PLANTATION – Following their preseason game against IMG Academy, defending Class 5A state champion American Heritage-Plantation head coach Pat Surtain Sr. made it clear to his team that the Patriots were not losing again.
While the game won’t officially counted towards either team’s record, it was the IMG Academy Ascenders who came out victorious, defeating the Patriots 35-15 behind a potent two-headed rushing attack from Kaytron Allen and Stacy Gage.
Despite the loss, there were plenty of things that Surtain and his coaching staff can learn from, especially when it comes to playing an opponent like IMG Academy.
“I learned exactly what I needed to learn, that we’re a good football team,” said Surtain. “They’re a good football team but we hung in there, we fought. We were one play away from cutting the lead to five. We had the ball on the 15-yard line going in. We couldn’t punch it in but our kids fought to the end and I’m proud of them. And like I said, we don’t have anything to be ashamed of.”
At halftime, the Patriots had begun to prove they could hang with the best of them. A Mark Fletcher touchdown with a minute and change remaining in the first half put the Patriots down just 14-9 heading into the locker room.
Despite the close score at halftime, mental lapses in the form of dropped passes, special team mishaps, and missed tackles were all too common for the Patriots. The latter was especially telling, as IMG Academy had multiple long runs aided by missed tackles in the open field.
All of that, however, wasn’t really shocking to Surtain for a team playing their first game of the season.
“Absolutely to be expected,” said Surtain. “Obviously the special teams’ lapses, the dropped balls, the penalties. Especially the missed tackles because you really don’t get a chance to work on those things like you want to. So, we’re going to get better at it. We have to but I don’t think we’ll face another team like that.”
Surtain also made it clear that, if the Patriots didn’t want to lose again, those things would have to be cleaned up.
“Everything,” Surtain said when asked what they needed to clean up. “The mental errors, the penalties, the turnovers, I think we turned it over just once. And creating more turnovers on defense. You can work on those things and they can be fixed and we have the players to do it. So, we’re going to take it with a grain of salt. Like you said, it’s a preseason game … guys played well but we didn’t play our best.”
That, however, doesn’t mean there weren’t some positive moments to take from the game.
Quarterback Blake Murphy connected with Brandon Inniss for a touchdown in the fourth quarter, which put the Patriots within two scores.
“It always feels good to get that first touchdown, but I’m not satisfied with my performance,” Inniss said. “Like I said, I want my team to get better and move on.”
The Patriots will officially open their season next week against Treasure Coast (Port St. Lucie), who finished last season with a 9-1 record, their only loss coming in the postseason to Miami Palmetto.
