The Pike Patriots held the Hooper Colts to -1 first half yards and rolled to a 45-0 win on Friday night.

“It was much needed for us,” said Patriots head coach Gene Allen. “We had a great week of practice and this was a must win game for us.”

All week long the Patriots preached the importance of playing physical on the defensive side of the ball. The Patriots held the Colts to 55 total.

“I thought we played really good,” Allen said. “There was a lot more physicality. We will get better next week, but I was really pleased on all sides of the ball. I thought we tackled a lot better tonight. We missed some, but it was a lot better than what we have seen the last couple of weeks.”

“The defense did great,” said Pike linebacker Tyler Hussey. “These last few weeks we have been making a lot of arm tackles and missing a lot of tackles. This week we did a lot of physical drills and we got really good at wrapping up. We are back to tackling like we used to do.”

The Patriots came out with a flourish and scored the game’s first touchdown on the opening possession. JT Ball started the game off with a 34 yard run and Brayden Herrera capped it off with a three-yard touchdown run to give the Patriots a 7-0 lead.

Patriot senior Josh Graham recovered a Colt fumbled on the second play of Hooper’s drive to give the Patriots the ball at the 24-yard line. Three plays later Herrera scored his second touchdown in the game’s first five minutes to give the Patriots a 13-0 lead.

After the defense held the Colts to a three-and-out, the offense regained possession and marched down the field and scored on a Ball 35-yard run to give the Patriots a 21-0 with 2:42 remaining in the opening quarter.

The Patriots defense continued their dominance to end the opening quarter by holding the Colts to another three and out. The offense took the ball and went up 28-0 when Reed Jinight connected with Wood Jinight on a two-yard touchdown pass.

The offense kept rolling for the Patriots midway through the second quarter. Jackson Blair took a handoff 38-yards for his first varsity touchdown and giving the Patriots a 35-0 lead with 6:21 remaining in the half.

Coming out of halftime the Patriots went 81 yards and scored on a 62-yard touchdown scamper by Reed Jinright to give the Patriots a 42-0 lead.

The Patriots closed out the scoring with a 24-yard field goal with just over 4:00 remaining in the ball game to give the Patriots the 45-0 lead.

The Patriots finished the game with 391 total yards on offense. Reed Jinright finished 100 yards rushing on three carries. Reid Johnson led the team in tackles with four.

The Patriots will be back in action next week when they play for a spot in the playoffs on the road against Morgan Academy.

“It’s going to be for the playoffs,” Allen said. “Whoever wins that is going to be in. We have to take care of business next week. It starts Sunday with a film session and then we have to have a great week of practice.”

Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. in Selma.