By Jason Bowen/Daily Sentinel
Section scored three first-quarter touchdowns en route to a 33-21 Class 2A, Region 7 victory over visiting West End on Friday.
The win was Section’s third straight over the Patriots (0-4, 0-3), who have lost 15 straight games.
The Lions (2-2, 2-1) raced to a 21-0 lead after one quarter but found itself fending off a West End rally attempt in the second half.
Twice in the second half West End cut the Section deficit to two scores, but the Lions answered each time.
Section fumbled on its opening drive but took a 7-0 lead on its second possession on Brady Carson’s 37-yard touchdown run and Alex Hernandez’s PAT at the 6:47 mark of the first quarter.
Avery Sartin returned a punt for 61 yards for a touchdown two minutes later to put Section in front 13-0, and the Lions’ lead grew to 21-0 when Caleb Henshaw threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Will Burrow – he followed that by running for the two-point conversion – on the last play of the first quarter.
West End cut the Lion lead to 21-7 with 6:38 left in the third quarter on Hunter Grant’s 14-yard touchdown pass to Rhett Lister and the first of Payne Stancil’s three PATs.
Section answered with a 61-yard touchdown run by Burrow with 2:12 left in the third to push its lead to 27-7, but the Patriots countered less than a minute later with an 89-yard touchdown pass from Grant to Dylan Gregory to pull within 27-14.
But Section pushed it back to a three-score game when Henshaw connected with Noah Crawford for a 19-yard touchdown pass with 9:57 remaining.
West End tacked on another score with less than a minute remaining on Stancil’s 13-yard touchdown pass to Lister.
Grant was 16-of-33 in passing for 245 yards and two touchdowns. He also had 61 rushing yards on 16 carries.
The Patriots step out of region play next week with a visit to Coosa Christian.