PACE, Fla.- When in doubt, let your offensive line out muscle the other team out.
In Friday nights FHSAA Class 6A, Region 1 region quarterfinal, Pace head coach Kent Smith knew his team would be in for a physical battle with visiting Orlando Evans and the Patriots answered the challenge. Overcoming mistakes on both sides of the ball, Pace was able to win the battle in the trenches en route to a 20-6 victory over Evans.
Thats a good defensive front we just played, Smith said. I mean, theyve got guys everywhere at every position so we knew it was going to be a challenge for us offensively. We knew we were going to have to battle and we didnt run the ball as effectively as we would like to and what were used to but we kept plugging away. We challenged our guys up front that weve got to finish this thing and we leaned on them.
Paces offensive line features two Division I commits in seniors Grant Wise (Clemson commit) and Mason Mathis (USF commit), with the Patriots looking to run behind both throughout the night. The Patriots opened up the scoring late in the opening quarter when Tagg Strickenburger went 67 yards on a touchdown run for the 7-0 lead.
Pace (10-1) wouldnt get on the scoreboard again until midway through the third quarter when running back Makael Williams scored on a 3-yard scoring run to make it 13-0. Thats when things would get a little more interesting for the Patriots as a series of plays couldve easily swung this game in Evans favor.
Patriots quarterback Brooks Washington looked like he hit halfback Grady White on a touchdown pass, but officials called White out on the 1-yard line, which drew a flag from officials after Pace players had already begun celebrating.
The other play that looked like it might hurt Pace was when Evans quarterback Derone Rogers threw up a pass on fourth down to Eastern Michigan commit Carl Jean-Bart for what looked like a touchdown. When getting a second glance at it, though, via video, the ball clearly hit the ground and bounced back up to Jean-Bart.
Paces defense was able to answer the bell in helping the Patriots maintain the 13-6 advantage as they were able to force multiple turnover on downs and turnovers, in holding on for the teams 10th win of the season.
Im going to start off by just giving props to (Evans), Wise said. They were big. They were tough and they played all night. We made some good adjustments on offense and we got it done. I think this win just shows the resilience of our team. Were a tough team when we play together. Were a brotherhood and we really give it all for each other.
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