#HSFT16: Stop No. 39 – Heritage Academy Patriots

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) — A new era begins at Heritage Academy in 2016.

Sean Harrison takes over for the departed Barrett Donahoe as head coach of the Patriots, and he doesn’t anticipate any drop-off in his first season at HA.

“We lost a couple seniors but a lot of these kids have played,” Harrison said. “We have some athletes and they care for each other. They’re all best friends. They get along well. That’s my favorite thing about them.:”

Harrison is seeing he has walked into a great situation at Heritage Academy for 2016.

The Patriots were 5-6 a season ago but advanced to the playoffs for the third time in four seasons. Having a new coach that is adding new wrinkles to an offense with talent and speed has the kids thinking this could be a special year.

Since Coach Harrison has gotten here, our attitude has really changed,” senior Wilder Strickland said. “We’ve cared about each other more rather than ourselves. We’ve really come together this off-season.”

“We’re more mature,” senior Logan Sneed said. “I think we’re ready to make a better run at it than the last few years.”

We’re not starting over but we have a new head coach,” senior Zach Oswalt said. “We want to carry over from last year and make it farther in the playoffs. A State Championship would be nice.”

It was that underdog run to a State Title in 2012 that continues to be the benchmark for Heritage Academy.

The Patriots believe they can return to that pedestal once more thanks to their experiences from 2015 and coach Harrison credits the former leader for instilling that mindset.

“Obviously, Coach Donahoe established expectations of success,” coach Harrison said. “The past couple years, they’ve been young. We have a great senior group that’s experienced that will get them over the hump. We’re expecting big things this year. Expectations are high.”