All Mac Barnes and the Lamar School football team needed was a second chance Friday night.
Denied a scoring opportunity by a pass breakup by Heritage Academy’s Brandon Jones on the final play of the second quarter, the Raiders went into halftime holding a tenuous 13-6 lead and knowing they needed to come out in the third quarter and make a statement.
Barnes didn’t need to a big halftime speech to emphasize the importance of the first five minutes of the second half.
Judging from the way Lamar School responded on its first drive out of the locker room, someone must have said something because the Raiders erased the Patriots’ momentum and delivered a drive Barnes loved.
“I felt one more touchdown would be real big,” Barnes said. “Whoever won the first five minutes was going to be really critical.”
JD Lee capped an 11-play, 52-yard drive with a 2-yard touchdown that helped propel Lamar School to a 26-6 victory against Heritage Academy at C.L. Mitchell Field.
“They whipped us,” Heritage Academy coach Sean Harrison said of Lamar School’s scoring drive. “The defense showed a lot of guts there at the end of the first half and held them out. We had all of the momentum in the world and they came out and went on a heck of a drive. Hats off to their coaches and their kids. They outcoached us and outplayed us on that drive. That was essentially the ballgame. It was a heck of a drive by them.”
JT McClelland (10 carries, 141 yards) rushed for 30 yards on the drive, while Lee tacked on 18. The Raiders used eight rushing plays on the scoring march that used 3 minutes, 50 seconds and helped them seize control.
“They know the next series is important,” said Barnes, whose team rushed for 288 yards on 44 carries. “We try to wear people out and slow the game down from a speed standpoint. I thought we did that. We’re much better running the football this year than I thought.”
McClelland slipped a tackle and raced 58 yards on third-and-3 in the fourth quarter to seal the deal for Lamar School, which used a solid defensive effort to bottle up Heritage Academy’s running game of Dontae Gray (10 carries, 44 yards) and Dylan Hughes (eight carries, 36 yards).
“We had played two games and they hadn’t really played any,” said Barnes, whose team improved to 2-0. “That was the advantage. We were just ready more for 48 minutes than they were. They’re good. They’re going to go a long way this year.”
Lamar School, which is a Mississippi Association of Independent (MAIS) Class AAAA, District 3 team, defeated Winston Academy 41-6 in its regular-season opener. It also played Bessemer Academy (a 35-13 loss) in a full 48-minute game on Aug. 13.
On the other side, Heritage Academy was coming off a 50-6 victory against Columbus Christian Academy last week in which the Patriots led 37-0 in the first quarter. The running clock was in effect in the second quarter. Heritage Academy also played Pillow Academy, Simpson Academy, and Madison St. Joseph in abbreviated scrimmage/jamboree settings in the preseason.
Harrison felt the experience the Raiders brought into the matchup played a difference in the outcome.
“Conditioning wise, we can run them all we want, but until you play you’re not in game shape,” Harrison said. “I think we need to get a little tougher and fight through when they get tired. I thought they left it all out there. We played hard for the most part. Lamar did a great job using their tempo to run us into the ground.”
Harrison talked in the preseason about wanting to bring an up-tempo style of play to Heritage Academy. The Patriots didn’t get a chance to show much of that last week against the Rams. They tried to go quickly early against the Raiders and had some of their biggest success in the first quarter. Following two ineffective drives, Heritage Academy needed only five plays to complete its scoring drive. The Patriots ripped off gains of 7, 5, and 8 yards before Hughes went 16 yards to give the Patriots a first-and-goal. The tempo of the ground game forced Lamar School to call a timeout out with 3:10 left in the quarter. Gray scored on a 7-yard run on the next play. The Patriots missed the extra point to take a 6-0 lead.
But Gray had only five carries after that and the Patriots never seemed to find a rhythm on the ground or through the air. Quarterback Tyler Anderson was 4 of 20 for 29 yards. Anderson deserved a better fate because many of his balls were in places for his receivers to make plays, but they couldn’t hold on.
“When we moved the ball, we just didn’t finish,” Harrison said. “We didn’t finish catches, we didn’t finish runs, we didn’t finish blocks. We left a lot of points on the board, Their coaches and players did a great job.”
Harrison feels the Patriots will be able to use more tempo as the season progresses and the players get in better shape. He credited Barnes and his coaching staff and the Raiders for looking a little more polished. He said the Patriots looked like they were playing their first game and will have to clean up those mistakes in practice.
“We’re not finishing,” Harrison said. “That is something we’re going to work our butt off in practice to fix. It will come. They are great kids. They are great athletes. It will come. We just have to do a better job as coaches.”
Harrison said he planned to stress that message in the next week to help his team prepare for a trip to West Point to face Oak Hill Academy on Friday. While pleased with the effort on a hot, humid evening against a quality opponent, Harrison knows his team has work to do if it is going to contend for a title in Class AAA, District 2.
“I am not down on our kids in the least bit,” Harrison said. “We came out and competed. That is what I tell them every day I want. We clean up the execution. Tonight it was better coaching, better playing, better executing on their side. If we clean some stuff up we’re a dangerous ball club. There is no doubt.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.