ST PAULS – St. Pauls raced to a 21-7 first quarter lead en route to a 30-7 non-conference football victory over West Bladen Friday night.
For the Knights it was a game of turnovers (4), bad snaps (3) that led to 29 yards in losses and other offensive problems. The Knights were held to 54 net yards offensively.
“The offense was just out of sync,” said Knight Coach Todd Pait. “We have got nowhere to go but up. We can’t feel sorry for ourselves, but just have to use this bye week to work hard and figure out an identity for this team.”
The Bulldogs spent most of the first half on the West Bladen side of the field after recovering their own on-side opening kick-off. However a 6-yard sack by junior Javeon Brunson and senior Trent West ended the threat and forced a St. Pauls punt.
However the punt sailed to the Knight 2 yardline, and after the Bulldog defense forced a 3-and-out, St. Pauls took over on the West Bladen 32. A defensive holding penalty kept the drive alive, before Chris Graham carried 14 yards for the Bulldog touchdown and a 6-0 lead.
A personal foul penalty against St. Pauls on another on-side kick gave West Bladen possession at the Bulldog 36 yardline. Senior James Moore bolted 14 yards for a first down, before junior B. J. Drake darted around left end and scooted inside the pylon on a 22-yard touchdown run. Junior Scott Bowen kicked the extra point for a 7-6 Knight lead with 6:48 left in the period.
Two plays later Bulldog quarterback Noah Wheeler skirted left end on the option play and dashed 46 yards for a touchdown. The Bulldogs faked the conversion kick and Wheeler tossed a 2-point pass to Michael Barnes for a 14-7 St. Pauls lead.
After a short Knight punt, the Bulldogs covered 30 yards in 5 plays. Wheeler tossed a 4-yard touchdown pass to Barnes for the touchdown. Anthony Espinosa’s conversion kick made it 21-7 at the 2:12 mark.
The Knights fumbled away the kick-off, but 3 plays later Knight junior Jimmy Williams intercepted a Wheeler pass to give West Bladen possession at their own 29.
After a West Bladen punt, the Bulldogs covered 47 yards to the Knight 14 yardline to set up Espinosa’s 31-yard field goal that padded the lead to 24-7.
Wheeler hurled a 53-yard touchdown pass to Dakota Oxendine with 43 seconds left in the half to stretch the Bulldog lead to 30-7.
The Knight defense shut out the Bulldogs in the second half stopping them on downs at the West Bladen 26 and then again at the one yardline in the final minute.
“The defense played better in the second half,” said Coach Pait. It was not due to any let up from the Bulldogs who had the starting offense on the field for the final drive as Graham gained 37 of his 106 yards in the closing minutes.
Wheeler completed 13 of 24 passes for 141 yards with two interceptions. He also ran 12 times for 67 yards.
Brunson picked off a Wheeler pass at the Bulldog ten yardline and returned the ball to the 5 yardline. However a bad snap on first down led to a 6-yard loss and the Knight threat ended on downs at the 15.
Drake carried 5 times for 44 yards and caught a 12-yard pass from quarterback Weston Pidgeon to lead the West Bladen offense. Pidgeon completed 2 of 11 passes for 21 yards with one interception.
The Knights enter the bye week with a 2-2 record and will open Four County Conference play at home against Union on September 23rd.
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