The Pike Liberal Arts Patriots kicked off area play with a 44-17 win over the Northside Methodist Knights on Friday night in Dothan.

The win for the Patriots improves their record on the season to 4-0 overall and 1-0 in region play.

“We were a little flat coming out,” said head coach Gene Allen. “It was a big night for us and I was pleased. We came out after that first series and I thought we settled down and played pretty well.”

All week long, Allen preached the importance of region play and on Friday night, the Patriots got off to a good start.
“We were 3-0, but that is nothing but eye candy,” Allen said. “It doesn’t mean anything if you don’t win your region games. We felt like we played pretty good in the first three games, but we have to continue to get better.”

After allowing the Knights to march 64 yards down the field for the game’s first touchdown, Jade Sikes scored from five yards out to even the score at 7 with 4:55 remaining in the opening quarter.

On the Knight’s next drive, Nick O’Brien picked off a pass and returned it to the 8-yard line. Sikes did the rest and scored his second touchdown of the game, this time from eight yards out to give the Patriots a 14-7 lead with 3:55 remaining in quarter number one.

Early in the second quarter, the Patriots extended their lead to 14 after Cody Hollis rumbled his way for an 8-yard touchdown, putting the Patriots up 21-7 with 11:23 remaining.

Freshman quarterback Drew Nelson got into the act when he connected with Chip Faircloth on a 10-yard touchdown pass with 7:29 remaining in the first half. Following a Scott Taylor Renfroe extra point, the Patriots led 28-7.

The Patriots had one more touchdown left in them in the opening half. Tristen Carter snared a 30-yard touchdown pass from Nelson with 2:20 remaining in the half to put the Patriots up 35-7.

The Knights ended the half with a field goal, bringing the score to 35-10.

Renfroe got the three points back when he nailed a 36-yard field goal with 8:20 left in the third to put the Patriots back up by 28 at 38-10.

Following a Knight touchdown, Hollis stamped his strong evening with a 65-yard touchdown to put the Patriots up 45-17.

The Patriots finished with 367 yards of total offense including 141 through the air. Hollis finished the night with 138 yards on 16 carries. Nelson finished the evening completing 5 of his 10 passes with two touchdowns. On the defensive side of the ball, Max Copeland led the Patriots with 12 tackles while Holt Steed and Jacquavian Johnson both had 7.

The Patriots will return home next week to host Macon East.