Patrick Henry kicked the football season off in style with a 52-6 triumph over Greenwood Christian last week.
The SCISA 8-man state runner-up dominated Greenwood Christian, in its inaugural season, after a two-hour lightning delay.
"I do realize that the team we played was very inexperienced, but we can't downplay the level of intensity of Patrick Henry's young team," Patrick Henry coach Mike McCoy said.
Patrick Henry, behind senior running back Austin Rowell and sophomore quarterback Grant Youmans, raced out to a 32-0 first quarter lead with Rowell and Youmans each scoring twice. The scoring continued in the second quarter with another touchdown by Rowell and a 4-yard run by freshman Joseph Wilson. The Patriots led 46-0 at the half.
Prior to the season, McCoy was worried that his team would not be able to block for Rowell. He said his offensive line was inexperienced.
However, Jacob Barnes at fullback is trying to fill the shoes of former four-year starter Tucker Swofford. Barnes rushed for 18 yards and had one touchdown.
"Jacob's stats do not indicate what he did, but he did open a lot of holes for Austin," said McCoy. "I feel like Jacob will help us a lot as the season moves along."
With his team's help, Rowell was able to rush 222 yards on 20 carries, scoring 22 points on the night with three touchdowns and two conversion runs. Youmans also shows great promise scoring the two first-quarter touchdowns and two two-point conversions for 16 total points with 114 yards rushing.
"Grant looked more comfortable running the offense and he will help us tremendously this season," said McCoy.
Cody DeWitt led the Patriots in tackles with seven, Jason Davis had five and newcomer Emanuel Curiel had four.
After falling into a deep deficit, the Hawks changed offensive formations from the spread to the Wildcat. But that didn't stop the Patriots.
"We did spend most of the week preparing for spread offense, so I would have to commend our players and coaching staff for making the necessary adjustments defensively," said McCoy.
Because of the lopsided score, McCoy was able to play his entire team. Greenwood Christian didn't score until the fourth quarter, when a two-yard run by the quarterback scored the first points in the Hawks history.
Next, the Patriots will host W.W. King Academy at 7:30 p.m. Friday. This is W.W. King's first year in the 8-man division. They were previously an 11-man team.
"W.W. King is a very fast team," said McCoy. "They are very aggressive and are hard hitters...This opponent is very experienced and aggressive, which will be a contrast to the team we just played."
The Patriots played the Knights for the past two seasons as an 11-man team and lost both games by 40 points or more.
"Our team has a lot of respect for W.W. King because they have soundly beat us the last two seasons and should be one of the top teams in 8-man football this season."
In addition to the Patriots playing W.W. King on August 27 at 7:30 p.m., Estill plays Battery Creek at home this week at 7:30 p.m. and Wade Hampton plays Allendale-Fairfax on the road at 7:30 p.m.