Last night, the 4-2 Amite Warriors took on the 5-1 Pine Raiders in one of the best matchups of the Week 7 Thursday slate. The winner of this game sets themselves up to be in the district championship race alongside fellow district power Jewel Sumner and the matchup turned out to be an old fashioned fist fight.
To open the game, the Pine Raiders scored on a quarterback sneak from Trey Knight after taking advantage of a running into the kicker penalty to give the Raiders a 6-0 lead. The Raiders would be shutout the rest of the way by Amite’s stingy defense.
“It feels really good against a run heavy team to do that and it really gave us a lot of confidence.”
Amite WR/DB and Louisiana Tech commit Franklin Morgan Jr.
Amite’s defense stole the headlines, but the Warriors’ offense jumped out to a great start in the first half scoring on back to back drives. The first score would be a deep scoring toss from Drew Palmer to Franklin Morgan Jr. to give the Warriors a 7-6 lead.
Thursday night was a great step in the right direction for Palmer, who was battling for the quarterback starting job heading into the season.
“Our quarterback Drew Palmer really grew up tonight. Drew was able to sit in the pocket and was able to dissect outside the pocket and was able to make plays with his legs. Offensively, there are still some things that we have to work on, especially penalties. We couldn’t sustain drives and penalties knocked off our momentum. That’s something we have to work on.”
Amite HC Zephaniah Powell
Morgan, who is a Louisiana Tech commit, flashed in all three phases of the game scoring a receiving touchdown, making numerous tackles, and also having a nice punt return on special teams. His ability to impact the game in all three phases dubs him the perfect nickname from Coach Powell.
“We call Franklin the matrix. He can do a lot of things for us in the return game and on offense and defense for us. He is a vocal leader and is just an essence of a football player. Louisiana Tech is definitely getting a steal.”
Amite HC Zephaniah Powell
With Pine’s defense being able to focus on Morgan, it opened things up for the rest of his teammates as the Warriors added a 20 yard touchdown run from Ja’Myron Dillon to extend the Warriors lead at 14-6 before halftime.
Pine’s defense led by the likes of Gridiron Football Player of the Week Cadyn Stogner and Christian Williams kept the Raiders in the football game forcing two fumbles to stop Warrior drives, but Pine’s offense would stall in the second half.
After a scoreless third quarter, it was Amite that delivered the knockout punch with a 29 yard touchdown run from Trezmen Richardson with two minutes left in the game to seal a 20-6 victory. After starting the season at 0-2, the Warriors are finding their groove with their fifth straight win to improve to 5-2.
“Once we got to two losses, everybody’s mindset changed. Nobody likes losing. Us going 0-2, we have to keep a winning mindset. Even though we were 0-2, it doesn’t change the fact that we are the Warriors and we got to do what we got to do.”
Amite WR/DB and Louisiana Tech commit Franklin Morgan Jr.
Meanwhile, the Pine Raiders fall to 5-2 on the season and will have another big district contest against the undefeated Jewel Sumner Cowboys. The Amite Warriors will have another short week as they will take on the Albany Hornets next Thursday.
Check out Jace’s stops throughout the season for Gridiron Football!
Week 4: Dunham vs. Ascension Catholic
Week 5: Jewel Sumner vs. Franklinton
Week 6: North Iberville vs. St. John
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