Patriots Battle the Bobcats
Friday, August 25, the Patriot football team battled against Exeter-Milligan-Friend in the opening game of the 2023 season. Going into the game, the Patriots were ranked pre-season #3 with EMF ranked #5 by Neb Preps.
After finishing last year with a win in Lincoln, the outcome of the season opener was not what the Patriots hoped for, coming up short, losing 38-58.
The Patriots started off strong scoring on their first drive. It was a back-and-forth game for the first quarter. The Patriots led at the end of the first quarter 16-14. It was a battle in the second quarter with the Bobcats scoring 8 to the Patriots’ 6. This tied the score at 22-22 going into halftime.
After halftime the Bobcats came out strong, outscoring the Patriots 22-8. Making the score 44-30 going into the final quarter. The Bobcats continued to run the ball and score another 14 points to the Patriots’ 8 in the fourth quarter. This final score ended 38-58, Exeter-Milligan/Friend winning.
Senior Dylan Higby had a great night on both sides of the ball, leading the team in rushing, touchdowns and tackles.
Head Coach Mr. Jim Clarkson said, "Friday night’s game with EMF was disappointing from a scoreboard perspective, but the game exposed some things in our team that we need to work on to improve and in the long run. We hope that a learning experience like that will help us get to where we want to go. We look forward to the next opportunity."
Senior Andrew Rivera said, “I think that we walked into the game thinking we were unstoppable, and later realized that it was going to be a hard game. I think if we on defense could have wrapped up and made more tackles, we would have come out of the game with a win. But it was a good learning experience for the games to come.”
Game Stats- Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
Clarkson/Leigh 16 6 8 8 38
EMF (CO-OP) 14 8 22 14 58
Passing – Completions-Attempts, Yards
Ryan Brichacek—1-4, 31
Rushing -- Attempts, Total Yards
Brichacek—10, 45; Dylan Higby—18, 238; Trey Steffensmeier—1, 9
Receiving—Attempts, Total Yards
Jordan Noonan--1, 38
Touchdowns—Higby-3, Noonan-1
Tackles: Higby—13, Noonan—5, T. Steffensmeier – 6, Andrew Rivera—7, Christian Hamernik—2, Joey Steffensmeier—6, Tucker Matthies—2, Sam Pocasangre—4, Korbin Lemburg—5