The Patriots finally broke through last week and head coach Gene Allen hopes that and their physicality carries over into this week’s homecoming matchup against South Montgomery County Academy.

“We had another really great week of practice,” Allen said. “We changed some things up of after the Morgan loss. We have been a lot more physical and played well last week. We are hopeful that it carries over into this week.”

The Patriots enter week five with a 2-2 overall record (1-2 in the region) and hope that they finally have turned the corner led by Reed Jinright under center. Last week the Patriots put up 45 points against Evangel Christian after averaging just 17 points in their previous three games.

Adam Grice had a huge game for the Patriots, rushing for 138 yards and scoring three touchdowns. Grice and the offense will be relied to carry that not only into Friday night’s game but the second half of the season as well.

South Montgomery is looking to pick up its first win of the season, and they come with a game plan that is strikingly similar to the Patriots’.

“They are going to play our defense, which is a plus for us. We can go through our practice and run our defense,” Allen said. “They do a lot of the same things that we do on offense. They are going to use two tight ends and a flanker, as well as use a double-wing on us like they did last year.”

Allen isn’t ruling out surprises, though. “They do some things that will challenge us, and they have a couple new kids in this year. We are going to have to be ready to play.”

The task for the Patriots this week will to be and stir away from homecoming week distractions.

“It’s always an exciting time,” Allen said. “There are a lot of things that take your mind off playing. After a good week of practice I think they recognize a lot of stuff. If they can come out and retain what they learned and come and do what they have been doing, I will feel pretty good about it.”

This game also transitions the Patriots’ into the second half of their season and sets their sights firmly on a run for the playoffs. “We just want to keep getting better, fundamentally we need to keep getting better,” Allen said.

“We need to do that everyday and every practice. We need to tackle better and know our blocking assignments.”

Although the game against South Montgomery is a non-region game the Patriots will play it like any other. “We can’t afford to come out and not play good this week,” Allen said.

Kick off between PLAS and South Montgomery is at 7 p.m. at Delaney Kervin Stadium.