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The Pike Liberal Arts Patriots are coming off a tough week two loss to Bayside Academy and are enjoying a rare early season bye week.

While bye weeks don’t typically come in the first month of the season, the Patriots will certainly take it after a physical contest with a much larger 4A school in Bayside Academy last week.

“We got a little beat up Friday night,” PLAS Coach William Moguel said. “I wasn’t too pleased with our effort. We got some guys hurt and we just don’t have a lot of depth.”

PLAS fell 38-6 to Bayside. Pike Lib finished with just 62 yards in the contest. Running back Kasey Morgan led PLAS with six carries for 12 yards and a touchdown, while quarterback Dawson Bradford completed 5-of-18 passes for 38 yards and four interceptions. Weston Garrett grabbed two catches for 27 yards.

John Lott led the Patriot defense with 10 tackles, while both Wilson Cotton and Pruitt Vaughn earned seven tackles. Will Rice and Jackson Booth added six tackles each. Bayside rolled up 325 yards of offense with 229 yards coming on the ground.

With the bye week here, the Patriots plan to work on themselves and heal up before hosting another tough opponent next week.

We have a lot of things we have to work on and luckily we have this week to heal up,” Moguel said. “We have to heal up this week and concentrate on working on ourselves and fixing our mistakes.”

Next week, the Patriots will welcome the Port St. Joe Tiger Sharks from Florida, who are also coming off a bye week after winning their season opener 34-14. After Port ST. Joe, PLAS will be on the road for three long road trips on the road. Pike Lib plays Notasulga on Sept. 22 and then heads out of state for back-to-back games against FAMU (Fla.) and Lighthouse (Ga.).