2
0
Coming into his junior year, William Wiebush had never played defense before. That fact alone made it a special moment whe Wiebush scored on Thursday night’s opening drive against Hillsboro as he recovered a fumble and took it in for six.
Wiebush wasn’t done though.
On Page’s first offense drive of the night Wiebush capped that drive off with a short touchdown run. He still wasn’t though as he capped a dominant 35-7 win for the Patriots with a pick-six late in the fourth quarter.
“This is the best game I’ve ever played,” Wiebush said. “Coming into tonight I hadn’t recorded a turnover yet but I knew that when I got one, I was going to crib it. I did it twice so it’s nice to finally get one.
…Tonight wasn’t easy. We had a great game plan going in so that helped but it was a lot of fun and this is the best time I’ve had in my life. I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else.”
Page’s defense continues it dominant run
Wiebush may have scored that first touchdown but the hit Hudson Amason that forced the fumble set the tone on the night for the Patriots defense.
Hillsboro answered Wiebush’s first touchdown on its next drive with a long touchdown reception by Kaiki Baker but outside of that, the Burros only managed to drive deep into Page territory one more time. That drive ended with a turnover on downs in the red zone.
That sort of performance has become the norm for a Patriots defense that has turned the corner since its first three games of the season. The Patriots gave up a combined 81 points against Franklin, Giles County and Independence. Over their last five wins, that defense has only give up 20 total points.
“Our defense is the same every single week,” junior linebacker Eric Hazzard said. “We come out every week giving it our all no matter what. If we play our keys good things happen and if we get a little antsy that’s when bad things happen.”
Patriots have come a long way since Week 2
The four-overtime loss to Independence in Week 2 was an eye-opener for Charles Rathbone’s defense. They had that game won, but late mistakes cost them and in back-to-back weeks they gave up 30 or more points.
That night was also an eye-opener for him as a coach as his squad has outscored its next six opponents 228-37.
“I think I became a little bit better coach after that loss,” Rathbone said. ” That Independence game I was a little hard-headed and went out trying to throw the ball in the second half instead of running it and playing complimentary defense. We went back to the ‘KISS principle’ of keep it simple stupid and that seems to be working.”
