The roller coaster is back on the rise.
Judging by the way the Heritage Academy football team executed Friday night in a 56-21 victory against Magnolia Heights, there is no telling how high or how fast the Patriots will be able to go.
Cade Lott rushed for three scores, Brandon Bell threw for two more, and Tyler Marchak scored on a 75-yard run and on an interception return to help the Patriots (3-4, 1-1 Mississippi Association of Independent Schools Class AAA, Division 2, District 1) snap a three-game losing streak and stay alive for a playoff spot.
“The option game was good to us tonight,” Heritage Academy coach Brad Butler said. “We have run a pretty good of option, but with the way we have turned the ball over and not gotten into a rhythm, it takes that away from you. Second-and-15 and third-and-15, it takes you out of your games.”
Butler said Heritage Academy saw how Magnolia Heights (1-6, 0-2) used its ends on defense and how other teams attacked the defense and felt confident it could have similar success. He said mixing Lott and Bell at quarterback gave the Patriots a nice blend of passing and running options and helped the offense find a rhythm that was missing last week in a 42-0 loss to Jackson Academy.
Butler said it also helped that the Patriots cut back on penalties and didn’t commit a turnover.
Lott, who played wide receiver when he wasn’t under center, set the tone in the first quarter with a nifty play on the read option. He held the ball out for the running back until the last half second and then pulled it back and must have heard Butler’s shout to “Score” as he rumbled 17 yards for the game’s first score.
“We ran option a lot in practice this week,” Lott said. “It is just a read and reading that end. He dove in on Brandon and I just pulled it, and it was wide open from there.”
Lott said the success the Patriots had against the Chiefs gives him confidence they can use it the rest of the season. After the game, the Patriots celebrated scoring their most points in a game since Oct. 15, 1999, in a 60-7 victory against Cruger-Tchula by jumping up and down 56 times.
“We were down after last week a little bit, but this was a must-win game and we got it,” Lott said. “We have a tough road ahead.”
Magnolia Heights needed six plays to tie the game later in the quarter.
Bell balanced the offense in the second quarter when he hit Tyler Knight on a screen pass. Knight then broke two tackles and scored on a 22-yard run with 8 minutes, 59 seconds left before halftime.
“Tyler Marchak played a heck of a game tonight,” Lott said. “He is a great athlete. Tonight he showed out.”
Marchak (five carries, 105 yards) provided separation as he intercepted a pass and returned it 26 yards for a score. The extra point failed to extend the Patriots’ lead to 20-7 at the 3:50 mark.
Heritage Academy used a back-breaking scored just before halftime to take a 28-7 lead. Bell connected with Marchak, who broke a tackle at the 20 and then didn’t listen to Butler and stayed inbounds on his way to a 40-yard score. Bell added the conversion run.
“It helps out both ways (having him and Lott at quarterback),” Bell said. “It gives us a double threat. We’re mixing it up every game.”
Lott scored on a 1-yard plunge to cap a 10-play drive to start the second half. Magnolia Heights’ kick return for a touchdown provided a respite before Marchak helped the Patriots regain the momentum by sweeping left and racing 75 yards untouched.
A 21-yard run by Lott (six carries, 45 yards) and a 5-yard run by Taylor Fields capped the scoring for the Patriots, who had 294 rushing yards and 164 passing yards.
“I thought coach (Steve) Morgan and the offense did a good job tonight getting the personnel we wanted,” Butler said. “We took advantage of what they gave us, got the run game going, and hit some passes.”
Heritage Academy plays at Oak Hill Academy next week before having an open week. Butler hopes the next two weeks will help the Patriots build momentum for the final two weeks and games at Washington and at home against Pillow Academy that likely will determine the team’s postseason fate.
“I thought we played hard,” Butler said. “We had a little letdown. We kicked the ball off and let them get a cheap one (on an 80-yard kick return) and we had them in third-and-long and let them get a long run (for a touchdown). That kind of marred it a little bit because we had played so well on defense and even in our special game.
“Those two plays are going to stick out in my mind. If those wouldn’t have happened, I would have said that is about as good as you can play … It is nice to be able to give up two like that and still feel pretty comfortable about the way things are going. This is what we’re looking for, and I hope we just take this thing and start that roller coaster heading back up. We need to keep it heading all the way to the top to finish this thing out.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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