BIGGERSVILLE - Did he or didn’t he . . . as in did or didn’t Noah Madan get into the end zone before being stripped of the football early in the fourth quarter here Friday night?
That was the million dollar question many of the Patriot faithful pondered following Biggersville’s rain-soaked 33-13 victory over Heritage Academy.
“I thought I got in (end zone),” Madan said. “I went back and looked at it . . . one angle it looks like I scored, then another angle it looks like he knocked it out of my hands just before I scored. I don’t know. It was a big play for sure. But there were a lot of big plays in that game.”
Indeed. On the possible game-altering play in question, Madan, a shifty athlete who splits time between receiver and running back, hauled in a short pass from quarterback Thompson Regimbal and meandered his way through the Lions’ defense. He briefly appeared on his way to a 35-yard touchdown. One problem: 34ish yards into the play, a hustling Biggersville defender surprisingly caught up to Madan from behind and popped the ball loose. The ball eventually rolled out of the back of the end zone. After some discussion and deliberation - and ultimately consternation along the Heritage sidelines - officials ruled the play a touchback.
So instead of the Patriots cutting the lead to seven, possibly six, and making things parallelly spicy and dicey, Biggersville was awarded the ball at its own 20-yard line. Drama averted, narrative altered. Seven plays later, the Lions scored again to push the lead to an insurmountable 20 points, putting the finishing touches on the intersectional MAIS-MHSAA matchup.
Biggersville improved to 2-0. Heritage, playing on the road for the first time this season, dropped to 0-3.
Agony aside, big picture looking, while Heritage remained winless it was apparent they made considerable progress during the bye week. The Patriots displayed marked improvement on both sides of the ball, and in the process competed with a Biggersville team that most expect to compete for the MHSAA Class 1A state championship. The Lions return 16 starters from last year’s team which finished 12-1 and advanced to the third round of the playoffs. Meanwhile, the Patriots are still searching for answers and trying to find their collective way after losing 15 starters from a year ago.
Crawl first, then stand, then walk, then run, then fly right?
“We had some turnovers that really hurt us, but overall it was a lot better,” first-year Heritage coach Tobias Smith said. “A lot of these guys are still learning what it takes to win . . . on every play. We’re getting better. We showed that tonight.”
After mustering just six points through its first two games, Heritage doubled that with 13 points. The Patriots scored their first first quarter touchdown, and actually led for the first time this season. They rushed for 109 yards - 104 more than they had totaled in their first two games combined. They had 14 first downs, matching their previous season total. They were highly competitive through the better part of four quarters, something that couldn’t be said in losses to Hartfield Academy (26-0) and Winston Academy (35-6). The youthful offensive line blocked better in the run and pass game. And the defensive line, led by powerful nose guard Radarron Leech, was the most disruptive it’s been.
Bottom line, a loss is a loss. However, all things considered, this one felt a tad different. When you’re accustomed to winning as Heritage has in recent years, the term moral victory isn’t exactly part of the vocabulary. The word progress, for this year at least, has become a part of the vernacular on 625 Magnolia Lane.
“We’ve got so many young guys playing for the first time really,” Madan said. “It takes time.”
The timing couldn’t be any better for Heritage as the progress made coincides with the start of district play. The Patriots host Pillow Academy Friday at C.L. Mitchell Field. The Mustangs enter 1-2 with a narrow win over Lee Academy in their season opener followed by blowout losses against Jackson Academy and Jackson Prep.
Heritage has owned the district, and Pillow for that matter, in recent years. The Patriots have won 30 of their last 31 district games en route to five straight and six of the last seven district titles. They have won six straight over Pillow, eliminating the Mustangs from the playoffs two of the last four seasons. Pillow’s last win over Heritage (28-20) came on Sept. 14, 2018.
“It’s a big game, no doubt,” Smith said. “We need to get this one, I know that. One thing you know about Pillow is that they’re going to play hard.”
Heritage played hard against Biggersville, but the 1-2 combo of Jason Hatch and Tre Gunn proved too much. Hatch, a fleet-footed Louisville commit, finished with 145 yards on 13 carries. He had scoring runs of 30 and 37 yards, and also added a 18-yard touchdown reception. Gunn, the other half of the Lions’ dynamic duo, had 53 yards on six carries including a 23-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to account for the final margin. Quarterback Drew Rowsey (8 of 16 -101 passing yards) also added a 3-yard touchdown run for the homesteading Lions, who finished with 349 yards of total offense. Gunn and Rowsey are Itawamba Community College baseball commits.
Hatch certainly was a home run hitter Friday. Once he got to the edge, as he did on both touchdown runs, there was no catching him. Touch ‘em all as they say on the diamond. “He’s really fast,” said Madan, who had 48 yards on eight carries and 43 yards on three receptions.
Hatch’s exploits overshadowed another good game by Heritage’s jack-of-all-trades, Cameron Kidd, who has accounted for all four of the Patriots’ touchdowns this season. A senior and only returning offensive starter from a year ago, Kidd hauled in a pair of touchdown passes, including a nifty 40-yarder in the first quarter to stake the Patriots to an early 6-0 lead. Kidd caught the short pass from Regimbal in the flat, split a pair of would-be tacklers around the 35-yard line, then somehow eluded two more defenders along the sideline while maintaining his balance all the way into the end zone.
After Biggersville scored touchdowns on three straight second half possessions to take a 20-6 halftime lead, Heritage countered with Kidd’s 18-yard touchdown reception late in the third quarter to cut the margin to seven, 20-13. Kidd, a two-way player who plays in the secondary on defense, had three catches for 74 yards and also added 44 yards rushing on 10 carries in his first start at running back. It was one of a handful of changes made by Smith and his staff during the bye week.
“That one definitely paid off,” Smith said, with a smile. “I like him back there.”
One thing Smith didn’t like was the four turnovers. Heritage fumbled the ball three times and Regimbal (14 of 24 - 170 yards) threw one interception in the wet conditions. One fumble led to a quick Biggersville touchdown and another, of course, took away the touchdown in the fourth quarter. The other two turnovers took place inside Lions’ territory (27/34 yard lines).
The Patriots also committed four turnovers in the season-opening loss to Hartfield. Interestingly enough, they had none in the Winston loss.
“We’ve got to clean (turnovers) up,” Smith said. “Hopefully, we can put it all together against Pillow.”