Patriots Overwhelmed by Cougars in Round 1 Playoffs
By: Leigh High School Journalism Staff
After a season of ups and downs, the Clarkson-Leigh Patriot football team, with a 5-3 record entering the game, qualified for the Class D1 Football Playoffs as the #11 seed in the West. This paired them with #6 seed Cross County, a rematch from the first game of the season that saw the Cougars defeat the Pats.
Despite feeling more prepared the second time around, the 7-1 Cougars were still too much for the Patriots to handle. After a 6-22 deficit at halftime, the Patriots went on to fall to the Cougars 12-45.
“Cross County is a great team. I thought our guys played extremely hard and battled to the end,” Head Coach Jim Clarkson said.
Senior quarterback Eli Hays led the Patriots with 113 rushing yards and 51 passing yards. The team’s two touchdowns came from senior Carter Hanel and junior Kyle Kasik. Junior Drew Beeson and sophomore Dylan Higby led the way on defense with 7 and 6 tackles respectively. Senior Kanyon Held added 5 total tackles.
This loss brought the Patriots’ final record to 5-4. The Cougars advanced to the second round of the playoffs to take on Weeping Water.
“I am super proud of how our guys played some of the best teams in the state this season,” Clarkson said. I truly believe we are a top ten team, but the cards did not fall our way. This senior class was a great representation of how we want our players to play. It was a great group to be around day in and day out.”
Game Stats:
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
Clarkson-Leigh: 0 6 0 6 12
Cross County 8 14 16 7 45
Individual Stats:
(rushing yards, passing yards, receiving yards, touchdowns, total tackles)
Eli Hays—113, 51, 0, 0, 1; Kanyon Held—7, 0, 0, 0, 5; Kyle Kasik—29, 0, 34, 1, 3; Ryan Brichacek—0, 0, 0, 0, Carter Hanel—3, 0, 17, 1, 1; Dylan Higby—35, 0, 0, 0, 6; Mason Whitmore—0, 0, 0, 0, 1; Drew Beeson—0, 0, 0, 0, 7; Dalton Zulkoski—0, 0, 0, 0, 1; Cooper Vance—0, 0, 0, 0, 2; Mitch Beeson—0, 0, 0, 0, 1;