PALESTINE - Rain and wind from Hurricane Helene made playing conditions miserable for last Friday night's 8-3A Conference opener at Patriot Stadium. But for the Palestine-Wheatley offense, a relentless Rison defense added even more to the Patriots' woes, as the Wildcats dominated the line of scrimmage on their way to a 24-0 victory.The win improved Rison to 40 on the season and 1-0 in the conference, while Palestine-Wheatley slipped to 2-1 and 0-1. Rison leads the all-time series with Palestine or Palestine-Wheatley, 6-0.After coach Tyler Paschal's Palestine-Wheatley squad notched a pair of first downs on its opening offensive series, the Patriots failed to move the chains the remainder of the game in netting just 43 yards. In fact, the Patriots' nine possessions never ended beyond the midfield stripe - six punts, a lost fumble, a pass interception and a fourth down stop by the 'Cat defense.While Rison did experience some trouble getting a firm grasp on the ball, along with some holding penalties in the first half, one wiping out an apparent touchdown run, the Wildcats' offensive line also showed domination in the trenches that paved the way for 405 yards. Rison had ball possession for over 30 minutes, including the final 6:55 of the game, when the 'Cats advanced from their own 21 to inside the Patriots' 15, where things ended. The Wildcats never punted, with six offensive possessions ending at the Palestine-Wheatley 30, 26, 48, 27, 25 and 15.Commenting about his team's effort, Rison head coach Chris Vereen said, "The kids did an outstanding job of playing assignment football on defense. If you don't carry out your assignments, it can be bad. I was worried going into this game, because even though they had played only one full game, they looked really good against Cross County (a 34-22 Patriot win). They are a good team, so I was very proud of our effort." Those listed on the Wildcat defensive chart as having a good game against Palest...
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