Heritage Academy Patriots

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) — Three years ago, Heritage Academy reached the top.

Winning the State Championship over Magnolia Heights in 2012 was a tremendous accomplishment under then first year head coach Barrett Donahoe.

Now, the Patriots aim to take home their second State Title under Donahoe and there’s plenty to like in 2015.

“I like our work ethic right now,” Donahoe said. “We’ve started to show improvement on the field in the summer and in the spring and in the weight room we’ve done a good job at getting work done.

“We have some athletic guys in the backfield which will be a positive for us to go along with our ability to score.”

That ability to score will be a major asset to go along with the speed and talent all over the field for the Patriots.

With a heavy junior and senior squad including super athlete Michael Ledbetter and quarterbacks Tyler Anderson + Dylan Barker, Heritage will rely on their experience but more importantly their skills on the scoreboard.

“We will start a lot of juniors on the offensive line and with the addition of Caleb Gurley at the receiver position it will be a big plus,” Donahoe said. “Health will always big issue for everybody and we feel like offensively if we work hard and stick true to the process of learning we have the ability to be a pretty good offensive team.”

It wasn’t too long ago that coach Donahoe was enjoying the tremendous turn around in his first season at Heritage, winning the 2012 State Championship.

That victory set the foundation for years to come with the Patriots and since then every team knows what to expect no matter the differences between each squad on a year by year basis.

“We’re going into our fourth year here with this staff,” Donahoe said. “These kids know the process and know the expectations more than other teams. As far as what separates this team from other teams is the juniors and seniors have been here for a while and they know our process and what to expect every day.”

Heritage will start the season at home versus Columbus Christian before visiting Lamar School the following week.