Muggy weather met the Knights on Friday night as they hit the road to take on Blake for the 2015 regular season opener. After a sloppy first half, Robinson pulled away in the second to return south of Gandy with a 19-6 victory.

“We regressed from last week on offense and special teams,” said head coach Shawn Taylor. “We played better than fantastic on defense.”

It was a defensive battle early on, with both teams trading stops. It wasn’t until there were 15 seconds left in the first half that the Knights finally found the scoreboard when Malik Tyson (’16) found Marcus Tomlin (’16) for a 5-yard touchdown. Despite early struggles, Robinson took a 7-0 lead into the locker room.

“[Blake] is very athletic, so when we make mistakes, they capitalize on them,” said Taylor. “We usually struggle with this team.”

Anfernee Alston (’17), who finished the night with 184 total yards, extended the Robinson lead to 13-0 early in the fourth before Isaiah Rodgers returned a kickoff for a touchdown, keeping the Yellow Jackets’ hopes alive. A late touchdown run by David Stevens (’16) erased any doubt, clinching the Knights’ first regular season-opening win since 2012. The Knights held the Yellow Jackets to -26 yards of offense throughout the game.

“If we make the mistakes that we made tonight, we will lose next week,” he said.

The Knights (1-0) host Wharton (1-0) next Friday night. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. at Jack Peters Stadium (6311 S. Lois Ave, Tampa, Fla. 33616).