The Winston Patriots were going head to head with the powerful Simpson Cougars after one quarter of play last Friday night at Patriot Field until a very controversial fumble recovery by the Patriots changed the momentum of the game. Trailing 13-7 early in the 2nd quarter, an obvious fumble recovery at midfield was reversed to allow Simpson to retain possession, and in return, turned the water off on the Patriots and saw Simpson take a 40-7 lead into halftime.
Simpson added the first points of the night when 6'3" 230, Caleb Garner, who has committed to Air Force Academy, scored his first of four, first half touchdowns to put Simpson on top 7-0. A determined Patriot offense, led by the hard running of J.J. Beamon marched down field and answered back. Expecting Beamon to punch it in from the 1 yard line, Brylee Wall through the defense off guard when he hit
Cage Palmer across the middle on a quick look in pass to tie the score at 7-7 after his PAT kick with 2:32 left in the opener.
Simpson would then march right back as Garner added his second score of the night with the PAT failing to end the first quarter scoring. It was then after the start of the second quarter that the fumble play occurred and Simpson starting their scoring show. Every possession in the second quarter for Winston ended in a punt and every possession for Simpson ended in a score except for one, in which Jack Wooten recovered a Cougar fumble at the Simpson 39 yard line with 2;06 before intermission.
With Simpson leading 40-7 to start the second half, they continued to pour on the points with another score on their opening possession to send the clock into a continuous run, leading 47-7. But the following kickoff showed that the Patriots still had a heartbeat as Cage Palmer took it 70 yards for the score with Brylee Wall's PAT making the score 47-14 with 8:50 left in the third quarter. Both teams then put punted back and forth to each other until 3:20 left on the clock. It was at this point that Palmer added his third touchdown of the night when he hauled in a perfect pass from Wall and raced 80 yards for the touchdown and PAT to follow to send the score to 47-21.
With no more scoring for the night, the Patriots saw their record drop to 2-5 as the clock ticked down. Although the score was bad and the life was taken from the Patriots in the second quarter, the old saying "coulda -woulda - shoulda" , remains a mystery due to the controversial call. With Winston gaining 85 yards in rushing, they were lead by J.J. Beamon's 83 yards. The passing game saw Brylee Wall complete 5 passes for 100 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Luke Dempsey was credited with 21 yards in passing. The leading receiver was Cage Palmer with 114 yards and 2 touchdowns. He also returned a kickoff for 70 yards and the score. The defense saw Tanner Boater and Michael Majors lead the attack with 7 each. They were followed by Jody McCorkle with 5 and Jack Wooten with 4 and a fumble recovery. So as the playoff picture now comes into play,
Winston will face Canton this week and Clinton Christian next week at Patriot Field. The Patriots are currently 0-1 in district play but the next two games play an important role in looking past the regular season play. Game time is set for 7 PM.
Patriots looking to regain physicality moving forward
By Robbie Faulk
Winston County Journal
It was another big game for Winston Academy against a quality opponent, but it was a familiar result as the Patriots came out with the loss against Simpson Academy.
There’s a lot of things that are going right but a lot more things have gone wrong that keeps them from getting over the hump and winning the big ones. Head coach Pat Byrd was frustrated with the inability to get the job done on defense the last two weeks against two quality offenses in Tri-County and Simpson.
“I thought for about a quarter and a half offensively we moved the ball well. Defensively we never played well,” Byrd said. There wasn’t much positive to find from the way that we played on that end. We got a couple of turnovers but they missed another one that was a turning point in the game.
“We’ve got to regain the ability to play physical football. We’ve got to learn to be physical play after play and we can’t turn it on and off.
The loss dropped the Patriots to 2-5 on the season but they’re just 0-1 in conference play with the next two games coming up against Canton Academy and Clinton Christian being crucial. They’re still very much in position to make the team’s first playoff appearance since 2012, but they’re going to have to take care of business.
That starts this Friday for Byrd as they host Canton. The Panthers (1-6) have struggled all season with injuries but Byrd said they’re beginning to get healthy again. They just returned one of the team’s best players in Mississippi State baseball commit Dakota Jordan.
The sophomore has been hurt all season but played last week in a 49-7 loss to Greenville Christian. WA would go a long way in pushing themselves into the playoffs with a win on Friday night.
“They’ve got good size up front on defense and like to stunt a lot. They leave some gaps open so I hope that we can run and throw the football on them,” Byrd said. “Their best athlete is Dakota Jordan and he cracked a vertebrae in his back in baseball but he’s back this week. He played wide receiver and cornerback last week and he gives them another dimension.”
Game time at Patriot Field is set for 7 p.m.
