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Heritage stumbles out of the gate
The Heritage Pride entered their season opener Aug. 31 at home versus South Lakes without their top two quarterbacks, Kyle Nelson and Zach Gordon, and standout lineman Chas Barcelona, among others, due to injuries.In order to overcome those injuries, Heritage would need to play a clean game against the Group AAA Seahawks, a member of the Liberty District.
That did not happen for the Pride on Friday night as four turnovers and numerous defensive penalties spelled doom in a 12-7 loss.
“Those fumbles hurt us. Those penalties hurt us, too. We have to play smarter. That’s what we have to do,” Heritage coach Wes Driskill said. “I’m proud of my team for the way we fought out there. We stayed in the game. We could have hung our heads, being down 12-0. We just have to learn from this and quit beating ourselves.”
South Lakes running back Brandon Price played a big role in his team’s road victory. The junior rushed for 117 yards and two touchdowns, both in the first half as the Seahawks led 12-0 at halftime.
Heritage junior Ross Madison was moved from running back to quarterback for this game. Madison proved very effective with his feet in the second half, rushing for 126 of his 144 total yards and a touchdown over the final two quarters.
But the Pride’s passing game struggled as the converted running back completed three of 13 passing attempts and was intercepted twice. Pride senior Nick Cadwell carried the ball 11 times for 55 yards and also had three sacks on defense.
“South Lakes had a good running attack there in the first half. We started getting going some in the second half,” Driskill said. “I thought Ross Madison did a real good job coming into that kind of situation. He’s our best running back and we had to put him in at quarterback.”
After totaling 61 yards of offense in the first half, the Pride came out strong in the second half. Heritage collected 44 yards on six consecutive running plays to open the third quarter before a holding penalty stalled the drive.
The Pride’s defense gave their offense the ball back when Michael Massey stripped the ball loose on the Seahawks’ second play of the next series and Curtis Rustin recovered the fumble at the South Lakes’ 35-yard line.
Madison set up a first and goal on the ensuing drive with an 18-yard run and scored three plays later on a five-yard scamper. Josh Thiel’s extra point brought the Pride within 12-7 with 4:39 left in the third quarter.
After both team’s offense stalled in the opposition’s territory on the next series, South Lakes took over again on its own 32. The Pride forced a punting situation for the Seahawks near midfield with just over three minutes left in regulation when another costly penalty struck.
Heritage was whistled for an equipment violation (believed to be a player not using his mouth guard). The infraction gave South Lakes a first down and the chance to run precious time off the clock as the Pride were out of timeouts.
Heritage finally regained possession after a punt at its own 37 with 48 seconds left. The Pride moved the ball into Seahawks territory at the 49, but Madison’s last gasp pass was batted down around the 20-yard line as South Lakes held on for the win.
“Every team has to learn how to grow, how to handle themselves and how to bond and certain things,” said Driskill, who stated after the game that there is a decent chance both quarterbacks and Barcelona will return for the Sept. 7 game versus North Hagerstown.
“I think we took some steps tonight. But you can’t have those penalties and those turnovers.”
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