DANE FUELLING
WZBD.com
FLATROCK – A lot of questions remained after a long preseason and the opening scrimmage against Bishop Luers for coach Jeremy Hullinger’s Heritage team heading into Week One.
After a 21-2 victory over rival New Haven at home to kick off the season, several of those questions were certainly answered.
Lucas Taylor scored all three touchdowns in his football debut and the Heritage defense did not allow the New Haven offense a single point.
More impressive than anything, though, was the way the defense simply did not give up.
The Bulldogs had nine drives on offense. Seven ended on failed fourth down conversions. One ended with a Jax Litchfield strip sack and recovery and the other ended the first half (it began with only 39 seconds on the clock).
That’s domination.
The Heritage defense held the Bulldog running game in check, limiting Rodney Harden to just 53 yards (New Haven had 73 rushing yards overall) and forcing the talented Tre McCraney to throw downfield.
While New Haven had plenty of weapons downfield, the Heritage secondary came up with as many big plays as the Bulldog receivers did. Easton Meyer and Jaxon Feasby broke up big play after big play, winning jump balls with Donald Gage throughout the night.
Despite the 354 yards of total offense, the Bulldogs had zero points to show for it. The only blemish on the scoreboard was a safety with three minutes left in the game, which only came about after Heritage had to make eight consecutive stops inside the ten because of a Patriot penalty. Heritage came up with a stop on 4th and goal from the 2, but couldn’t get it out of the end zone on the first play of the resulting home possession.
Zeb Tigulis was calm and poised, using deception and concealing the ball well on handoffs. His 61-yard run in the second half was the biggest play of the game and he led all rushers because of it with 95 yards.
Taylor took the bulk of the carries and had 65 yards. One touchdown came in the air from Tigulis and the other two were pounded in at the goal line.
Opposing teams will now need to prepare for an offense with three different Heritage options and a couple of third-down backs who are dynamic.
The Patriots will likely face a tougher test when they make the long trip down to Delta, but there will certainly be confidence in the Heritage camp that the team has potential to be more than a .500 team like last year.
Fans of the Heritage Patriots can follow the team all season long, including in Week Two at Delta, on WZBD, 92.7 FM and WZBD.com’s YouTube channel.
SCORING SUMMARY
Quarter 2
8:04 – H – Lucas Taylor 6-yd catch from Zeb Tigulis, Mo Siddk PAT good, 7-0
Quarter 3
9:15 – H – Lucas Taylor 7-yd run, Siddk PAT good, 14-0
Quarter 4
7:52 – H – Lucas Taylor 3-yd run, Siddk PAT good, 21-0
3:03 – NH – Safety (Tackle by Ethan Wake), 21-2
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