It may have taken a quarter of a century, but the Palestine-Wheatley Patriots finally shook the Barton Bears off their backs.
With a 19-6 victory Friday, the Patriots have taken the top spot in the 6AA East conference and stand at 5-1 for the season and 5-0 in the conference.
According to P-W coach Terry Farmer the long losing streak to Barton made Friday's win that much sweeter.
"It was a pretty big game for us and for this whole community. Anytime you've played a team for an extended period of time and you've never beaten them, that first victory is huge," said Farmer.
Taking the win may be huge, but it is only the another step in the team's overall search for the state title.
"It's tough when you've spent 25 years trying to beat someone and you finally get over that hump, but we've got to continue to work to reach our overall goal which is to get to the "Rock" and win it all. These kids worked real hard all summer and it paid off for them tonight. We had one goal coming in this year and that was to win it all. We lead the state in rushing last year and we've lead the state in total offense. Now we have to put it all together and win the whole thing. We didn't focus on any set number of victories or yards or any of that. It's all about the championship," Farmer said.
According to Farmer the work during the summer was evident in the third quarter when P-W bounced back after giving up a score to Barton which broke a scoreless tie following the first half. Four plays after going down 6-0, Palestine Wheatley struck back with a 65-yard scoring strike from Fred Leak to Brad Barton. The extra point gave the Patriots a 7-6 lead.
"The summer weightlifting starting paying off in the third quarter really big. It just looked like our guys were wearing them down," Farmer said.
Palestine-Wheatley held onto their lead going into the fourth quarter when Barton turnovers allowed the Patriots to put the game away.
Antonio Leak, who had 13 carries for 89 yards and a touchdown extended the lead to 13-6 early in the fourth off of one of Barton's four fumbles.
Fred Leak finished things off later in the fourth after another Barton fumble with a 35 yard touchdown scamper.
The Patriots went into last weeks game leading the state in yardage, but the first significant rain in weeks worked to hamper the offense early.
"We had a couple of passes early in the game that would have been touchdowns that we just couldn't get a handle on. The rain really slowed up our passing game but we were able to get everything worked out at halftime," said Farmer.
"We also had a couple of fumbled snaps that really hurt us and took us out of drives, but that was due largely to the weather as well. The guys just really gutted it out," he said.
Farmer also praised the way his defense played.
"The fumbles that we Barton had were caused fumbles and you like to see that. They weren't cases where a guy is running downfield and just looses the ball, our guys were hitting them hard.
"Last week I was quoted saying that we didn't hit, block or tackle anyone from Barton in our game last year. Well this time around we hit, blocked and tackled everything that moved
"Our middle linebackers, Fred Leak and Rashaun Barnes did a good job of closing up the middle of the field and our corners, Brad Barton and D.J. Banks kept that quarterback hemmed up," said Farmer.
"I was really proud of our guys as a whole for the effort they put out Friday night. They won that game not only for themselves, but for every football player that's played for Palestine-Wheatley. This is their time to shine and now we've just got to keep it going."
Second half turnovers brought any chance of a comeback to a halt for the Forrest City Mustangs in AAAAA East action Friday night.
According to Coach Donnie Willis, a change in the gameplan and a change in recent weather also attributed to the 26-7 loss.
"We came out early and didn't throw the ball because of the rain. We were trying to move the ball on the ground and Cabot just came out and stopped us in the first half.
With the Mustang offense sputtering, the defense also had it's troubles with the Cabot Panthers.
Cabot took a 19-0 lead in at the half after scoring 6 in the first quarter and 13 in the second.
The Mustangs made several adjustments at the half and struck on the first play of the third quarter when Marcus Fair found Preston Echols from 59-yards out.
"Preston had a really good game and came up with a really big play. We decided at the half that we were going to go ahead and spread our offense because that's what we do best. We got them spread out and Preston made a few big plays," said Willis.
A second big play from Echols ended up going for naught after a Mustang fumble.
"Preston caught a 5-yard pass and turned it into a 30-yard gain and we were driving when we had another turnover. When you turn the ball over you just can't beat decent teams," Willis said.
The fumble which was returned to the 1-yard line by Cabot set up their final score.
Willis praised the teams defensive efforts in the second half holding the Panthers to only 68 yards after halftime.
"The defense really came out and shut them down in the second half and we were starting to get things going on offense, but we just had too many turnovers. I thought we had a good chance against Cabot but they came out for their homecoming and played hard just like you would expect them too," Willis said.
The Mustangs will play host to Sylvan Hills during homecoming festivities.