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Friday night came a little early this week, as the visitor's stands at Heritage High school were packed in the background of a full football field on Tuesday.

Heritage and Eastside concluded their preseason football game, which was postponed after one quarter on Friday due to lightning, with the Eagles coming out on top 7-0.

The two teams played one 12 minute quarter on Friday, and the varsity squads were on the field for two nine minute stanzas on Tuesday. The junior varsity squads played in the third quarter, and the ninth grader finished up the final nine minutes.

Tuesday Eastside had the ball first, ran for five yards on first down and was forced into a turnover on the second. Travis Martin came up with an interception for the Patriots just two plays into the game.

Martin's pick was one of two turnovers caused by Heritage's varsity defense in 18 minutes.

"Overall I was very pleased with the defense," Heritage coach Chad Frazier said. "We played the run extremely well and we played the pass decently well."

Eastside managed a 10-play drive on its next possession, but was forced to punt from the Patriots' 46-yard line after a run-stopping play and a sack.

While the defense kept the Eagles at bay, the offense couldn't find its way, losing the ball on a fumble on its second play.

On the Patriots' second series back-to-back runs amounted for zero yards, followed by a sack on quarterback Isaiah Spencer."

"Offensively we have some things we have to work on," Frazier said. "It goes back to timing with skill guys and overall rhythm."

The Patriots are working in plenty of new players for the 2010 season, including a competition of two quarterbacks and two fullbacks in their option-style offense.

"We've had to replace some guys over the summer," Frazier said. "We're trying to get a feel from what guys need to be."

Spencer is competing at quarterback with Casey Thomas, who started at quarterback on Friday, with neither one gaining the edge after their time in the exhibition matchup.

"There's little things about each of them I like and little things each of them need to improve on, which makes it really difficult right now," Frazier said. "We're going to give them the rest of this week in practice and probably the first couple of days of next week to prove to me they could be the starter."

Spencer had three pass completions in five attempts for 33 yards, including a 19 yard pass to Dominic Craft.

It was the longest pass of the game until Eastside's quarterback connected with a receiver for a 40-yard touchdown 21 seconds into the second quarter.

It was the only big play the Patriots' defense gave up while the varsity was on the field.

"Defensively we did play well, even giving up the one play I thought we took a bad angle on in the secondary," Frazier said. "I thought the kids competed well. I'm real proud of how they got after it."

The Patriots open up the regular season hosting Salem on Aug. 27.