'Jacks to face Franklin Friday

After starting the season 0-6, the Patterson High School Lumberjacks have responded with three wins in a row, including last week’s 42-28 homecoming win against North Vermilion.
Patterson (3-6, 3-2 District 8-3A), currently No. 22 in the latest Class 3A power ranking, will try to make it four straight when it hosts Franklin Friday.
“The kids are just fighting,” Patterson first-year coach Marvin Dantzler said after last week’s win.
In last week’s win, Patterson took a 14-0 lead in the first quarter after a 4-yard touchdown run by Dilllan Giandelone and 40-yard scoring run by Dajon Richard after a fumble recovery by Danon Hue.
A roughing the punter penalty by the ‘Jacks’ near the end of the first quarter kept North Vermilion in the game.
The Patriots went on an 18-play, 66-yard scoring drive that was capped by Evan Dubois’ 1-yard run, which cut Patterson’s lead to 14-7 with 7:55 remaining in the first half.
The ‘Jacks’, however, answered with a short touchdown run by Hector Tolento with just 3 seconds left in the first half. The touchdown was set up by a 36-yard pass to Khyri Harris.
In the first half, Patterson only ran 16 plays but led 21-7.
“Tonight, we never really got an offensive rhythm because they had the ball so long,” Dantzler said after the game. “So we never really had the ball. And when we did have the ball, we scored really quick, so we were still playing a lot of defense.”
Patterson continued the big plays in the second half with Richard busting a 66-yard touchdown run and a 26-yard scoring pass to Jordan Butler.
Patterson had 415 yards of total offense to North Vermilions’s 283 yards. Richard led the ‘Jacks’ with 11 carries for 171 yards with two touchdowns, while Dontre Nicholas had 119 yards on 17 attempts with a touchdown.
Dantzler said after the game he was pleased with the team’s effort but sees room for improvement.
The Lumberjacks “had some costly penalties that kind of killed us in the first half,” he said.
The ‘Jacks’ control their own fate for the rest of the season, “and as long as we control our own fate, we’re gonna keep preparing,” Dantzler said last week.
Nicholas leads the Patterson run game this season with 846 yards on 151 carries with five touchdowns.
Richard has rushed 82 times for 513 yards and six scores and Giandelone, 47 carries for 237 yards and four touchdowns.
Through the air, Tolento has completed 60 of 115 passes for 872 yards with six touchdowns and just one interception.
His top receiving targets are Butler and Richard. Butler has 29 catches for 569 yards and five touchdowns, while Richard has hauled in 21 passes for 327 yards and three scores.
Franklin enters Friday’s game with a 1-8 overall mark, including an 0-5 record in District 8-3A. The Hornets fell a week ago to Class 5A East St. John, 33-6.
Friday’s kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
Additional reporting by The Daily Review Sports Editor Geoff Stoute