Coming into the season the word on Patrick Henry’s football team was that it was big on defense. Friday night left little doubt that the Patriots are just as advertised.
Riding on the shoulders of a defensive front that kept Hidden Valley off balance all evening, the Patriots efficiently wore down the host Titans and left Bogle stadium with a 23-0 victory Friday night in the season opener for both teams.
Anchored by ends Nate Lee and Zach Baker, a pair of 6’2″, 245lb. seniors, the PH front line shut down the Hidden Valley running game and made the passing game for sophomore quarterback Jake Smiley an equally frustrating night.
“Our defense played great,” third-year PH head coach Alan Fiddler noted at midfield afterward.. “Penalties hurt us on offense, but we’ll get that straightened out this week and clean it up. It’s great to get a win in the first game, especially a shutout.”
The first quarter was a battle of field position, ending with a 0-0 stalemate. Patrick Henry finally got on the scoreboard with 9:16 left in the second quarter when kicker Griffin Davidson split the uprights from 40 yards out for a 3-0 Patriot lead. On the subsequent kickoff, Hidden Valley started from its own 18-yard-line and went 3-and-out. Tre Terry fielded the Titan punt and scooted down the left sideline 55 yards for the touchdown and a 10-0 Patriot advantage.
PH made the big play late in the first half that quickly placed Hidden Valley in a hole they could not overcome.
PH picked off a Smiley pass with a minute left and returned it to the Hidden Valley 49. The Patriots went into their hurry-up offense and moved quickly into the red zone where quarterback Anthony Merritt found Isiah Tucker on a TD pass with 17 seconds left that sent Patrick Henry to the locker room ahead 17-0.
The third quarter returned to a scoreless defensive struggle. Hidden Valley made its first serious offensive threat
after Titan running back Walker Brand broke into the open field for a 38 yard pickup to the PH 39-yard line. The Titans drove to the Patriot 10 before Smiley was picked off again.
“We were breaking on the ball (in pass situations) and getting good pressure,” Fiddler noted of the interception.”This is a veteran defense.”
PH added an insurance score with 6:03 left to establish the final margin.
Hidden Valley head coach Scott Weaver found some positives, despite the shutout loss. “PH is a good football team,” Weaver pointed out outside the Titan locker room. “We have a young offense that lost 5-of-6 linemen. You can’t make the mistakes we made tonight and expect to win. Our quarterback got us in position to score and we couldn’t finish. Jake Smiley is our guy and he will continue to be. It was his first game and he’s a 15-year-old kid. We’ll get better.”
– Bill Turner
