Patriots Drop to 0-2

With just under four minutes remaining in the third quarter, the scoreboard at C.L. Mitchell Field momentarily went on the fritz. After the lights flickered for a couple of seconds, they came back on showing the home team ahead by one point.

If only, right?

For the second time in as many weeks, Heritage Academy trailed wire-to-wire, losing 35-6 to Winston Academy on yet another steamy Friday night. The visiting Patriots scored on their first two possessions to go ahead 14-0, led 14-6 at halftime, then pulled away with 21 unanswered points in the second half to open their season in impressive fashion - much to the chagrin of the perplexed and heat-fatigued home fans.

It was a similar Groundhog Day script to Heritage’s season-opening 29-0 loss to Hartfield Academy a week ago, a game in which the offensively-challenged Patriots trailed just 9-0 at halftime before succumbing in the second half as the Hawks ran away and hid with 20 more points.

Heritage did avoid the shutout this week thanks to a 99-yard touchdown pass from Thompson Regimbal to Cameron Kidd, but that’s all the points it could manage. The homestanding Patriots, with only seven returning starters from a year ago, dropped to 0-2. They have been outscored 64-6 in their first two games – 41-0 in the second half - scoring just one touchdown through eight quarters.

Hello bye week.

“It comes at a great time for us,” first-year Heritage coach Tobias Smith said. “We’re going to look at a few things, maybe move some players around. The main thing is we’ve got to get better. That’s what we’re going to work hard toward these next couple of weeks is getting better in everything we do. . . being more consistent.”

Heritage has been consistently better than most of its competition for quite some time now, winning two state championships in the past four years and accumulating 74 wins over the past seven seasons. The Patriots have won five straight and six of the last seven district titles, losing only once in their last 31 district games. In short, it’s a proud program that’s accustomed to winning and winning big. Not losing, especially in this manner.

Cleary, this is a team experiencing some major growing pains as it looks to replace 15 starters from last year’s team, which lost only two games all season while winning 10. There are 10 new starters on offense, five along the offensive line. And life doesn’t get any easier. Following the bye week, a trip to MHSAA Biggersville awaits. The Lions were 12-1 last season and are ranked No. 3 in Class 1A entering this season.

Heritage more than doubled its offensive output from a week ago when it totaled just 68 yards against an uber-talented Class 6A defense in Hartfield, totaling 206 yards against Winston, which dropped a classification down to 4A this season. The Patriots moved the ball better at times despite a stagnant running game (19 yards on 23 carries), as Regimbal – once again under heavy pressure throughout - completed 17 of 31 passes for 187 yards. And there were no turnovers after turning the ball over four times in Week 1.

Still, it wasn’t nearly enough to keep up with Winston, namely star running back Omar Scott, who rushed for 215 yards on 20 carries. The senior started the scoring with a 2-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, finishing off a 15-play, 93-yard drive. And he capped the scoring with a 80-yard touchdown scamper down the visiting sideline with just under 10 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. For good measure, Scott also added a 31-yard touchdown reception midway through the third quarter. The athletically-gifted Scott plucked Holder Tidwell’s pass out of the air with one hand near the middle of the field, eluded three nearby Heritage defenders and raced into the endzone.

Tidwell, a junior making his first start at quarterback, was highly-effective, completing 12 of 17 passes for 165 yards. Winston finished with 435 total yards, keeping Heritage’s defense off-balance with a good mix of the run and pass. That’s something that has been missing on the Heritage side through the first two games. The Patriots have mustered only five net rushing yards on 50 attempts.

Heritage moved the ball better at times, although the lack of a running game has made sustained success hard to come by. Thompson spread the ball around to four different receivers, with Kidd (7 catches, 127 yards, 1 TD) once again leading the way. However, there were some overthrows, miscommunication on routes, a bad snap mixed in with a costly penalty here and there, etc. All making it tough to establish a flow and rhythm offensively.

“Too many blunders, too many mistakes,” lamented Smith. “And we’re not good enough to overcome those right now.”

Smith also was not happy about how is team responded after falling behind by a couple of touchdowns in the third quarter.

“We had some guys that were still playing hard, but we lost our fire and we can’t have that,” Smith said. “We have to play hard the entire game.”

After Winston went ahead 14-0 on a 55-yard touchdown pass from Tidwell to Ky Kirk, Heritage responded a couple of possessions later to close the margin to 14-6. Throwing from his own end zone, Regimbal lofted a perfectly-thrown pass to Kidd, who got behind a couple of Winston defensive backs and caught the ball in stride. He raced to the end zone untouched, giving the Patriot faithful something to cheer about. Seemingly, it appeared as if Heritage may have a little momentum on its side. It didn’t last long, however.

Kidd, senior wide receiver/cornerback and lone returning starter on offense, has been a bright spot through two games. He now has 14 catches for 198 yards and the aforementioned touchdown.

“Cameron did a good job of getting open and Thompson made a really nice throw,” Smith said. “We need more big plays like that.”

Running back/linebacker Adyn Westmoreland had a team-high eight tackles to go along with a fumble recovery and a batted down pass. He also caught two passes for 34 yards out of the backfield. The fumble came as a result of a good hustle play from Riley Almeda, who after initially being run past on the play, turned and tracked down Winston’s Reed Yates from some 10 yards or so and punched the ball loose from behind.