By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Antonio Leak's overtime chip-shot field goal not only gave the Palestine-Wheatley Patriots a 47-44 win over Harding Academy Friday night, it marked a first for the Patriots.
It is the first time that a Patriot team has knocked off a ranked team during the regular season.
The victory also vaulted the Patriots back into the Class AA Top 10 at the No. 5 slot -- a place Palestine-Wheatley had started the season before an opening season loss to Carlisle dropped them out. Harding Academy entered the game ranked No. 3 in Class AA.
Leak's kick, an 18-yard field goal, came after Harding Academy stopped the Patriots twice from the one yard line.
Harding and Palestine-Wheatley both stand at 2-1 for the year while the Patriots are 2-0 in the 6AA Conference.
It was the only the second meeting between the two teams since 1996 when P-W restarted its football program. The two teams met in the first round of the 2002 Class AA state playoffs with Harding taking a 49-23 win.
The fourth quarter was almost an instant replay of the Carlisle game when the Patriots led 42-23 with seven minutes to play. Carlisle scored 22 unanswered points to take a 45-42 win.
Against Harding, P-W led 44-29 in the fourth before Harding used a pair of touchdown passes -- the first with 3:47 to play and the second with nine seconds to play to and then tacked on the two-point play to tie the game at 44-44.
P-W had a chance to win the game in regulation after a penalty against Harding helped set up a 53-yard field goal try by Leak. The effort was plenty long enough but it was wide right.
Three Patriots surpassed the 100-yard rushing mark for the game, led by Leak, who had 154 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries. Rashun Barnes finished with 144 yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries while Barton had 125 yards and one touchdown on 13 rushing attempts.
As a team, the Patriots finished with 452 rushing yards on 50 carries. After adding in the passing yards by quarterback Brad Zamora (getting the start in place of Fred Leak, who who did not make the trip) and the Patriots total offensive effort was 563 yards.
Zamora, getting his first varsity start, was 3-of-4 for 60 yards. Barnes threw the only touchdown pass of the night for Palestine-Wheatley on a halfback pass play.
Barton got the Patriot offense gong with a 46-yard run in the first quarter which set up Leak's first touchdown. The two-point play by Barnes had the Patriots on top 8-0. The Patriots were on the verge of adding to the lead when they fumbled and Harding recovered. That set up the Wildcats seven-play, 82-yard scoring drive which ended when quarterback Zach Tribble scored on a sneak. The point after kick left the Patriots holding an 8-7 lead.
P-W pushed their lead to 16-7 on a one-yard run by Leak who also added the two-point conversion.
Harding and the Patriots both scored in the final minute of the first half. Tribble's 10-yard pass was caught for a Wildcat touchdown with 44 seconds to play in the first half and got Harding within two points at 16-14.
Barnes gave the Patriots a little breathing room with 28 seconds to play when he completed the 52-yard halfback pass to Barton for a 22-14 halftime lead.
Harding tied the game at 22-22 in the third quarter and then used an interception to take a 29-22 lead before P-W put up 22 unanswered points for the 44-22 cushion in the fourth.
Barton had a touchdown run with 2:07 to play to make it 29-28 and Barnes' 23-yard scoring run with 6:55 to play in the game put the Patriots back on top 36-29 after the two-point play.
Barnes made it 44-29 with 5:18 to play scoring on a five-yard run.
The Patriots will host Augusta on Friday.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
After two straight losses to Forrest City in the last two non conference meetings, Osceola finally broke through Friday to take a 28-0 shut out win at Sam Smith Stadium.
The Mustangs fall to 1-2 for the year and will open AAAAA-East Conference play this Friday on the road at Jonesboro.
Osceola improves to 2-1 after making Forrest City their second straight AAAAA-East Conference victim.
The Seminoles defeated West Memphis the week before 22-20 at West Memphis.
Osceola quarterback Darrius Harris completed 4-of-9 passing attempts for 165 yards and two touchdown passes in the victory over the Mustangs.
Harris' 82-yard touchdown pass to Cameron Baker late in the first quarter put Osceola up 6-0.
The duo hooked up again with under a minute to play in the opening frame when Baker hauled in a seven-yard pass for the score and a 12-0 lead.
Osceola make it 20-0 with three-yard touchdown run by Danny McNeil and a two-point conversion to open the fourth quarter and Elroy Brown's seven-yard touchdown run with 6:24 to play in the game made it 28-0 after adding the two-point conversion.
The Mustangs were shut out twice a year ago in league play, losing to Cabot 36-0 and then dropping their season finale to West Memphis 36-0.
The Forrest City JV Mustangs are scheduled to travel to West Memphis tonight.
*At Marvell, the Hughes Blue Devils ran their season mark to 2-1 with a 59-6 conference win over the Mustangs Friday night.
Hughes stands at 1-0 in the 6AA while Marvell is 0-2 overall and 0-2 in the conference.
The Blue Devils will host Harding Academy Friday at Blue Devils Stadium. Harding lost in overtime to Palestine-Wheatley on Friday.