Brown & Lee Defense Lead Yellow Jackets Past Panther Creek 34-16

BJ Brown rushed for 235 yards and a stingy Jacket defense pitched a 2^nd half shutout – leading Lee County to a 34-16 win over 4A Panther Creek Friday night at Paul Gay Stadium.   Lee County trailed at the half 16-14 but shut the door on the Panther Creek scoring from there – stopping the high-octane Catamount passing attack three times in the red zone in the 2^nd half.

Panther Creek scored on the opening drive with a 20-yard pass play to Sergio Castellon to take a 7-0 lead.  Lee County responded with two consecutive scores – the first a 51-yard pass from Jack Martin to Jayden Hill and then Brown from 10 yards out on the final play of the 1^st quarter.

Panther Creek controlled the 2^nd quarter with a 20-yard FG and a 77-yard pass play and Lee County had 3 drives in the 2^nd ending in a punt, a fumble and an interception.

Neither team scored in the 3^rd before Lee County finally broke loose with twenty (20) points in the 4^th quarter to seal the win.  Martin found a wide-open Samuel Benton for a 43-yard score, Brown scored again from 4 yards out, before Anthony Battle ended the game with a 100-yard interception return.

Lee County improved to 3-1 on the season and begins conference play at home next Friday night when they host Union Pines.

Scoring

Panther Creek    7    9    0    0    16

Lee County        14   0    0   20   34

Scoring Summary

PC – Castellon 20 pass from Clancy (kick good)

LC – Jayden Hill 51 pass from Jack Martin (Alonzo Hernandez kick)

LC – BJ Brown 10 run (Hernandez kick)

PC – McGee 20-yard FG

PC – Castellon 77 pass from Clancy (kick blocked)

LC – Samuel Benton 43 pass from Martin (Terrance McKendall run 2-pt conv good)

LC – Brown 4 run (conversion failed)

LC – Anthony Battle 100-yard Int return (x-pt not attempted)

Rushing

PC – Luten 14-13, Team Totals 21-17

LC – BJ Brown 28-235, Drake Brown 4-12, Isaiah Peoples 2-2, Terrance McKendall 1-(-4), Martin 6-(-21) Totals 41-224

Passing

PC – Clancy 24-35-300-2 TDs, 2 Int

LC – Jack Martin 12-19-185-2 TDs, 1 Int

Receiving

PC – Castellon 10-214, Team Totals 24-300

LC – Jayden Hill 4-97, Brown 3-25, Benton 1-43, Kamaree Butler 1-2, Zaiden McCrimmon 2-8, Isaiah Peoples 1-10,  Totals 12-185

• Lee’s defense picked off two Panther Creek passes – one by Cedric Lett and the other by Battle.   Lett – who also had a pick against SEGuilford last week – got this one with Lee County up 22-16 in the 4^th.   Lett and Isaiah McKendall now have two picks each on the season to lead the Yellow Jackets.
• Anthony Battle’s interception return for a score is the 3^rd defensive TD this season for the Lee County defense.  
• BJ Brown was selected as the Norman Financial Group Offensive Player of the Game and Anthony Battle was selected as the Norman Financial Group Defensive Player of the Game.
• Lee County led the 1^st downs 20-14 and total yardage 409 to 317.
• BJ Brown finished the night with 235 yards on 28 carries with two TDs and pushed his career total to 4312 yards and only 14 yards behind former RB AJ Boulware (2019).  Boulware is 2^nd on the list behind the all-time leader, Rashon Kennedy (2006), who finished with 5139 rushing yards.  
• Don’t forget to tune in for the Yellow Jackets Coach’s Show with Steve Burdeau on Tuesday at 7:00 on WFJA Sports.