Big Play Jacket Defense Carries Lee County to 30-27 Win

Lee County used a big play defense to overcome a stellar performance by Overhills quarterback Chris Perkins and held off the Jaguars to pick up a 30-27 win in Spring Lake.  Lee County improves to 2-0 with the victory over 4A Overhills and look to their home opener – and the 1^st Tri-County 3A Conference game of the season – against Triton next Friday night. 

Lee County jumped out to a 16-0 lead thanks to an opening near perfect 1^st possession. Lee scored in 6 plays – the final a 3-yard run by TJ Johnson.   On the next possession, Lee QB Will Patterson threw 7 yards to Kenyon Palmer for a score and Lee led 16-0 just 5:20 into the game.  Overhills scored on the final play of the first quarter to pull within 16-6 and again with 3:08 before halftime on a Perkins run.   Overhills threatened again just before the half but an interception by Lee corner Carlos Hancock stopped the threat.    The Lee defense took control early in the 3^rd quarter with Dayreon Jennings intercepting a Perkins screen pass on the first play of the 2^nd half and racing 30 yards for the score.   3 possessions later TJ Johnson recovered a fumble in the end zone for a score and Lee’s lead was at 30-13 with 11 minutes left to play.   A 10-yard pass at the 8:52 mark pulled Overhills within 30-19 and 4 minutes later a 5-yard run made the score 30-27.  

A Lee County tipped screen pass turned into an interception and suddenly Overhills had the ball in Lee territory.  But a couple of sacks and the Yellow Jackets held on downs and ran out the clock for the win.   Both teams made big plays defensively with 13 total sacks in the game, but four Overhills turnovers led to points for Lee County and proved to be the difference.

Scoring

Lee County        16     0     7     7     30

Overhills              6     7     0     14    27

Scoring Summary

LC – TJ Johnson 3 run (2-pt conversion good)

LC – Will Patterson 7 pass to Kenyon Palmer (2-pt conversion good)

OH – Perkins 11 pass to Charles (kick failed)

OH – Perkins 2 run (kick good)

LC – Dayreon Jennings 30-yard int return (Hernandez kick)

LC – TJ Johnson recovered fumble in end zone (Hernandez kick)

OH – Perkins 10 pass to Pitts (conv failed)

OH – Perkins 5 run (2-pt conv good)

Rushing

LC – TJ Johnson 10-51, Dayreon Jennings 3-31, Rodney Ingram 4-42, Patterson 9-(-46*)   Totals 26-78        (*Includes -50 sack yards)

OH – Perkins 13-(-29*), Warren 9-36, Fernandez 5-18, Pitts 2-6, Page 1-2 Totals 30-33      (*Includes -49 sack yards)

Passing

LC – Patterson 14-24-121

OH – Perkins 28-42-308, Pitts 0-2-0

Receiving

LC – Tyric McKendall 4-39, Jackson Lamb 3-32, Kenyon Palmer 3-24, Jason Berdecia 2-18, Eli Garrison 1-6, TJ Johnson 1-2  Totals 14-121

OH – Hobbs 4-39, McLean 12-127, Williams 5-27, Fernandex 1-18, Dowlen 1-3, Brown 3-81, Pitts 1-4, Warren 1-2   Totals 28-308

*Lee County forced 4 total turnovers against Overhills.   Carlos Hancock and Dayreon Jennings had interceptions and TJ Johnson and Landon Johnson recovered fumbles for Lee County.  

*Overhills outgained Lee County in total yardage (341-199) and first downs (21-12)

*Tyric McKendall was named the Normann Financial Group Offensive Player of the Game for Lee County.   Dayreon Jennings was named the Defensive Player of the Game