The future of high school football in Â鶹´«Ă˝ has some talented players in store, if Wednesday’s JV edition of Motown Throwdown is any indication.
Ball-carriers and standout defenders set the tone as the Freedom and Patton JV football teams met at FHS, with a flurry of early touchdowns giving way to a scoreless second half fueled by takeaways as the host JV Patriots won 14-12.
It was a solid consolation for those missing this year’s varsity version of Motown Throwdown.
In fashion fitting of the rivalry contest, Wednesday’s game came down to the last play of the night as Patton quarterback Greyson Sochacki took a snap from the Freedom 15-yard line and looked to pass to the front corner of the end zone, but was intercepted by the hosts’ Joe Tate, who himself was pressed into additional service due to an injury to FHS starter Ryder Huffman.
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“At that point, I saw the quarterback roll out and the fake came this way, so we had to switch on defense,” said Tate, who started several games at QB for the Patton varsity team last fall as a freshman before heading across town as part of the exodus from PHS as the school isn’t fielding varsity football this fall. “He threw it way over top and floated it, so I just went up and got it.”
Aside from a second-half falter when Huffman was injured versus Enka after leading 24-0 at halftime in Week 3, the JV Patriots (3-1) have been strong so far this fall.
“Since last week, we’ve built up confidence and put the work in,” said Tate, who completed passes to Noah Francis (31 yards) and Jusian Perkins. “Last week, we were underconfident. This week, we came back confident and ready to win.”
Perkins (7-57 rushing) had the game’s first touchdown, a 24-yarder in the first quarter. Izaiah Thomas (6-98) made it 14-6 Freedom with a 45-yard TD on first-and-25 in the second period as the hosts finished north of the century mark on the ground.
On the other side of the ball, Francis and Tate had interceptions and John Mabry and Rico Gonzalez combined for a strip-sack and fumble recovery, but the Freedom offense’s own woes throughout the contest — several errant snaps, two lost fumbles and a touchdown called back by an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty — prevented the lead from growing.
“We’ve had some adversity, no doubt about it,” said Freedom coach J.K. Adkins. “That’s part of the game. Right now, we’re shooting ourselves in the foot offensively. We’re a little limited right now. But we’ll get better going forward.
“I’m proud of our guys and proud of the direction they’re going.”
This year was always going to be about building for the future once Patton decided not to field a varsity team, but the JV Panthers (2-1) have looked way ahead of schedule so far this fall, winning their first two games and putting up a lot of points before falling in a tight rivalry game.
Though the offensive numbers weren’t as gaudy as the first two games, PHS still had a 100-yard rusher in Jett Chatman (18-122-1), who scored from 30 yards out on a long second-and-goal to set the final score in the second quarter. He had a 47-yard TD run called back due to a chop block in the first quarter that, along with Patton’s pair of failed two-point conversion passes, ultimately made the difference in the final score.
The visitors’ other TD was a 10-yard pass to River McCrary (3-49) from Sochacki, who also connected twice with Alex Ryan for 10 yards.
The defense set up Patton’s third-from-last drive when Brody Suttles and Wyatt Thompson combined to force and recover a fumble, but it went three-and-out. Urijah Rhoda also had a fumble recovery for the JV Panthers.
“Obviously, the kids are real disappointed,” said PHS coach Billy Whisenant. “We stayed in the game, and that’s all I can ask from them. They gave everything. We were at 15 (players), so we have low numbers. I’ve got a couple sick and one had a death in the family, so you just adjust and go. It’s going. They’re learning. They make mistakes. I make mistakes. We all make mistakes, so it’s a team game. It wasn’t any one person, it was all on us.
“We’ll get better. We’ll watch the film tomorrow and learn from it. That’s the thing. They’re resilient, this group is, and they don’t like to lose. It hurt, and that’s what I like to see.”