The more than 400 yards of offense that Lumberton produced in its 44-15 victory over Pinecrest last week had to be tough pill for the Patriot defense to swallow.

On Friday Pinecrest had to face a Scotland team that gained over 400 yards against then-undefeated Purnell Swett in its last game. How then did the Patriot defense manage to hold the Scots to a measly 56 yards rushing and 121 overall in the 31-13 victory?

"Tonight we were just very well prepared, watched a lot of film, prepared for them in practice," inside linebacker Trent Fredericks said. "We were able to stop just about any play they threw at us."

On the game's second play from scrimmage, Scotland quarterback Kershaun Quick ran to the right for about 10 yards before making a lateral outside to Tony McRae for a total gain of 27 yards. The Scots picked up a total of 28 yards on their remaining 21 carries in the game.

"We had a quick huddle and told each other we're too good a defense to let mistakes keep hurting us like this," nose tackle Blade Shoop said. "We all bunkered down after that."

One of the curious things about the Patriot offense against the Scots was the game-high 23 carries for 81 yards by Patriot quarterback Ben Williams.

"In one of the game films," Williams said, "Anson County ran the same type of veer offense (against Scotland) that we do and the quarterback had like four rushing touchdowns. We saw that we could be successful and it was pretty open the whole game."

Richmond Senior and Lumberton are each 2-0 in Southeastern Conference play, but not for long. The two teams meet in Rockingham next Friday. The Raiders trailed Purnell Swett 30-28 at halftime on Friday before defeating the Rams 40-30. In the other league contest, Lumberton defeated Hoke County 42-13.

Pinecrest and Purnell Swett are both 7-1 overall and 1-1 in conference play. The Patriots entertain the Rams next Friday in their first home game in three weeks. If that isn't exciting enough, seven members of the Golden Knights parachute team of the U.S. Army will be making a jump onto the football field at about 7:15 p.m.

The kickoff on Youth Night is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. All youth and middle school football players and cheerleaders wearing their team jerseys will receive a free admission.

Tickets for that game and the one the following week against Richmond Senior may be obtained online at www.highschoolsports.net. Advance ticket holders may enter the stadium at the pass gate next to the baseball field.

Scotland County defeated the Pinecrest jayvee team 14-0 on Thursday. The home freshman game against the Richmond Gold was postponed until Monday at 4 p.m.