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 1^st half points and moved to next week’s 2^nd round of the State 3A High School Football Championship.   Lee County – the 5^th 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 1^st 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 1^st 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 1^st down took the ball back to the 31-yard line, and BJ Brown promptly reeled off a 69-yard touchdown run.  A failed 4^th 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 3^rd 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 3^rd, 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

1^st 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)

2^nd 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

3^rd 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)

4^th 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 1^st 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.