The Patriots made themselves at home.
Ready to play two crucial ACAC games in consecutive weeks at Rick Minnich Field, the Heritage Patriots scored two early touchdowns and never looked back Friday as Kobe Meyer had another monster night with all five of the team’s touchdowns coming through him – three in the air and two more on the ground.
South Adams attempted a comeback with everything they had, breaking a new school record for passing attempts in a game with Owen Wanner’s 56 tries, but much like Aidan Wanner’s previous record of 53 (which also came on the same field), it came as a result of catching up to a big deficit. The Starfires finished with 308 yards of offense.
In four weeks of play so far in 2023, teams have attempted to take away both the run and the pass from Heritage’s prolific quarterback, but that has proved impossible so far. Meyer hit Eli Tigulis for two touchdowns in the first quarter as part of a 7 for 16 night that saw him throw for 119 yards and three more scores.
South Adams answered with a 41-yard touchdown pass from Wanner to Caiden Neuenschwander, trying to avoid losing back-to-back ACAC games in consecutive weeks for the first time since 2018, but Meyer answered right back with his first rushing touchdown of the game. Kobe finished with 160 yards on the ground.
The Patriots used both sidelines and spread the South Adams offense in the first drive of the third quarter and went up 28-7 on an eight-yard run by Meyer, clinching the game.
Both teams took to the air in the final 15 minutes or so and Wanner got his only TD pass of the game on a 12-yard strike to Derek McKean and the Starfire defense came up with a huge play when Meyer drove the Patriots down to 1st and Goal. Colton Bollenbacher picked off Meyer in the end zone, but the Stars still trailed by 14 with ten minutes to go.
The Heritage defense chose to bend but not break, knowing the clock was on their side and lining up big hits on the Starfire receivers. They made a fourth-down red zone stop, but the Starfire drive continued after a pass interference call, but Wanner could not find the end zone and the ball went back to the Patriots, setting up Meyer to hit Zeke Litchfield for 70 yards and send the Heritage fans home happy.
The Starfires will face another tough test when they play at Monroe Central.
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