A taste of success finally hit Winston Academy players over a week ago when the team let its frustrations out on Sylva Bay in a 35-7 blowout win on the road. It was the first win of the young season for a team that hasn’t been able to enjoy many of those over the last few years.
This week presented new challenges for the Patriots. It was homecoming week and Pat Byrd was worried about his group of players remaining focus as things went on whether it be junior/senior wars, dress-up days and everything else in between. A sluggish start in the game proved some of those worries true but WA exploded late in the game against Oak Hill to take home a 34-20 win and give the Patriots their first back-to-back wins since 2017.
“There was a lot of stuff going on and I thought they handled that fine. We missed some chances in the first half to make it a more clear-cut win but it was just 13-6,” Byrd said. “It should have been 21 or so. We’ve got to learn to put our foot on somebody’s throat.”
Jackson Joiner and Jody McCorkle helped carry the load for an offense that had a lot of success running the football. Joiner rushed 20 times for 109 yards and McCorkle had 16 carries for 89 yards and two touchdowns. Overall the group rushed for 233 yards.
Sophomore Brylee Wall continued to improve at quarterback as he was 12-of-15 passing for 157 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. He completed his final 11 passes to help the Patriots in a second half when they badly needed a boost.
“He is getting better. He’s making better decisions,” Byrd said of Wall. “Like most kids with strong arms, they think they can throw the deep ball all the time. He’s starting to figure out that those underneath routes are what win you football games. He helped us win because of those on Friday.”
Cage Palmer was Wall’s go-to receiver amassing nine catches for 136 yards and a touchdown, but Johnson Wells came up with the two touchdowns from Wall and added 12 tackles on defense.
WA came out in the game and trailed early when Oak Hill scored a touchdown with over 6 minutes left in the first quarter to go up 6-0. The Patriots would answer back quickly driving the ball down the field and McCorkle scored from five yards out to knot the game up at 6-6 through a quarter.
It was 13-6 at halftime thanks to Wall’s 12-yard passing touchdown early in the second quarter but Byrd felt there were opportunities wasted. In the third quarter, Oak Hill took advantage of new life.
The Raiders came out of the locker room with a 64-yard passing touchdown right away then scored again on the next possession to take the lead back at 20-13. Byrd felt his team was capable of pulling the bootstraps back up and going to work after getting popped in the mouth.
“I didn’t see panic in their eyes when they went up 20-13,” Byrd said of the team. “That was a big deal. In their mind, they thought they were the better football team and that’s what we needed.”
From the 6 minute mark of the third quarter on, the Patriots took over. McCorkle broke off a 35-yard touchdown run to tie the game going into the fourth. In the final quarter, the Patriots retook the lead they wouldn’t lose at the 9:26 mark with a touchdown pass and they got another one for good measure in the final three minutes to close it out as Joiner threw a pass to Palmer for the score.
Byrd was proud of the resilience from a team that has worked hard to get on track and get better every week. They lost the opening game to Leake Academy 43-0, fell to Winona Christian 32-13 and then had a tough 21-20 loss in overtime to East Rankin. But back-to-back wins has this team playing with confidence as district play has arrived.
WA starts things off with a bang this week as it travels to the toughest opponent to date – Tri-County. The Rebels are out to a 4-1 start with one of the toughest offenses to defend in MAIS 4A. So far the Rebels have beaten Greenville Christian, Sylva Bay, Carroll and Canton with a one point loss to undefeated Riverfield.
Byrd wants to see his team be the best that it can be to give them a chance.
“I want to see them not blink. I want to see them wade up in there and play the best football game we can play and see where it shakes out at the end,” Byrd said. “They’re a lot like Leake with some great athletes and a really good quarterback. You can tell that he’s a fierce competitor that plays hard. Their running back is greased lightning and we can’t afford to let him get in the open field. We’ll have to play our best ball that’s for sure.”
