Patriots beat Demons in shadow of tragedy

Linden had other things on its mind while rolling to a 49-0 road win over McIntosh Friday night.

Patriot defensive lineman Patrick McIntosh was airlifted to a Tuscaloosa hospital after a car accident late Thursday evening. Linden head coach Andro Williams said his team felt the impact.

“Our kids were very concerned about it. They were asking questions about him all day today,” Williams, who spent much of the day at the hospital with McIntosh and his family, said. “The last thing he told me when I left out of there today was to tell the kids to play hard and play good.”

The Patriots fulfilled McIntosh the defensive lineman’s wish against McIntosh the team by running to a 28-0 halftime lead and shifting to abbreviated quarters in the second half.

Jamal Lewis scored on a nine-yard run in the first quarter before the conversion run by Terrance Sanders gave Linden an 8-0 lead. Marquis Shelton had two second quarter touchdown runs of five yards and two yards respectively while Jalen Lewis scored an on eight-yard run.

Jamal Lewis struck again in the third quarter with a 19-yard touchdown run. Sanders capped the scoring in the fourth quarter with a nine-yard run and a 42-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown.

Shelton led the team with 70 yards on 13 carries. Robinson added 61 yards on six carries. Jamal Lewis had 60 yards on eight carries.

“I thought we did enough to get the job done tonight. But we’ve got a long way to go,” Williams said. “I thought we had too many penalties tonight. We’ve got to do a better job of protecting the quarterback.”

The Patriots (4-0, 3-0) host Wilcox-Central Thursday night.