Sandy Creek downs LaGrange 27-7 in region opener, improves to 3-0

Sandy Creek head coach, Darius Smiley talks with his players after their win over LaGrange

With Friday night being just their third game of the season, the Sandy Creek Patriots were able to pick up their first region win of the season after they defeated LaGrange 27-7 in a game in which the Patriots defense played a near perfect game with the exception of giving of a LaGrange touchdown on the first play of the game.

“You know, make a tackle right there, they probably don’t score on that drive,” Sandy Creek head coach, Darius Smiley said, describing the 60 yard touchdown run by LaGrange running back, Malachi Render-Fannin, that would lead to the Grangers taking the early 7-0 lead. However, Sandy Creek would respond by shutting LaGrange out for the remainder of the game.

“Our defense has been good all year and hopefully we can continue to play lights out and we just didn’t do a good job of tackling tonight,” Smiley said of his team’s defensive performance. “We have to have to be better,” Smiley added. And while the offense produced all 27 Sandy Creek points and helped the Patriots have a solid night in the run game, Smiley stated that he would like to see his offensive line work on some things as the season continues.

“We didn’t come off the ball, we didn’t establish the line of scrimmage, Smiley said as he shared his thoughts on his offensive line and what he would like to see them clean up. However, while the Patriots trench men did not have their best outing of the season, Sandy Creek was still able to generate a lot of positive rushing yards.

“Amari’s just a beast,” Smiley continued as he was describing the play from junior running back, Amari Latimer, who finished with two rushing touchdowns. When you have a kid like that in the backfield, you try to hand it to him and let him do his thing,” Smiley said, noting that despite the areas of concern, overall he was pleased with his team’s night.

“We’ve got some guys that can make some plays,” Smiley went on to add, highlighting quarterback, Caleb Hill’s touchdown pass to Corey Hadley Jr. with :24 seconds remaining in the second quarter that would help the Patriots take a 21-7 lead at halftime. “Just proud of them for doing what they needed to do to get the win,” Smiley said.

Sandy Creek will have a bye next week and then will host Upson-Lee on September 13 at 7:30pm.