Catholic pulls away to beat Glenwood to stay perfect in region
Catholic’s Ty Player goes up for a pass against Glenwood’s Josiah Clark in the Knights’ win on Friday. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
Outplayed for most of the second quarter, the Catholic Knights found themselves locked in a 7-7 tie with Glenwood School in a Class AA Private Region 1 contest at Catholic on Friday night.
The Knights had gone for nearly 12 minutes without a first down and had just allowed the Gators to drive 50 yards to tie the game. But with 2:35 remaining, Catholic suddenly found its offense.
Will Blackwell completed 6 of 7 passes, including a 4-yard pass to a wide-open KJ Johnson with 1.2 seconds remaining to swing the momentum back to the Knights in a 38-15 victory.
“It was pretty big, putting my team up at halftime,” Johnson said. “I was running a flat route and the man bumped me. After he bumped me, I was just wide open and I was open for the touchdown.”
Catholic, which had scored on its opening possession but managed just 18 total yards on it next four possessions, suddenly caught fire to counter the Gators’ momentum and head into the locker room with a 14-7 halftime lead.
“That’s huge,” Catholic coach Aubrey Blackwell said. “The two-minute drill, we do it all the time (in practice) but we haven’t beaten our defense a whole lot. Proud of how the guys worked through (some clock issues) and found a way to get the ball in the end zone.”
Catholic scored on its first two possessions of the second half to break open a tight game. Will Blackwell threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Ty Player, then got the ball back two plays later on a Ryan Williams’ interception and 35-yard return to set up Blackwell’s quarterback sneak for a 28-7 lead.
J.P. Costa added a 30-yard field goal on the Knights’ next possession late in the third quarter for a 31-7 lead, making the necessary halftime adjustments to take care of the Gators.
“They kept changing their (defensive) fronts on us and slanting, so we were trying to work through some things,” Blackwell said. “We had some blown assignments on the second drive. But the good thing is nobody panicked. We made the corrections and finished the second quarter with a good drive, one that we needed to get that momentum in the second half.
“We went in at halftime and made the corrections. Proud of my coaches for the corrections that they made because we found out what they were doing and adjusted up front.”
Elijah Nunnelly scored on a 43-yard reception for Catholic’s first points and Johnson put the finishing touches on the win with a 32-yard run in the fourth quarter.
Both of the Gators’ scores came on big plays, with an uncovered Kason Peterson scoring on an 29-yard reception from Thomas Claridy to tie the game and Nathan Malone turning a check-down pass into a 64-yard sprint to the end zone on the first play of the fourth quarter.
The Knights reach the midway point at 4-1, but now face a challenging stretch that includes road games with Briarwood Christian, UMS-Wright and St. Michael and home games with St. Paul’s and McGill-Toolen over the next five weeks.
“It’s where we wanted to be,” Blackwell said, “and the best thing is we’re healthy still and that’s really more important for us because we’re not a deep football team. We’ve got to continue to stay healthy. Our guys have been in great shape and that’s why we’re healthy to this point. They’ve got to maintain that -- dieting and sleeping and doing what they need to do. It’s great to be at this point, but there’s a lot of work left to do.”
The Knights travel to Birmingham to play Briarwood Christian next Friday.