Leake Academy rallies to beat Heritage
In a battle of the top two teams in Class 5A, the Leake Academy Rebels showed why they are the defending champions.
The Rebels overcame a fourth-quarter deficit and scored 14 unanswered points to take a 35-28 win over Heritage on Friday night.
With the win, the Rebels improve to 8-1 on the season and will travel to Meridian on Friday in the regular-season finale. Heritage suffered their first loss and fell to 8-1 on the season.
Leake Academy coach Brian Pickens said he was proud of how his team responded and come back from multiple deficits.
“I’m really proud of the kids,” Pickens said. “We knew going into it that it was going to be a battle. I was proud of how our kids responded all night. Our defense did a good job of forcing some punts and some turnovers. Our offensive line did a good job. We knew they were going to give us multiple fronts and a lot of different looks. Their defense is really good and gets overlooked because of their offense. Our kids went down twice but didn’t panic. They have been down before and know how to win.”
Heritage got the ball to start the game. Leake forced the Patriots to punt. The Rebels got the ball at the Heritage 38 and put together a 10-play drive, all on the ground. Rhett Atkinson capped off the drive with a 3-yard run on fourth down with 6:03 left in the first quarter. Cole Arthur kicked the PAT and Leake led 7-0 early.
Heritage answered right back as they hit a 63-yard touchdown pass and kicked the PAT to tie the game at 7-7.
The score stayed at 7-7 until the middle of the second quarter when the Patriots went 80 yards in five plays. After big plays of 30 and 20 yards, the Patriots scored on a 15-yard pass with 7:18 left in the second. The PAT was blocked and Heritage led 13-7.
The Patriots got the ball back on an interception but the Leake defense held on fourth down. The Rebels then answered as Atkinson hit Levi Brown on a 56-yard touchdown pass with 45 seconds left in the half. Arthur kicked the PAT and Leake led 14-13 at the half.
“Rhett did a good job of throwing the football,” Pickens said. “He had a couple of big throws and the one before the half was really big. That gave us the momentum going into the half. We then took that momentum and went up 21-13. I told the kids at halftime they were going to respond. It was like a heavyweight fight that just kept going back and forth.”
The two teams swapped punts to begin the second half. On their second possession, Leake went 75 yards in nine plays as Atkinson called his own number again and scored on a 22-yard run with 5:10 left in the third. Arthur’s PAT was good and Leake led 21-13.
The Patriots answered right back with an eight-play, 80-yard drive. After a big 43-yard gainer, Heritage scored on a 1-yard run with 2:11 left in the third. The Patriots then converted the two-point attempt to tie the game up at 21-21.
The Rebels gave the ball right back on a fumble. The Patriots needed just three plays to go 26 yards as they scored on a 12-yard touchdown pass. The Patriots kicked the PAT and led 28-21 with 1:12 left in the third quarter.
The Rebels answered with a nine-play, 59-yard drive, thanks to some hard running by Welch who had runs of 8, 11, 6 and 2 yards. Atkinson finished off the drive with a 1-yard run with 9:54 left in the fourth. Arthur’s PAT failed and Heritage led 28-27.
The Rebels forced Heritage into a three-and-out on the next series. The Rebels got the ball at their own 32 and Atkinson hit Brown on a 60-yard pass, giving the Rebels the ball at the Heritage 8. Welch then ran it in from the 8 with 7:25 left in the fourth. Atkinson then hit Aiden Watkins on the two-point conversion and Leake retook the lead at 35-28.
Leake turned Heritage over on downs on the Patriots next possession. The Patriots got one last possession and were inside Leake territory when Bryce Watkins recovered a fumble to end the threat and give Leake the win.
Leake had 363 yards of total offense with 218 yards rushing. Atkinson led the rushing attack with 78 yards on 19 carries while Canon Parks had 77 yards on 22 carries. Welch had 63 yards on 12 carries.
Atkinson was 5-of-13 passing for 145 yards. Brown had a big night with two catches for 116 yards while Gavin White had two catches for 19 yards. Camden Marble had one catch for 10 yards.
On defense, Kade Marble had five solo tackles and three assists to lead the defense while Nick Gomillion had four solo tackles and one assist. Bryce Watkins had two solo tackles and five assists while Riley Myers had two solo tackles and four assists. Dylan Jones had one solo tackle and four assists while Aiden Watkins and Joseph Scott each had two solo tackles and one assist.
The Rebels return to action this week as they travel to Meridian to take on Lamar with the District 2-5A championship on the line.
If the Rebels win, they will by the 2-5A champions and the No. 1 seed in the playoffs. They will have home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.