Pinecrest Holds Off Late Jacket Rally – Beats Lee County 23-13

The Pinecrest Patriots remained unbeaten with a hard-fought battle over Lee County with a 23-13 victory in Sandhills 3A/4A Conference action.   Pinecrest took advantage of a Yellow Jacket turnover and seven first-half penalties to take a 17-0 halftime lead.   Pinecrest scored on two running plays in the opening half by Zymaire Spencer of 37 & 42 yards and a Will Miller 28-yard field goal.

It appeared the Patriots were on their way to an easy win after stopping the Yellow Jackets first possession of the 2^nd half, but Lee County forced turnovers on the next 4 Pinecrest possessions to claw back in the game.   With the Patriots inside the Jacket Red Zone and threatening to score again, the Yellow Jackets stripped Pinecrest QB Mason Konen and recovered a fumble at the Lee 22-yard line.  Lee County rushed to a quick 4-play drive with BJ Brown scoring on a 57-yard run to make it 17-7.  Aundre Gray picked off a Patriot pass on the next possession, but the Yellow Jackets would turn it back over on a fumble.  Lee County would get it right back with an interception by Anthony Battle – and would eventually lead to a missed Jacket FG from 34 yards.

Pinecrest would take over at the 20 – and after getting to the 41 would face a 4^th and 3.  The Patriots opted for a Wildcat formation – and the snap went over the tailbacks head, was recovered by Thomas McKendall and returned 18 yards for a touchdown to suddenly make it 17-13 with 4:45 to play.   But Spencer would do it again – off right tackle two plays later for a 70-yard score to ice the game.  

Pinecrest improves to 7-0, 3-0 and Lee County falls to 4-3, 1-2.  Lee County will be on the road next Friday at Richmond County.

Scoring

Lee County     0     0     7     6     13

Pinecrest        7    10    0     6     23

Scoring Summary

PC – Spencer 37 run (Miller kick)

PC – Miller 28 FG

PC – Spencer 42 run (Miller kick)

LC – BJ Brown 57 run (Alonzo Hernandez kick)

LC – Thomas McKendall 18-yard fumble return (conv failed)

PC – Spencer 70 run (kick failed)

Rushing

LC – BJ Brown 22-146, Jack Martin 9-0  Team Totals 31-146

PC – Spencer 22-239, Morgan 5-10, Hansen 2-(-1), Konen 9-(-13)  Team Totals 38-235

Passing

LC – Jack Martin 16-22-118, BJ Brown 0-1-0  Team Totals 16-23-118

PC – Konen 5-12-44, Hansen 3-7-36   Team Totals 8-19-80

Receiving

LC – Raymond Knotts 6-40, Jayden Hill 5-45, BJ Brown 5-33  Totals 16-118

PC – Melton 5-44, Mercado 1-21, Spencer 2-15  Team Totals 8-80

• Other Game Stats – Pinecrest finished with 5 total turnovers to 3 for Lee County.  Pinecrest won the battle of 1^st downs 15-13.  Lee County finished with 11 penalties for 90 yards with Pinecrest getting flagged 6 times for 40 yards.   The Patriots finished with 315 yards of total offense and Lee County totaled 264.  Pinecrest ran 59 plays to 57 for Lee County.
• Anthony Battle picked up a team-leading 3^rd interception on the season and was selected as the Normann Financial Group Defensive Player of the Game for Lee County.   Jack Martin was selected as the Normann Financial Group Offensive Player of the Game.
• The Lee County defense scored a touchdown for the 6^th time this season with Thomas McKendall’s 18-yard fumble return. 
• Tune in for the Yellow Jacket Coach’s Show this Tuesday night at 7:00 on WFJA Sports.