Patrick Henry rallies to win SCISA Class A football title
North Charleston – For the first time since 1994, the football program at Patrick Henry Academy is a state champion.
The Patriots rallied from behind to defeat the defending SCISA Class A state champions from Lee Academy, 35-28, to complete an 11-2 season.
“This is really something, feels great,” Patrick Henry head coach Joe Gray Peeples said. “We felt like we had a chance to get here and we overcame some adversity through the season. Our kids just fought through everything. It has been a long time coming and we are excited to be bringing this trophy back to Patrick Henry.”
The football championship joins the baseball championship the school won last May. Many of the same players were members of both teams, including senior quarterback Hugh Fairey. It was Fairey who engineered the offense to more than 300 total yards, throwing for about 270 yards. His 73-yard touchdown connection with brother Forest Fairey tied the game at 28 early in the fourth quarter.
“This feels amazing,” Fairey said. “It’s hard to compare what we did in baseball to this, just two great teams that never gave up. I am so proud to be a part of this team. We all knew we were capable of doing this if we just stuck together.”
Late in the first quarter, Fairey was intercepted and Lee Academy’s Deshon Hadden ran the pick back for the first score of the game. The Cavaliers went up 14-0 on William West’s 15-yard run with 9:46 left in the first half.
But the Patriots were unfazed by the early deficit. Fairey brought his team right back, tossing an eight-yard scoring pass to Rylin Brunson with7:20 left in the half.
The Cavaliers went up 21-6 on a 28-yard touchdown pass from Clayton Catoe to West with 3:43 to play before halftime. Fairey went back to work and directed a 10-play scoring drive, hitting Mikell Tucker Mathis on a five-yard score with :31 seconds left in the half. A two-point conversion made the score 21-14 at the break.
“The thing about this group is they never panic,” Peeples said. “They are a confident bunch and we knew we could find a way to get it close. Even though we were down at halftime, I think they all felt like they were going to find a way to win.”
The Patriots received the second-half kickoff and immediately scored in four plays as Fairey hit Al-Tariq Johnson on a 40-yard touchdown pass on third-and-eight to tie the score at 21.
Lee Academy answered that score in seven plays as West found the end zone again, this time from 10 yards out to take a 28-21 lead with 7:56 left in the third. That would be the last time the Cavaliers would score as the Patriots stiffened defensively.
“They (Lee) are such a physical team and they try to just run over you all game,” Peeples said. “We challenged the guys at halftime. We settled on how we were going to play them and we just stuck with it. The kids did a great job.”
The rest of the third quarter was scoreless before the long scoring pass to Fairey on the first play of the fourth quarter to tie the game at 28. With 8:49 left in the game, the Cavaliers turned the ball over on downs on their own 39-yard line.
It took only five plays for the Patriots to grab their first lead as Hugh Fairey scored on a one-yard run with 7:42 left in the game. The teams traded punts and Lee had one last possession, taking over at the Patrick Henry 44-yard line with 1:59 to play.
On third down from the 50, Forest Fairey came down with an interception deep in their own territory to seal the victory with :36 seconds left.
Patrick Henry beat Lee, 47-21, on Sept. 1 but Peeples knew the second matchup would be a battle.
“They (Lee) gave us everything they had and it really is an accomplishment to beat a team like Lee,” Peeples said.
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