OPENING STATEMENT: Davis' 5 TDs lead Freedom to Week 1 rout of revived rival Patton
The Freedom football team takes the field at Patriots Stadium before facing rival Patton on Aug. 22. The game marked the first regular-season football action at Freedom since prior to the September 2024 flooding caused by Hurricane Helene.
Freedom senior quarterback Kaden Davis was already in midseason form in an Aug. 22 season-opening 46-6 home victory over crosstown rival Patton.
Davis completed each of his first six pass attempts of the evening and finished 9 of 11 for 188 yards and four touchdowns while eclipsing the century mark on the ground as well, with 113 rushing yards on just four attempts, including a 5-yard TD run to cap the opening drive.
The third-year starter Davis connected twice on scores to Kobe Johnson (three catches, 106 yards), and once apiece to Julius Dominguez (four catches, 58 yards) and Noah Francis (two catches, 21 yards).
The Patriots scored TDs on each of their first four possessions, needing just 10 plays to do so as they covered a combined 167 yards.
“We knew the passing game was going to be one of the big factors for us this year,” Davis said. “Last year at times we lacked the explosive-type plays that we needed. We can really sling it around the yard and create positive plays on offense.
“It was good for us to come out here and show everyone what we’ve been working on since before the summer. We’ve really been working and getting after it in practice.”
Johnson added: “I feel like the trust is there with all our receivers. (Davis) trusts us to be on time with our routes, be where he knows we’re going to be like we do in practice. We’ve done it so many times, the timing is there now, and we just have to be able to use that as a weapon when it comes time.”
Then after driving across midfield again but losing a fumble — which was forced by Patton’s Lane Charlet and recovered by Daniel Franklin — Dominguez had a 36-yard interception return for a touchdown to bring the margin to 33-0 with 7:10 remaining in the opening half.
Freedom scored again in the final minute of the second period to make it 39-0, with Davis’ second scoring hookup to last year’s Burke County co-player of the year Johnson covering 60 yards.
“We displayed a high level of execution,” said Freedom coach JK Adkins. “When you’ve got guys going the right way and playing with good technique and being aggressive, with the type of talent that we have, you’re gonna ring up three-and-outs and you’re gonna ring up the scoreboard. That’s what we had.”
Freedom’s Julius Dominguez (4) runs for a big gain following an early reception as Patton’s Alex Ryan pursues on the play during the rivals’ season-opening game on Aug. 22 at Freedom.
Jaiveon Belin (five carries, 27 yards) also rushed for a 9-yard first-quarter TD for the Patriots, and Francis’ 14-yard TD reception from Davis capped the hosts’ scoring on their first second-half possession.
Adkins noted that despite Davis’ high level of passing success, what may have been most impressive was his ability to lead the offense to big gains via multiple facets of the offense.
“It’s a quarterback-driven sport at every level,” Adkins said. “And when you have a guy that’s a true dual threat like KD is, it can give defenses nightmares.
“We’re not opening him up on the full run game from the QB just yet. We’ll get there eventually, ease into some of the stuff that we hope to do, but he does have a good command of it. He’s a good leader too and practices hard and does and says the right things. It’s a blessing to have him.”
Davis and Belin led the Freedom rushing attack, in which five players — also including Francis, Jacorian Logan, and Jusian Perkins — combined for 176 yards and the two TDs on just 15 carries.
“It’s highly competitive (at running back),” Adkins said. “There’s a lot of guys that can do some good things there. They’re pretty interchangeable right now, so we’ll keep that stable fresh and rotate them. And if one of them emerges, we’ll increase their rep load. We’ll just see how it goes moving forward, but it’s good to have competition in that spot.”
Freedom also got standout efforts on defense and special teams. Jacob Moretz and Ian Clark combined for four successful extra points and four touchbacks on kickoffs, also pinning the Panthers inside the 20-yard line following a kickoff, and Eddie Branch also ensured Patton started inside its own 20 on a punt.
In addition to Dominguez’ pick-six, the converted linebacker Belin (a safety last season) and lineman Isaiah Greene had two tackles for loss including a sack each, and the linebacker Branch added a stop in the backfield.
Sophomore Jet Chatman (18 carries, 49 yards) rushed for Patton’s only touchdown in the third period with the team trailing 46-0 and the mercy-rule running clock in effect.
“We all came together as a team, and we all did our assignments play in and play out,” said Johnson, who also starts at safety. “It speaks for itself. We had some new additions on defense and have some people in different spots. But it all came together really well. Everybody understands their role and what they’re supposed to do on defense.”
Davis credited the defensive masterpiece to the Freedom front seven, which also includes Nate Surratt, Braylon Beam, Nevans Thao, and Zaydrin Hausley.
“We have a lot of players playing a position maybe they’re not used to,” Davis said, “maybe playing a spot they didn’t want to play, who are sacrificing a lot just for us to come out here and be a good team. And that showed tonight.”
Patton managed just 42 total yards of offense and did not cross midfield aside from its scoring drive despite having some tricks up its sleeve. The Panthers unexpectedly opened the game in a five-receiver set.
“We saw empty sets in 7-on-7 this summer, so we had a built-in check for that, and we went to that,” Adkins said. “(Patton’s five-wide look) was a little bit surprising, but you never know what you’re gonna get Week 1. You don’t have a lot of film or a lot of scouts, so you just never know. But we did a pretty good job of not panicking, just playing.”
The teams committed just the one turnover each, and Freedom’s only other blemish on the night was committing seven penalties for 89 yards (compared to Patton’s three penalties for 15 yards).
“It got flag-happy, and we’ve got to clean some of that stuff up. But overall, a good first game,” Adkins noted. “Two things that you have to do well to win, you have to block and tackle. I thought we did both of those. Looking up, you’ve got receivers blocking downfield on runs, we’re getting after them up front blocking. All those big chunk plays is because we’re a good blocking team right now.
“And then we tackled well. Jet’s a good player. We wanted to set the edge on a lot of the perimeter runs and make him cut under and pursue from inside-out, and we did a good job for most of the night.”
Patton’s defense was led statistically by River McCrary (six tackles), Brody Suttles (four tackles, two for loss), Charlet (four tackles), Chatman (three tackles), and Alex Ryan (two pass breakups).
The contest marked the first regular-season action at Patriots Stadium since late last September following flooding from Hurricane Helene.
It was also the teams’ first meeting in 24 months as Patton returned to varsity action after a JV-only season last fall. The teams had only met in Week 1 once previously, in 2008 in Patton’s first ever varsity game. The Panthers have still beaten the rival Patriots only once, in 2016.
East Burke retired former star Tyler Shatley's No. 43 jersey at halftime of the team's Aug. 22 home season opener versus West Iredell.
Cavaliers blanked by West Iredell
East Burke lost its season opener by a 26-0 final at home for the second year in a row on Aug. 22 at Danny Williams Field in Icard, falling at the hands of West Iredell on a night when 2009 EB graduate Tyler Shatley had his No. 43 jersey retired.
Christ School defeated the Cavaliers by the same score in the 2024 opener, and like the Greenies did a year ago, the Warriors scored in all four quarters.
West Iredell started the scoring at the 7:44 mark of the opening period when a high snap by EB went out of the end zone, resulting in a safety. The Warriors also recorded their first of three 3-yard touchdown runs when Amario Spence crossed the goal line with 3:30 remaining in the quarter.
Thian Stevenson also scored from 3 yards out early in the second quarter before Spence did so again with 6:31 left in the third. Spence added an 18-yard TD run on the initial play of the fourth as well, and he was ultimately the only ball carrier for either team to finish with at least 100 rushing yards after crossing the century mark four times a year ago en route to a 1,000-yard season.
After running just five offensive plays in the first quarter — only two of which went for positive yards — the Cavs gained 21 yards on a pass from Carter Bennett to Jesiah Rees midway through the second. Bennett’s other completion was a 16-yard strike to RJ Williams late in the half.
East Burke running back Ossie Burkeen (center) follows the blocks of teammates Luke Evans (left) and Jaxson Wiley (right) for a gain on the ground on Aug. 22 at home versus West Iredell. Burkeen rushed for career-highs of 183 yards and four touchdowns as the Cavaliers won on Oct. 17 at Chase, 38-14.
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Ossie Burkeen was EB’s leading rusher with 20 carries for 77 yards, with his 21-yard run in the third quarter tying the aforementioned Bennett-Rees hookup for the Cavs’ longest play of the night. He also had a 36-yard scamper wiped out by a holding penalty two plays after Bennett connected with Rees.
EB lost a fumble and threw an interception in the second quarter before losing another fumble following a high snap late in the third. Additionally, senior running back Zayne Newman was injured on the Cavs’ first offensive play and did not return.
For the game, the Cavs were held to 105 total yards of offense (68 rushing, 37 passing) on 36 plays. They were also limited to just eight first downs, five of which came after halftime.
Defensively, EB received tackles for loss from Burkeen, Daniel Cook, Joseph Lee, and Alex Hernandez (sack). Kendale Cook and Leelan Pyatte led the Cavs in total tackles with 10 apiece, while Daniel Cook finished with seven, Burkeen had six, and Williams tallied five.
Wildcats blitzed at Bunker Hill
Draughn scored a first-quarter defensive touchdown via a 75-yard Cam Sidden pick-six but was unable to keep pace with host Bunker Hill in a 46-6 setback on Aug. 22 in Claremont as the Wildcats lost their third season opener in a row.
A young Draughn squad was already down to its fourth quarterback, in essence, in Week 1. Projected starting junior Fore Putnam was injured and did not play, and the Wildcats elected to put the ball in the hands of sophomore Henry Cooper over fellow underclassmen Carson Winkler and Currie White, who both received snaps in the preseason.
Cooper completed 4 of 7 passes for 28 yards, with senior first-year player James Fletcher leading the team’s receiving ranks with 21 yards on two catches.
Lathan McManus rushed for a team-leading 34 yards on five carries, with Bryson Seagle adding 21 yards and Cooper 18 yards on the ground.
Cooper also paced Draughn’s defense with 13 tackles (six solo; three tackles for loss). Other Wildcats’ defensive standouts included Van Teague (seven tackles, five solo; two tackles for loss), Cayman Lewis (six tackles), Seagle (five tackles), and Lucas Foley (tackle for loss; QB hurry).
Bunker Hill has now won 16 straight regular-season home games since the beginning of the 2022 campaign, while seven of Draughn’s 11 losses in the same span have come away from Valdese.
Paul Schenkel and Josh McKinney can be reached at 828-445-8595 or paul@thepaper.media and josh@thepaper.media.
