Patriots Shut Out by Dobyns-Bennett Indians, 39-0
Staff Photo by Angie Stanley
Senior Night at Leroy Shannon Field had a bright new feature Friday night. The new beast of a jumbotron was up and functional, truly a sight for Patriot fans. Seniors from all fall sports came out onto the field to be honored before the game, giving the Jefferson County faithful a reason to beam with pride. This was the prequel to an extremely tough battle for the football Patriots.
Dobyns-Bennett was the first to receive, after winning the coin-toss. It would only take around a minute and a half of play time for the Indians to strike first. DB’s Hicks took off and sped over 50 yards for the touchdown. A successful extra point quickly put the Patriots behind 7-0. On the Patriots’ first possession, the Indians pushed Jefferson County back to around their own five yard line. An intentional grounding call resulted in a safety for DB, and Jefferson County found themselves on the short end of a two-possession game.
That would set the tone for the rest of the first half, as Jefferson County’s offense struggled to get pass the Indian defense, and DB’s offense seemed to be unstoppable.
The rest of the first quarter continued to be a struggle, as the Patriots defensive line did everything to tighten up and keep the Indians from scoring again. Late in the first quarter, after making the Indians go three and out in the red-zone, they limited the drive to just a field goal, seemingly getting some bearing about them. The first quarter ended with Jefferson County down 19-0.
The second quarter began with the Indians closing in to try to score once again, after a 35 yard run to round out the first. The Patriots limited the Indians to a field goal from the 25 yard line once again. Unfortunately, that just made the hole that much larger, and DB added to their lead 22-0
Unable to push through the Indian defense, the Patriots would not hold onto the ball for very long. To close out the half, DB wouldn’t just find the endzone once, but twice. The half ended with the Patriots down 36-0.
Staff Photo by Angie Stanley
The second half took some of the steam out of the Indians, and the Patriot defense became a force to be reckoned with. It was just too much of a deficit for the Jefferson County offense to rebound from. The third quarter kept both teams off of the fancy new scoreboard.
The Indians would only score once again, early in the fourth quarter. Limited to another field goal, Dobyns-Bennett sealed the win 39-0, and clinched the Region 1 6A Championship.
A bit of a stir up, for the second week in a row, senior Blake Taylor took snaps along with senior Nathan Seal.
With Friday night’s loss, Jefferson County will not qualify for playoffs for the first time in the last two seasons. The Patriots end the season 5-5, 1-5 in the region.
Good luck to all seniors, and thanks for a fun ride!
