Tri-County made no bones about what its game plan would be on Friday night against Winston Academy and there was nothing that the Patriots could do to stop it.
The Rebels were hosting the Patriots in WA’s first conference game of the season and they rushed it 52 times with just six passes. After all was said and done, the home team had racked up 480 yards rushing and the Patriots couldn’t quite overcome the offensive production in a hard-fought 41-20 loss that dropped them to 2-4 on the season.
WA head coach Pat Byrd was proud to see his team hang in there against a tough opponent late in the game, but there are a few things that he wants cleaned up.
“We got it to the fourth quarter and it was a one-score game. I didn’t think that we defended the run well,” Byrd said. “But overall, we got better from the week before and they’ve done that since week one.”
WA’s offense has steadily improved with each passing week and is becoming efficient on the ground and through the air. Sophomore Brylee Wall has become a weapon in the passing game with his 6-foot-2, 190-pound stature and he again had a nice game with a 15-for-29 showing for 228 yards and two touchdowns. Cage Palmer has been his favorite target and he racked up 11 catches for 167 yards and both scores.
The team also had 20 carries from Jett Joiner for 80 yards and a touchdown.
Tri-County went up 7-0 on the first possession with a 39-yard run making it 7-0 just two minutes in, but the WA defense buckled down and didn’t allow a score the rest of the quarter forcing a punt and a fumble that was recovered by Joshua Mcginnis.
The Patriots drove 91 yards after that fumble and capped the drive with Wall hitting palmer for a 17-yard score to even things up at 7-7.
Tri-County came back in the second quarter and would score again with a three-yard run and took the lead again at 14-7 but WA missed some chances as the quarter went on. After getting another fumble recovery as Fletcher Mercer scooped this one up, the Patriots had the ball with 1:50 left in the half. They took a shot down field and the Rebels picked it off. They would score just a couple of plays later on an 11-yard touchdown run to take the 21-7 halftime lead.
The lead went to 28-7 in Tri-County’s first possession of the second half as they broke off a 26-yard run quickly and the Patriots’ chances were growing thin.
“We took a chance throwing the ball down the field and we probably shouldn’t have. They ended up scoring,” Byrd said. “They did the same thing in the first possession of the second half. We dug ourselves in a hole, but they battled back.”
There was no quit in this young group of Patriots. They answered back with back-to-back touchdowns to cut the lead to 28-21. Jett Joiner scored on a 1-yard run and Wall hit Palmer again for an eight-yard touchdown and suddenly they were in the game in the final quarter.
But the Rebels were too strong on the ground. Cade Shepard reeled off his second and third touchdown runs in the final quarter, the second of which padded the score late in the game and gave the Rebels a three-score win.
It was a disappointing loss for Byrd and his group but it gave them a good idea of where they’re at as a team and how far they have to go. Considering they were right there in the fourth quarter, the how far isn’t very far at all. The Patriots feel they are pretty close.
While the team is full of youth and inexperience, Byrd is seeing his players begin to grasp what it takes to win ball games.
“We try to make them understand that effort alone isn’t what it takes, you’ve got to execute it too,” Byrd said. “That’s the next step in the progression. You’ve got to do things right at critical times.”
