In a game that started as a knock down drag out event, it ended in a one sided shooting as the visiting Leake Rebels easily defeated the Winston Patriots by a score of 43-8.
Winston got on the board early after a Leake punt snap went over the punters head and the Patriots took over on the Leake 21 yard line. Plays later, Luke Dempsey connected with Noah Dempsey down the sideline for a 21 yard touchdown pass. The try for two was successful with Noah Dempsey found Nash Vanlandingham open in the end zone to put Winston on top early 8-O.
But the Rebels did not like the trailing score and marched back down the field to tie the game at 8-8 with 5:44 left in the opening quarter. Early in the second quarter, the Rebels added another score to take the lead 15-8.
Following a Winston punt, Jackson Joiner stopped anoter Leake scoring opportunity when he pulled in an interception at the Leake 7 yard line. But Winston shot themselves in the foot on the following possession with a Pick 6 interception to fall deeper behind 22-8. The bad luck bug continued when the Patriots fumbled on the following possession at their own 20 yard line. Leake's powerful running attack showed out again as they ran in another score to make it 29-8 as all first half scoring came to an end. The Rebels would come back out the second half to open with another score to send the runaway game to 36-8 with only 49 seconds expired in the second half. After a following Winston punt, Leake put the nail in the coffin with another score to put the game in a continuous running clock situation with the score at 43-8 with 3:30 left before the start of the final quarter of play. A glimmer of life was then shown on the next Leake possession when Chandler Wells recovered a Leake fumble near mid field. Still unable to find first down yardage, the Patriots punted with 8:05 remaining.
Again the Winston defense showed a heartbeat when they blocked a Leake punt to take over at the Leake 20 yard line. But the turnovers continued for the Patriots with another interception to end all hopes of scoring again, and saw the clock run down to zero with the Leake Rebels taking the district game 43-8.
Winston's bad night of offense saw a negative 6 yards in rushing accumulated. J.J. Beamon and Noah Dempsey had the only positive rushing numbers with 9 and 4 respectively. The passing game had Luke Dempsey completing 3 passes for 22 yards and one touchdown, while suffering 2 interceptions. Noah Dempsey was the receiving leader with 2 catches for 20 yards and a touchdown. The defense had Jackson Joiner credited for an interception, while Chandler Wells and Hoyt Hendrix had fumble recoveries. The tackle chart had Nash Vanlandingham with 8 stops and followed by Cole Ellingberg with 7. Flowing the leaders were Josh Mcinnis with 6 and J.J. Beamon and Jody McCorkle, each with 4. So as the hopes of winning a district game was washed away, the Patriots still have a chance of ending with a positive note as they travel to Winona this week to take on former Winston coach, Jr. Graham. This will be their last chance to shine and, that they will do!!! Game time is set for 7:00 PM.
Pats looking to close out with win
By Robbie Faulk
Winston County Journal
Pat Byrd wanted more consistency from his team after the loss to Heritage Academy last week, and it looked like he had it early on Friday night against arch rival Leake Academy.
A touchdown pass to Noah Dempsey gave the Patriots an 8-0 lead and put a jolt into the fans at Patriot Field and the players, but Leake would return the favor, and more. The Rebels scored 43-consecutive points to win the game and it was once again a night of frustrations for a Winston team that went winless in league play once again.
Most discouraging was the fact that the Patriots still couldn’t produce offensively and they managed just 16 yards total on that side of the ball with negative six yards rushing. They also gave up 227 yards rushing on defense which had been a relative strong point over the season.
At 2-7, the Patriots have only one game remaining on the schedule to try and avoid its worse record since 2015. Winona Christian and former WA coach Junior Graham will be the opponent on Friday night as the Patriots will take to the road to finish out the season and try to do it in style.
The challenge will be difficult as the Stars have had a nice season at 6-3 and they finished 4-0 in District 1-AA play this season with wins over Carroll Academy, Central Holmes, Oak Hill and Marshall. Graham’s team has been challenged this year as he split with two public school teams losing to French Camp Academy 45-18 in week one and beating Ethel 39-14 the next week.
They also went head-to-head with defending Class AAA state runner up Indianola Academy two weeks ago resulting in a 35-6 defeat, but the challenge will have them prepared for Winston to close the season.
