Lee County Rolls Through 1st Round and West Johnston 59-15 – Face (9-1) Southern Nash Next Friday

An explosive Lee County team scored in bunches and scored from long-distance en route to 35 1st half points and moved to next week’s 2nd round of the State 3A High School Football Championship.   Lee County – the 5th Seed in the East 3A improves to 8-3 on the season and will face Southern Nash – a 49-9 winner over White Oak – next week at Paul Gay Stadium in Sanford.

West Johnston won the battle of 1st downs 13 to 11 and time of possession 34 minutes to 14, but Lee County won everything else with quick scores and a relentless defense that forced 3 turnovers and scored twice.   Lee County scored five times from 45 yards or more and quickly dismantled the visitors from Johnston County.

Lee County forced a punt on the Wildcats 1st possession and after starting at their own 39, scored in 5 plays with BJ Brown accounting for 51 yards on 3 carries and the final 1 yard for the score.   After an onside kick recovery, the Yellow Jackets scored on the first play (exactly 6 seconds after they just scored) with a 46-yard pass from Will Patterson to Kenyon Palmer.  

A first down on West Johnston’s next possession and 4 minutes off the clock, and the Wildcats punted to the Yellow Jackets with Lee starting at its own 46.  A holding penalty against Lee County on 1st down took the ball back to the 31-yard line, and BJ Brown promptly reeled off a 69-yard touchdown run.  A failed 4th down attempt by the Wildcats gave Lee County the ball again at their own 49 with seconds left in the quarter.  Tyric McKendall caught a pass near the line of scrimmage and raced to a 51-yard score as the quarter ended.

JoJo Jennings scored from a yard out with 1:47 left in the half, and after an interception by Aaron Wallace – his 3rd in 2 games – Kennedy Hernandez drilled a 31-yarder as time expired at the half with Lee County up 38-7.   Lee County added a 55-yard pass to Palmer and an 81-yard pick-6 by McKendall in the middle of the 3rd, before Landon Johnson intercepted a bobbled ball from QB Donte Harper and returned it 6 yards for the score.  Johnson had a monster game defensively with numerous tackles behind the line of scrimmage and the interception.

BJ Brown led Lee County with 129 yards on 9 carries.  Will Patterson was an efficient 8 of 8 for 229 yards as the Yellow Jackets quickly rolled up 406 yards of total offense.

Scoring

West Johnston     0     7     0     8     15

Lee County         28    10   21    0     59

Scoring Summary

1st Quarter

6:54 LC – BJ Brown 1 run (Kennedy Hernandez kick)

6:48 LC – Kenyon Palmer 46 pass from Will Patterson (Hernandez kick)

2:07 LC – Brown 69 run (Hernandez kick)

0:00 LC – Tyric McKendall 51 pass from Patterson (Hernandez kick)

2nd Quarter

9:02 WJ – Ryan Schmidt 19 pass from Donte Harper (Schmidt kick)

1:47 LC – JoJo Jennings 1 run (Hernandez kick)

0:00 LC – Hernandez 31 FG

3rd Quarter

7:31 LC – Palmer 55 pass from Patterson (Hernandez kick)

2:17 LC – McKendall 81-yard interception return (Hernandez kick)

0:00 LC – Landon Johnson 6 yard interception return (Hernandez kick)

4th Quarter

1:08 WJ – Nicolas Robinson 9 run (2-pt conversion good)

Rushing

WJ – Robinson 25-76, Harper 14-12, Schmidt 1-65, Totals 40-153

LC – BJ Brown 9-129, Kendall Morris 4-18, JoJo Jennings 1-1, JoJo Douglas 2-0, Mark Schlesinger 1-43, Jack Martin 1-(-3), Patterson 2-(-24)  Totals 20-164

Passing

WJ – Harper 10-17-80, Denning 2-6-21  Totals 12-23-101

LC – Will Patterson 8-8-229, Mark Schlesinger 1-1-13  Totals 9-9-242

Receiving

WJ – Schmidt 8-57, Robinson 2-23, Wilson 1-13, Sneed 1-8  Totals 12-101

LC – Kenyon Palmer 4-145, McKendall 3-85, BJ Brown 2-12  Totals 9-242

  • Sophomore BJ Brown entered the game with 959 rushing yards on the season and a 40-yard run in Lee’s 1st possession ended the suspense of passing 1000 yards.  Brown finished the night with 129 yards and now sits at 1088…and counting.
  • Lee County has now returned 4 interceptions for scores in the last 3 games.  Tyric McKendall has 2, Aaron Wallace and Landon Johnson 1 each.
  • Normann Financial Group Offensive Player of the Game – Kenyon Palmer
  • Normann Financial Group Defensive Player of the Game – Landon Johnson
  • Join WFJA Sports for the Steve Burdeau Coach’s Show Tuesday night at 7:00 on WFJA 105.5 FM.   Check the WFJA website for more game information.

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