Pats knock off Rams to remain unbeaten

Freedom cruised past county foes Patton, Draughn, and East Burke over the first three weeks of the high school football season, but Friday’s road matchup with T.C. Roberson presented a major challenge for the Patriots.

In the end, Freedom was up to the task, defeating the Rams by a 20-14 final to win its first four games of a season for the first time since 2011.

The Pats struggled with ball security as they lost three fumbles, all in the opening half. However, their defense stood tall after each turnover, with the game remaining scoreless until an 11-yard touchdown pass from Kaden Davis to Noah Francis and the subsequent extra point from Ian Clark with 45.4 seconds left in the second quarter.

Roberson also got on the board late in the half courtesy of a 40-yard TD pass from Karod Harris to Kanyus Atkins with 6.9 seconds remaining, although Freedom blocked the extra-point attempt to maintain a 7-6 advantage.

Freedom added to its lead at the 1:10 mark of the third period when Francis, a sophomore, caught his second TD pass from Davis, with this one going for 27 yards. Another extra point from Clark made it 14-6 in favor of the visitors.

But Harris and Atkins connected again just over 30 seconds later, hooking up for a 62-yard scoring strike that was followed by Harris’ game-tying two-point conversion run.

Freedom had the last laugh, though, as Francis intercepted a pass that bounced off the hands of a Roberson receiver with 4:22 to play in the fourth quarter, with the Pats then driving 60 yards in five plays, capped by Cam Brown’s 3-yard TD run with 3:05 left to account for the final score.

Francis and junior teammate Julius Dominguez each finished with over 100 receiving yards, while Davis threw for 314 yards as the senior completed 13 passes of at least 10 yards, eight of at least 20 yards, and five of at least 30 yards.

Defensively, the Pats notched 12 tackles for loss, including one by Ty Adkins with the Rams facing fourth-and-12 on their opening drive following Freedom’s first fumble and one by Isaiah Greene with Roberson facing fourth-and-two late in the first period. The Rams also lost 9 yards on a sack by Freedom's Zaydrin Hausley midway through the third quarter.

Freedom is now 2-5 all-time versus Roberson, with both victories coming in Asheville a decade apart. Friday’s contest marked the first time the squads had met since the Rams earned a 24-18 road win in 2016.

The Pats will finish nonconference play with a home game against A.C. Reynolds next week.

POLK COUNTY 35, PATTON 14

Patton committed turnovers on four consecutive second-period possessions, setting Polk County up with a short field on each occasion, as a 7-0 Panthers' deficit grew to 35-0 by halftime in Friday's nonconference loss in Morganton.

The visiting Wolverines' offensive attack basically was senior running back Loreynzo Sanchez, but that was more than enough to send Patton to a 17th consecutive loss dating back to September 2022.

Sanchez had eclipsed 100 yards and scored a touchdown in Polk's most recent visit to Patton in 2023, and blew that away on Friday with 37 carries for 253 yards and four TDs.

Sanchez' scores covered 1 yard on the ground midway through the first quarter and 14, 17, and 25 yards in the second.

Brody Wilkins passed for 37 yards including a 2-yard TD to Nolan Simpson to end Polk's final first-half possession, and the entire second half was played under the mercy-rule running clock.

Patton (0-3) was scoreless until the fourth period, when sophomore running back Jet Chatman got loose on TD runs of 67 yards up the middle and 59 yards on a nice cutback run up the home sideline.

Chatman finished with 141 yards on seven carries.

Patton's Lane Charlet played well in all three facets of the game and totaled 51 yards from scrimmage (29 rushing, 22 receiving) before leaving with an apparent leg injury in the second half.

Panthers junior River McCrary made his first start at quarterback in place of the injured Malachi Pearson and passed for 22 yards.

Christian Barnette, Daniel Franklin, and Brody Suttles had tackles for loss for Patton, and Colsyn Queen made both extra-point attempts.

Patton opens Western Piedmont 3A/4A Conference play at East Burke next week.