Brad Butler hopes the roller coaster is on a permanent upward trajectory.
One week after scoring a season-high points in a victory against Magnolia Heights, Butler said the Heritage Academy football team had one of its best weeks of practices of the season in preparation for its game at 7 tonight against Oak Hill Academy (0-7).
While tonight’s game won’t affect the Patriots’ standing in Mississippi Association of Independent Schools Class AAA, Division 2, District 1, it will help build momentum for the end of the season.
“That’s the problem we have had,” Butler said. “We have followed wins with sub-par performances, and that has put us in the position we’re in. For us to get to the point we want to get, we have to get some momentum and keep some momentum. We just have to take care of our business.”
Heritage Academy (3-4) has an open week next week before it closes the regular season with games against Washington and Pillow Academy. The game against Washington will go a long way to determining Heritage Academy’s postseason fate.
But with that games two weeks away, Butler wants his team to hone its execution and play with the intensity and the effort on both sides of the ball it showed last week. 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 snap a three-game losing streak and stay alive for a playoff spot.
Butler isn’t allowing his players to relax because Oak Hill Academy is winless. He knows from past experience anything can happen, especially when a team plays at home against one of its rivals.
That’s why Butler wants his player to focus on execution. Last week against Magnolia Heights, Heritage Academy took care of the football and delivered one of its most physical efforts on defense. Butler said the Patriots need that kind of effort on both sides of the ball if they want their season to last more than three more games.
A crisper and more balanced effort on offense also will help the Patriots realize that goal.
“We had six or seven different guys touch the ball,” Butler said. “When we can do that and take some pressure off Bell and take some pressure off Lott, we become a lot better offensively. When they have less pressure on them, they can make a play here or there.
“Marchak had a big game for us. … Hudson Bean got some totes and caught some passes, and Brad Dickey caught some passes and Parker Turner (contributed). There were a lot of guys that went into it. For us to win big-time football games, that’s what we have to have.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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