Patriots come up short after turnover

Eagles seize momentum, win on 4th-quarter kick

Old Mill football coach Chad McCormick felt his team had a little bit of momentum prior to Friday night’s game with North Point getting postponed to Saturday morning.

Though neither team was able to wrestle the momentum away on Saturday, the Eagles turned an early fourth-quarter turnover into a go-ahead field goal and made one more late defensive stop and pulled out a 17-15 victory over the No. 13 Patriots.

Evan Patterson’s 30-yard field goal with 6:21 left proved to be the difference for North Point, which also opened last season with a victory over Old Mill.

“Not saying that anything would have changed, but I thought we had a little more momentum offensively,” McCormick said. “We came out a little bit flat today, which sort of confuses me.”

With the Patriots up by two early in the fourth, 6-foot-5 defensive end Jacob Tuiasosopo intercepted a pass at the Old Mill 39-yard line on a play where Old Mill quarterback Markus Thompson appeared to be just trying to throw the ball away to avoid a sack.

The Eagles responded with a 13-play drive, including two fourth-down conversions, that led to Patterson’s field goal.

“It helps to be six-five,” North Point coach Tom Petre said. “He made a play. We talk to him all the time and tell him when you hustle to the ball, good things will happen. All it was was a hustle play. He was in a good position.”

When play resumed on Saturday, Old Mill started with the ball at the North Point 25-yard line two minutes into the second half, but after starting with a second down, three straight plays left the Patriots right where they started and the Eagles took over.

North Point needed just a little more than two minutes in taking a 14-7 lead on a 45-yard touchdown run by Corey Johnson, who had just three carries for eight yards in the first half. Old Mill responded with a six-play, 75-yard drive and went ahead on Ryheam Tull’s 8-yard touchdown run and Shane Jackson’s 2-point conversion.

The Patriots had a chance to add to their lead when Dontae Shannon picked off an Asa Williams pass on North Point’s next possession, but turned the ball over on Tuiasosopo’s interception. North Point (1-0) Old Mill (0-1) Second quarter OM — Tull 10 run (Polanco kick) NP — Lawrence 10 pass from Williams (Patterson kick) Third quarter NP — Johnson 45 run (Patterson kick) OM — Tull 8 run (S. Jackson run) Fourth quarter NP — Patterson 30 FG 7 7 7 8 3 0