Fighting Scots defeated by Patriots

SOUTHERN PINES —The Fighting Scots football team was defeated by conference rival Pinecrest 43-36 on Friday night at Pinecrest High School. Scotland still has not beaten the Patriots since the 2017-18 season as they fall to 3-5 (2-2 in conference games) on the season with the loss while the Patriots improve to 7-1 (3-1 against conference opponents) with the victory. Head Coach Richard Bailey wasn’t satisfied with the defeat but was happy with the grit his team played with against a very good Pinecrest team.

“I really do feel like they’re the best football team in the conference, Richmond and them are very comparable, and we really played hard tonight,” Bailey said. “We didn’t play perfect by any means but I’m proud of our guys for fighting.”

Scotland came out of the gates in this game on a mission, immediately marching right down the field thanks to good starting field position (Tyjurian White brought the kickoff to the 40-yard line) and Ji’San McPhatter spreading the ball around to Jesse Clifton, Dajuan Gibson and Quatavius Everette. Gibson in particular had a huge 30-yard reception on a 4th & 4 from the Pinecrest 36 before McPhatter scored on the ground from two yards out to give the Scots an early 7-0 lead. Scotland’s defense then quickly forced a three and out on the first Pinecrest drive before the Scots added a field goal on their next possession to be up 10-0 after 12 minutes.

The Patriots responded immediately by going 80 yards down the field to cut into Scotland’s lead. Chris Najm ran the ball in from 14 yards out with Zymire Spencer, Eric Melton and Eli Melton all making notable plays on the drive (a two-point conversion made the score 10-8). After a Scots three and out, some chaos ensued on the next Pinecrest drive as Keyshaun Mcqueen intercepted quarterback Cody Hansen but ended up fumbling the ball through the endzone trying to score, meaning the Patriots got a fresh set of downs and the ball back at the 20-yard line. Scotland would recover a fumble at the Pinecrest 44-yard line on that same drive to give the offense a golden opportunity to add to their lead. White took the ball down to the Patriots 7-yard line, but the Scots eventually had to settle for another Cameron Cole field goal that made it 13-8. Gibson got an interception on the next Pinecrest drive to ensure the Scots had the lead at the break. Even with a lead, having to kick field goals instead of getting touchdowns was not something that sat well with Bailey, though he did say he was pleased with the operation of the unit as a whole.

“I am proud of our field goal team and Cam is probably the best kicker in this conference, there’s a reason he was all conference last year,” Bailey said. “That being said if you kick field goals you don’t win a lot of football games, in those situations we needed points and it was the smart thing to do.”

The start of the second half was disastrous for Scotland. Pinecrest ended up scoring on their first drive in just 41 seconds as Spencer took the handoff 44 yards down to the Scotland 2-yard line before punching it in on the very next play to make it 15-13 Pinecrest. McPhatter was then intercepted in Scots territory by Trey McLeod on third down before Eli Melton caught a 36-yard touchdown pass on the very next play to extend their lead up to nine (22-13). The Scots would go three and out on their next drive and the Patriots scored again on another long touchdown pass to Eli Melton that made it 29-13 with 6:18 left in the third quarter. Bailey would point to this stretch as a big momentum shifter in the game.

“They got some momentum plays at the start of the half,” Bailey said. “There were some formations that we hadn’t seen, and they got some big plays on us.”

After appearing to head toward another three and out on offense, Scotland finally got the break they desperately needed when they recovered a punt deep in Pinecrest territory at the 39-yard line. Everette caught a 31-yard pass down to the 8-yard line before White caught an 8-yard touchdown pass to make it a 10-point game (29-19). The Patriots answered right back, doing whatever they wanted on their next possession, which was capped off by a Najm’s five-yard touchdown run on 3rd & 2 (score was 36-19). Just when it looked like the Scots might be down, they swung right back with McPhatter connecting on a deep bomb to Gibson and then throwing a 10-yard touchdown pass to him to make it 36-26 with just 52 seconds left in the third quarter.

Joel Ellis then recovered an onside kick for Scotland on the ensuing kickoff at the Pinecrest 37-yard line. Unfortunately for the Scots, they ended up settling on another Cole field goal which did make it a one score game less than a minute into the final frame. The Patriots then made sure Scotland never got a chance to tie the game, hitting big plays to Eric Melton with Najm being the beneficiary once again, restoring Pinecrest’s two score lead (43-29 with 7:31 left). Scotland did answer by finding success on the ground with Deandre Braddy, who scored from three yards out, though there was just 2:43 left by this point, meaning the Scots essentially had to try for an onside kick. The ball did not go the required 10 yards, and the Patriots would get the first down they needed to ice the game.

Scotland will return to Laurinburg for their final home game of the regular season next week against Lee County. Kickoff is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. on Friday night. With just two games left in the regular season, Bailey is aware of the importance every game has as Scotland looks to make a playoff run.

“We got a big game next week,” Bailey said. “It’ll go a long way toward playoffs and hopefully being able to get in them and have good seeding.”