The Heritage Academy football team still has business to attend to this season.
While the Patriots enjoyed checking off the No. 1 goal on their list last week, coach Sean Harrison said his team re-focused this week so it will be ready to take care of the remaining goals on the 2018 to-do list.
A victory against Canton Academy at 7 p.m. Friday will help Heritage Academy win the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools (MAIA) Class AAA, District 2 title outright, which is another one of the goals on the team’s agenda.
Harrison said there were plenty of things to correct after watching the film of his team’s 21-7 victory against Starkville Academy last week in Starkville. He credited the Volunteers for identifying a few areas the Patriots need to address. Still, he praised his team’s effort against the reigning Class AAA State champion and felt it was a key ingredient in the road victory.
“It makes our lives easier when they’re going out and playing with that sort of focus and intensity snap after snap after snap, and that’s what we saw on that film,” Harrison said.
Entering this week, Heritage Academy (7-2, 3-0 district) is the No. 3 team in the MAIS’ Class AAA Power Points. The No. 1 team in each of Class AAA’s five districts earns a top-five seed in the playoffs, which will begin next week.
Heritage Academy moved up among the potential district champions earlier this week after Adams County Christian Academy was forced to forfeit its first seven games for using an ineligible player. ACCS still can qualify for the 16-team playoffs if it beats Central Private on Friday.
A No. 3 seed would play at home for the first two rounds of the playoffs. The No. 2 seed would play host to the semifinals prior to the state title game, which will be Nov. 17 at Jackson Academy.
Heritage Academy, Starkville Academy, and Leake Academy likely will advance to the postseason out of District 2. Winston Academy (13.4 power points entering Friday’s game) also could earn a playoff spot. Canton Academy (4-5, 1-2) would need to beat Heritage Academy and receive some help to receive an at-large bid based on points.
Harrison hopes all of his players watched the film of the game against Starkville Academy and realize what they are capable of accomplishing as a unit. He credited defensive linemen Eli Acker, Clay Walters, Fox Walters, and Ethan Bumgarner for their efforts in controlling the line of scrimmage. Harrison said the Patriots used Bumgarner about 15 snaps against the Volunteers. He said it was the first time they used four guys up front this season.
“They have been causing havoc all year,” Harrison said of the defense. “It really takes those front seven guys all together. One group could be really good and one group could be bad and they’re all bad. When we put Ethan in there with them, we were able to bump Clay and Eli out at true ends. I thought they did a great job closing out on the power and counters.
“Clay has just been such a solid rock for us the past two years at that defensive end spot. Eli is probably playing more defensive end than we would hope, but it is what it is. He is doing a great job. … It is getting to the point in practice where it is really hard to run a scout offense because of those three.”
Harrison said linebackers Parker Ray, Moak Griffin, Rocky Wright, Austin Dotson matched the intensity of the guys up front and helped contain Starkville Academy’s ground attack. He said the Patriots will need that kind of focus the rest of the way if they are going to realize their ultimate goal and win a state championship.
“When you play a great team, field position and defense are the two biggest things,” Harrison said, referring to the game against Starkville Academy. “Offensively, I was proud of our guys that they understood sometimes we kind of live off that home run ball and it didn’t come — and we knew it wouldn’t come very often — so I was proud of them for playing relaxed and for taking care of the football and keeping Starkville pinned deep. The couple of times they got us pinned, we were able to pick up a few first downs and Lex (Rogers) did a great job punting and kind of put it in the defense’s hands.”
Harrison also hopes the Patriots can get some players back from injuries to provide a lift in the playoffs. Even if no one returns, Harrison believes the lessons the Patriots learned in beating their archrival should give them plenty of motivation for a postseason push.
“There is a sense of price. They did the work. They went and got the district championship,” Harrison said. “But on the other side of that, the celebration had to be short-lived because we have a good Canton Academy team coming in here on Friday.”
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 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.