Sand Creek Aggies Can't Keep Up With Patriots

One of the best played games for the 2-6 (2-4) Sand Creek Aggies’ offense and it still resulted in a loss when they took on the 5-3 (4-2) Britton-Deerfield Patriots. The Aggies defense couldn’t slow down their running game as it totaled 222 yards on 43 carries. The Patriots needed a win here as they now find themselves one victory away from making the playoffs after defeating the Aggies.

Sand Creek actually took the first lead of the game. Halfway through the first quarter the Aggies offense threatened, but the drive faltered and they lined up for a 32 yard field goal. Brandon Williams nailed it and it was good. The score would be 3-0 at the end of the opening quarter.

Both defenses held strong until the final seconds of the half. The Patriots capped off their drive with a 4 yard touchdown run by Nathan Hoffman. The point after was good and the score at halftime was 7-3.

The third quarter saw both defenses play strong and prevent any scoring. The 4th saw Britton-Deerfield run away with this game though. They scored early in the final quarter when Leighton Merritt took in a touchdown run from 7 yards out. He would strike again a little bit later with another touchdown run, this one of 8 yards. That would make the score 21-3, which would be the final.

Sand Creek’s quarterback Kolton Alcock completed only 1 of his 5 passes for 4 yards. They were led on the ground by Charlie Robertson who carried the ball 17 times for 71 yards. The leading receiver for the Aggies was Kyle Keller who had the 1 grab for 4 yards.

The Patriots’ quarterback Hoffman threw 8 passes and completed 4 of them for 42 yards. Merritt led the way on the ground with 24 carries for 178 yards and 2 touchdowns. Britton-Deerfield’s leading receiver was Gotz who caught 1 pass for 25 yards.

A few things I have to say about the Sand Creek defense. The first thing is that they impressed me in this game. They did give up 21 points, but I was sure that they were going to give up more. It doesn’t look good that they gave up 14 in the fourth, but I do believe that in part to that was that the offense was struggling and eventually your back is going to be broken. I would like to see their run defense tighten up more, because 222 yards is a lot to give up on the ground. It is good see that even though they are out of playoff picture that they are still playing hard. They are going to need to play an even better game this week though.

Offensively, this time has really slowed down. Early in the year this offense had a nearly unstoppable running game. Turnovers had been the issue then, but in this game they didn’t turn the ball over, but the offense hasn’t been explosive in a few weeks. Elliott Rains was hurt, which hurts the game plan, but the Aggies did fine a running back for next year in Robertson. He is only a sophomore, which means they have two years to use him. The Aggies have one more game to try and get their offense figured out, because they are going to need a lot of offense this next week.

This week the Aggies will go on the road to take on the 8-0 (6-0) Clinton Redskins who have already clinched a share of the Tri-County Conference. This week the Redskins won a decisive game over the Summerfield Bulldogs on the road 37-14.

Britton-Deerfield will look to clinch an automatic birth into the playoffs this week when they host the 3-5 (1-5) Morenci Bulldogs. This week Morenci hosted the Whiteford Bobcats and were blanked 30-0.