The Henry County middle school football team held on for a 16-14 victory at West Carroll on Thursday in the first game of the season.
“There were a lot of good things that we did,” coach Benji Bona said. “But this being the first game, there were also some things we didn’t do so good that we have to work on.”
The Patriots took an early 8-0 lead on a 12-yard touchdown run by Kingston Mockabee and then a two-point conversion run by Cooper Carver. That was the halftime score.
The Patriots then went up 16-0 on a scoring run by quarterback Blair Moody. Moody also made the two-point conversion.
West Carroll rallied to make it 16-6 early in the fourth and then 16-14 late in the game, but the defense held on for the win.
Bona said Jacob Hauhe had a good game at linebacker, as did Hollis Bates on both offense and defense. Brady Almand caught a 35-yard pass from Moody.
There was a bit of bad news pertaining to an injury to Carver.
“Cooper broke his hand and that will probably put him out for most of the season, if not all of it,” Bona said. “He is a leader on the team and in the clubhouse. We will miss him.”
The Patriots will travel to McKenzie this Thursday with the varsity starting at 6:30 p.m.
The next home game will be on Aug. 24 against Inman at Barton Field.
