Patriots Fall to Wildcats

   A six-yard rushing touchdown at the 8:16 mark of the first quarter by Cedric Partinger lifted the visitors to the early 7-0 lead. Franklin-Simpson held AC-S at bay before the rest of the quarter before adding a “surprise” score on the final play of the first quarter. Omar Harrison broke loose for a 60-yard touchdown run---a score that came as the result of a defensive breakdown.

   “We had a miscall on our defense,” coach Brad Hood admitted, adding, “That play kind of summed up how we started the game. We were just very lackadaisical and on our heels and not firing on our cylinders. I don’t know if it was nerves, if it was Franklin. We just wasn’t ready to come out swimming. That play should not have happen. We were just not prepared and that play kind of explained the first of the game.”

    The Wildcats’ Cole Hollinsworth added a 39-yard field goal at the 5:28 point of the second period. The long boot lifted the Wildcats to a commanding 17-0 lead. However, the Patriots refused to go down without a gallant effort the rest of the way.

   “That was when our defense held their chest out,” coach Hood “Our offense had drove the ball once and turned it over on downs. We had an interception. We had gave them everything in the world. Our defense held them to a fourth-and-long and made them kick the field goal. That slowed down the bleeding. That was the moment I knew we were going to fight and from then on, it was a different football game. It was our game.”

   The Patriots counted with a big play on defense near the three-and-a-half minute mark, recovering a loose pigskin before the Wildcats were able to retrieve the ball.

   “Noah (Kinslow) ended up with the ball,” Hood said. “Dillion (Rookstool), Will Moore, and Landon Witcher came in and that ball went shooting out. That was huge down 17-0. We got a good break..”

  The turnover led to an 11-yard scoring run by Jaquez McPeak at the 46 second mark of the first half. Thorny Walker point after pulled the Patriots to within 10 at the break.

   AC-S followed the first score with a quick score to start the second half. Rookstool capped the scoring drive with a 16-yard run.

   “Both our fullbacks (McPeak and Rookstool) were brute and power,” Hood noted. “On the touchdown, Dillion had his head down and had the mindset that he was going to score. Both our fullbacks are big, have a low center of gravity, and are hard to wrap up. They are both really strong, you are not go to bump them down. Dillion did a great job there and Jaquez had some big runs.”

   The Wildcats took advantage of a short field late in the third. After a short Patriot punt, the Wildcats marched 26 yards to add a 14-yard receiving touchdown by Andrew Ogles at the 1:47 mark of the third.

   AC-S answered less than five minutes later. Landon Witcher’s five yard run capped a scoring drive that brought AC-S to within three again, 24-21. However, the play of the drive was a leaping pass reception by Jax Cooper---a pass from the hands of wide out Brandon Baxter. The 39-yard pass play would be followed by the score that had AC-S within the contest with 9:20 left.

“Brandon has the strongest arm on the team.” Hood explained. “We had worked on that play this week and we needed a spark right there. Brandon set his feet and let it fly. Jax made a heck of a catch.”

Franklin-Simpson kept the ball on the ground and scored their final touchdown on a five-yard run at the 6:51 mark. Chase Gooch’s score and the point-after gave the Cats a 31-21 lead.

“We weren’t down but it was hard to overcome,” Hood noted. “We had a few dropped passes and got in a situation where we had to go for it on fourth down.”

Witcher led the Patriot running game, finishing with 70 yards on 14 carries. Close behind was Trace McIntyre who rushed for 58 yards on 12 attempts---including a long first half run down the Wildcat sideline. McPeak finished with 58 yards on 12 carries with Rookstool rushing for 20 yards.

McIntyre finished with eight pass completions for 55 yards while Bazter’s lone pass went for 39 yards. Cooper had two grabs for 48 yards. Zane Ward, Nick Grissom, and Noah Kinslow also caught seven balls in the game for a combined 37 yards.

Defensively, sophomore Christopher Holland was in on eight tackles to lead the way with sophomore Will Moore recording seven total tackles.

AC-S (1-5, 1-1) will travel to Danville (1-4) to face the Admirals---a team that did not play an entire game last week due to lightning. . 

“They will have a lot of speed,” Hood said. “They are young right now. Danville has played a hard schedule. They have a good quarterback and receivers. They will be rested. There is a lot of pride at Danville. It’s a tough place to play.”

Kickoff Friday is slated for 7 p.m. CDT.