COLUMBUS — Hartfield took advantage of explosive plays.

Quarterback Ethan Elliott and the Hartfield Hawks walked into Heritage Academy on Friday night and flexed their offensive weapons as they handed the Patriots a 49-21 loss.

“Our whole goal was to come out and play clean and fight to the very end of the game,” said Patriots coach Tobias Smith. “I thought we did that. That’s a really good team on the other sideline over there. They have a lot of talented players.”

Hartfield struck first as running back Collin McIntyre ran up the middle for a red zone rushing touchdown at the 7:19 mark in the second quarter.

Heritage didn’t take too long to respond as wide receiver Chris Willis hauled in a long receiving touchdown from quarterback Joshua Tate less than a minute later to tie the game at 7.

Hartfield linebacker Coleman Yoder would be next to score as he returned an interception for a touchdown with 2:47 to go in the first quarter to make it a 14-7 Hawks game

The Patriots would tie it up again as Tate would connect with Willis again on another long receiving touchdown to make it 14-14 with 10:51 left in the half.

Hartfield would reclaim the lead with their own long touchdown pass from Elliot to wide receiver Braylan Womack with 9:30 left in the second quarter. A missed PAT would make it 20-14 Hartfield.

Hartfield would add on to their lead as Elliott hit wide receiver Luke Wesson for another touchdown, then another pass to Coleman Yoder on a 2-point conversion extended their lead to 28-14 with 6:42 left in the quarter.

McIntyre would break away on a long run that gave him his second touchdown of the game, expanding Hartfield’s lead to 35-14 with less than four minutes left in the first half.

Heritage Academy cut the lead to 35-21 on a rushing touchdown from Charlie Fowler with 2:26 left in the second quarter. 

The second half started just as high-octane as the first as Womack hauled in his second receiving touchdown from Elliot just 90 seconds into the third quarter to make it a 42-21 ball game. 

Wesson would also get his second receiving touchdown at the end of the third quarter to claim the last points of the game, making it 49-21 Hartfield.

“We got some really good athletes and we took advantage of some stuff that they were doing,” Smith said of what he liked. “We got several guys that can score from 80 yards down the field. We just got to keep gelling and keep working. I’m never happy at a loss, but I’m not mad at the way we played tonight.”

The Patriots travel to Starkville to play rival Starkville Academy on Friday.