage running back Tyler King found the endzone twice, leaving the Patriots plenty of breathing room headed into the half.
Heritage head coach Tobias Smith was pleased with what he saw from his team in the first half.
“We just played whole, we played together, and you know we fought our butts off,” Smith said. “They did too, we were just fortunate enough to make some big plays, but we came out and played hard.”
The second half, however, was an entirely different story, as the Patriots were held scoreless in the third and fourth quarters.
“It’s our first time having to play a four-quarter game so it was tough on us, you know, the sweat and the energy that you’re exerting,” Smith said.
The Wildcats scored a quick touchdown to begin the half to cut the lead to 17 before another Patriots drive stalled. Kemper County scored again, cutting the lead to 10. On a subsequent Heritage possession, the Wildcats’ Demarcus Bester snagged a Tate pass for an interception, putting a seemingly easy win suddenly at risk. But, the Patriots’ defense held firm, ending the threat.
“I knew it was big, I knew we had to step up and our guys did exactly that,” Tate said.
Smith was proud of the victory, despite some uncomfortable moments in the second half.
“We had some guys that, you know, would have to get in and step up – some younger guys that had to step up and play a lot of plays,” Smith said.
Looking ahead to the remainder of the season, Smith knows that there is work to be done. But he’s proud of his team for securing the win this week. There were only three components that Smith said his team needs to focus on at upcoming practices.
“Blocking and tackling, and we’ve got to get more conditioning for sure,” Smith said.
The Patriots (3-0) remain undefeated while Kemper (0-3) remains winless. Heritage will host Copiah Academy on Friday in a non-region matchup.
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