It’s been 20 days since the Knights last played a football game and that was evident on the field Friday night, when the Knights lost 24-21 to Blake. This follows last year’s 22-8 loss against the Yellow Jackets, the first loss to them in over 15 years.

“It’s hard to get some continuity after having so many weeks off,” head coach Shawn Taylor said. “We got to get back in our rhythm.”

A 70-yard pass from Kobe Kopple (’19) to Quinton Lane (’19) put the Knights on the board in the second play of the game. But those first five minutes didn’t define the outcome. A Robinson fumble and Blake recovery early in the second quarter quickly closed the score gap and Blake continued to dominate from there. The Yellow Jackets had big runs in the third quarter, adding two more touchdowns to the board although they didn’t complete an extra point attempt at all throughout the night.

Penalties played a huge role in the game, with both teams having a combined total of 14 penalties, seven of which were off sides penalties.

The Knights began making their comeback at the end of the third quarter, when Taquan Mason (’18) ran 13 yards into the end zone. With time trickling down in the fourth, Cameron Lockridge (’19) completed a diving nine-yard touchdown pass to close the gap. Kicker William Roseman (’18) completed the extra point to make it a three point game.

One minute and 14 seconds remained in the game when the Knights completed an onside kick to get the ball back in their possession. With the crowd roaring, the Knights went for the 52-yard field goal attempt with seconds left but it was incomplete.

“It was awesome. We were super focused in a high pressure situation, but now we have to do better at being focused when it’s not a high pressure situation,” Taylor said. “We were better when it was harder than when it was easy. We played ten minutes of this game the way we can play, if we play the full 48 minutes we can beat anyone.”

The Knights face off against Spoto on Monday, September 25, at Spoto High School (8538 Eagle Palm Dr, Riverview, FL 33578).

“I feel like Monday we’re going to play a ton better because we have that under our belt,” Taylor said. “We don’t have a lot of time in between games but it’s okay because that was a lot of practice.”