FB Team 1-0 to Start Season
This last Friday, August 26, was the kick off of what everyone hopes to be a great Patriot football season. And boy was it a pretty good start with a 56-38 win over the Exeter-Milligan/Friend Bobcats. This is the first time the Patriots have started the season 1-0 in four years.
All of the hard work that was put into this summer and all the hot long practices really showed in the second half of the game.
In the first quarter, the Patriots controlled the game, taking an early lead 14-0. But it was a back-and-forth game after that, with the Patriots scoring another touchdown in the final seconds before halftime on a pass from junior quarterback Ryan Brichacek to senior Mason Whitmore in the corner of the end zone. This made the score 28-14 heading into half.
After halftime, the Bobcats refused to lay down, outscoring the Pats 12-6 in the third quarter. But in the final quarter of the game, the Patriots took charge once again, putting up 22 points to the Bobcats’ 6, making the final score 56-38.
Special teams struggled a bit throughout the game, as two of the Bobcats’ touchdowns came from kickoff returns for touchdowns, one in the first half and one in the second half.
But the backfield all ran very well throughout the entire game, with Bricacek, as well as seniors Kyle Kasik and Drew Beeson, and junior Dylan Higby all having a really strong game.
Higby and Beeson also led the team in tackles, with 10 each.
Junior Dylan Higby said, “We came out and played really tough. We made mistakes but that’s pretty common for the first game so we’ll get back to practice and fix them.”
Assistant coach Jeff Bachman said, “It was a good first win for us. We have things we need to clean up going forward but we took care of what we needed to secure the W.”
Look for a good matchup next week, as the Patriots will take on the Pender Pendragons on September 2. Note the earlier start time at 3 pm in Pender.
Game Stats:
1 2 3 4 Final
CL 14 14 6 22 56
EMS 0 12 12 14 38
Individual Stats: (rushing yards, receiving yards, passing yards, touchdowns, total tackles)
Mason Whitmore – 12, 61, 0, 1, 5; Kyle Kasik: 115, 32, 0, 3; Ryan Brichacek – 79, 0, 110, 1, 1; Dylan Higby—60, 0, 0, 1, 10; Jase Indra—0, 0, 0, 0, 3; Drew Beeson—22, 17, 0, 10; Dalton Zulkoski—0, 0, 0, 0, 2; Joey Steffensmeier—0, 0, 0, 0, 1; Trey Steffensmeier—0, 0, 0, 0, 3; Christian Hamernik—0, 0, 0, 0, 1; Samule Pocasangre—0, 0, 0, 0, 1; Korbin Lemburg—0, 0, 0, 0, 3