On Friday night, the Heritage Patriots hosted the Flowery Branch Falcons and were shut out on by the Falcons 33-0.

“I’m very pleased. That’s a playoff team over there so I’m just very pleased,” Falcons head coach Chris Griffen said.

The Falcons came out flying in the first quarter. On their second possession of the game, quarterback Jackson McDonald completed a 9 yard touchdown pass to Davante King.

“He had an ankle injury so we had to take care of him, but he was able to manage himself out there,” Griffen said.

On the first play of the second quarter, McDonald threw a rocket pass for a 56 yard touchdown that was completed to Cameron Davis to take a 12-0 lead.

The Patriots took the ball on the next possession and held it for six minutes and 55 seconds. The longest play of the drive was a 13 yard run by Christian Reid. 

On a second down of the drive, it appeared as if the Patriots lost the ball on a fumble, but recovered it back on a fumble by the Falcons. Despite the change of events on the drive, the Patriots still came away with no points after a punt on fourth down.

The Falcons would add to their lead on a 24 yard touchdown pass from McDonald to Jemon Randolph. The Falcons went 18-0 into halftime.

The Patriots got the ball on the first possession of the third quarter and came out driving the ball down the field. Their biggest play on the drive was a 15 yard run by quarterback Ryan Sutton. The Patriots still came away with no points on the drive.

Falcons quarterback McDonald’s last play of the game was a huge one. He completed an 85 yard touchdown pass to No. 1. The Falcons then sat McDonald for the remainder of the game and subbed in Cameron Davis at quarterback. 

It appeared that the Patriots had a little momentum swinging after Davis’s pass was intercepted by Adeolu Adeleke.

But there would be no shift; the Falcons recovered a blocked Sutton punt in the endzone for a touchdown.

The final score was 33-0 resulting in a Falcons rout over the Patriots. The Falcons defense sacked Patriots quarterback Sutton four times during the game.

“We just came in and did what we have been practicing,” Griffen said.

“They’re just a better team than we are right now. We’re young and still developing” Patriots head coach Mike Parris said.

Heritage returns to action next week on the road at Loganville.