Patriots hit the road for big test
Published 5:53 pm Wednesday, September 23, 2020
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After being off last week, the Pike Patriots are back at it this Friday evening. The Patriots will travel to LaFayette to take on the undefeated Chambers Academy Rebels.
The Patriots were scheduled to take on Edgewood Academy in their first road game of the regular season last Friday night, but positive COVID-19 tests forced Edgewood to cancel the game. The Patriots spent the extra week practicing for what will be their biggest test of the season.
“We had an amazing week of practice and we had an amazing week of practice last week,” head coach Mario White said. “I am very pleased with where we are at right now, but we need to continue to work.”
It won’t be an easy task for the Patriots out of the break on Friday night. They head to LaFayette to take on a second ranked Chambers team that is not only undefeated but they are outscoring their opponents 228-20 in their first five games.
“They are number two in the state for a reason,” White said. “Jason Allen has been doing this for a long time. He has had some really good teams. He has an amazing quarterback, who I have been watching for a long time. It’s always a challenge to go on the road and to face a team of that caliber.”
The Patriots have some strong stats as well heading into their game with the AA Rebels. In just three games played, the Patriots are outscoring their opponents 147-12. They have shutout their last two opponents in Lee-Scott and Hooper Academy.
This will be Pike’s first regular season road game of the season. They took on Bessemer Academy in a jamboree game at the beginning of the season.
“I’m ready to go on the road because I’m ready to see how the guys are going to respond,” White said. “It’s just going to be football for us. The football field is still going to be 100 yards long. We are looking forward to going into someone else’s house and playing.”
The Rebels are coming off a 46-7 win over Valiant Christian last Friday night. The two teams last met in 2015 when the Patriots knocked off Chambers 42-41.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
“We are going to have to establish the run and play mistake free football,” White said. “We are going to have to do our job and play assignment based football. We need to do what we do best and then we should be successful.”