Millbrook remains unbeaten in NC high school football play with win over Heritage

Alex Bass
·2 min read

Millbrook wide receiver Nathan Leacock got just enough separation from Heritage when it mattered most. Leacock, a Tennessee commit, corralled quarterback Mason Fortune’s short left side slant pass before running most of 48 yards for the winning touchdown in the Wildcats’ 28-6 win in Thursday’s Northern Athletic 4A Conference opener.

Leacock was swarmed by the visiting Huskies’ secondary on a night when both schools’ defenses were dominant early. The winning score, the game’s first offensive touchdown, gave the home-standing Wildcats the lead for good with fewer than six minutes to play in the third quarter.

Before then, Millbrook, which improves to 6-0, earned its only points on special teams when D.K. Bryant returned a first-quarter Heritage punt 51 yards for a touchdown.

Millbrook’s Nathan Leacock (15) sprints for the touchdown ahead of Heritage’s Coleson Fields (22) in the second half. The Millbrook Wildcats and the Heritage Huskies met in a football game in Raleigh, N.C. on September 29, 2022.
Millbrook’s Nathan Leacock (15) sprints for the touchdown ahead of Heritage’s Coleson Fields (22) in the second half. The Millbrook Wildcats and the Heritage Huskies met in a football game in Raleigh, N.C. on September 29, 2022.

As for the game’s two-way defensive dominance, Leacock corralled just one first-quarter catch for five yards. One of Leacock’s second-quarter catches netted a six-yard loss.

Heritage (5-1) scored its lone points on defense on the first play of the second quarter when the Huskies’ Brandon Crutchfield made a well-timed break on the football, intercepted Fortune’s pass, and returned it 41 yards for a touchdown. A snap snafu foiled the extra point attempt.

Heritage pressured Fortune throughout the evening, and tallied multiple sacks. The Huskies’ offense — hindered by multiple injuries — never found a rhythm, despite commendable field position on multiple possessions.

Millbrook quarterback Mason Fortune (11) runs and looks to pass against Heritage during the first half. The Millbrook Wildcats and the Heritage Huskies met in a football game in Raleigh, N.C. on September 29, 2022.
Millbrook quarterback Mason Fortune (11) runs and looks to pass against Heritage during the first half. The Millbrook Wildcats and the Heritage Huskies met in a football game in Raleigh, N.C. on September 29, 2022.

The Huskies began a second quarter drive, 3:16 before halftime, at the Millbrook 42-yard line. Heritage converted a fourth-and-2 from the 35, but later was intercepted in the end zone by the Wildcats’ Chase McClary.

The Huskies started their first third quarter possession at the Millbrook 35, but mustered zero points on the drive. Shortly thereafter, Leacock scored the winning touchdown.

Xavier Pugh’s five-yard sweep left run put the WIldcats ahead 21-6 with 11:08 remaining. Pugh’s score followed a 23-yard connection from Fortune to David Santiago on 4th and 5 from the Heritage 28. Pugh later added a one-yard touchdown run off right guard.

Millbrook’s win reversed the teams’ fall 2021 outcome — a 35-18 Heritage home win. The Huskies’ six points marked the program’s lowest scoring total since Heritage fell 42-0 to host Cardinal Gibbons in a November 2019 state playoff game.