One Down For Winston 3 to Go`

The Patriots came into the game this week against Copiah thinking that they had this first round in the bag. I mean who wouldnt? Copiah came in as the number 4 seed and a wildcard out of the South while the Pats were the number 1 team in the entire state. And also the Colonals were a meger 6-5 taking on an undefeated Winston bunch. So no problem right? Wrong. Copiah came out firing and put some points on the board after recovering a Winston fumble on the first play of the Patriots Second drive. Starting on the Winston 30 after two failed trys on good drives before, Copiah marched it into the endzone on third and goal to go from the 1. Not only did they get six but they pulled out the kitchen sink and passed in a two point conversion on the old swinging gate extra point set. After trailing 8-0 though the Patriots would push it down the field thanks to Tyler Dalton running the football as he hit the sideline and turned on the after-burners for a long touchdown run. What made this run all the more impressive was the fact that T.D. was virtually playing on one ankle as he was definitely not 100% coming into the game after last week which proved for the first time in his two year starting career that he isnt "quite" superman. But tonight he wouldnt go quietly as he would put his powerful arm to use. With just a 1 point lead and a little over 5 min. left in the half again Copiah would march down the field as they had done the entire first half led by their quarterback and talented receivers, and they stuck it into the endzone and this time kicked the extra point for a 15-7 lead. The Patriots failed to score on the ensuing drive and Copiah had the lead at halftime. But hear came the Patriots. Their first two plays in the second half were incompletions to Austin Harrison and Dylan Morgan respectively but then came the third down strike in the middle of the field to Morgan. Morgan got one on one with his defender and took off down the sidelines for 6 more and the capacity crowd went into wild. T.D. and the offense stayed in the game as Coach Rogers elected to go for two to tie the game up. Austin Harrison came in motion and took the handoff off the right side and tied the game up to give Winston new life. A three and out stop by the D ( the first such of the game) caused a punt. Austin Harrison took the catch and carried it all the way from his own 40 to the Winston 17. The Patriots though couldnt do anything with the ball and they called upon Dylan Morgan for a long 37 yard field goal. "True Blue" connected and the Patriots took their first lead of the game, one they would never relinquish. It was then the defense's job to take care of buisness and take care of it they did. A fake punt turned into an interception by Caleb Kelly and Winston had the ball right back. Winston's offense would once again go through the air and once again to Dylan Morgan who caught another one for a touchdown. Unsportsman like conduct was called after the play and Dylan was forced to kick a 35 yard extra point which he wouldnt even be close to missing. The Patriots then had a 25-15 lead coming into the fourth quarter. Copiah would drive downfield after a fair kickoff return and having to do without their quarterback the entire second half finally proved affective as they used the tailback taking the snaps and running around the tackle. The Pats though finally stopped em and forced a field goal that would slip in and give them their only points of the half but also get the game back to a touchdown with 9 min. remaining. Winston gave the ball back to them but held them on fourth down and again got the ball back this time with 5 min. left. Thats when winston put the game away as on 3rd down and 3 at the Copiah 20, T.D. caught the defense off guard and hit Austin Harrison on a screen where he was one on 0ne with a defender down the sidelines and ran bounced off the defender at the 5 and dove into the endzone. Another Winston stop on a Copiah 4th down and ran out the clock to end the ball game. Coach Wyatt Rogers definetly felt the heat in this game as this one was the toughest battle yet that the Patriots have had. The South usually the strong part of the state sent their weakest team from the playoffs and gave the best team in the state all they could handle. But once again Winston showed how powerful a team they are in the second half as they outscored Copiah amazingly 25-3. The Patriots now turn to Lee Academy a team they will meet for the third time in the last 4 years in the playoffs. The Patriots won last years game against their south foe at their place but this will be the first time Clarksdale as come to Winston as the last two games have been at Clarksdale Lee. It proves to be another good contest against the powerful South teams as Winston tries to continue their quest for a State Championship and prove that they deserve to be the number 1 team in the state and prove that the North is just as strong if not stronger than the south. C0me out and support your Patriots next week.

Winston to Play Copiah

Winston Academy will take on Copiah Academy in the First Round of AA playoffs this Friday night at Patriot Field. Dont know a whole lot about this team other than their the Number 4 wildcard and that their out of the South. If i find out something else ill be sure to blog.