Knights make strides but not enough to defeat No. 9 Blue Raiders

LAURINBURG — St. Andrews was competitive to start Saturday’s contest against the No. 9 Lindsey Wilson Blue Raiders — then it all went sour as it continued.

The Knights cleaned up many of their self-forced errors from last week’s loss to Webber International, which helped them stick with the Blue Raiders for much of the first quarter. But a deficit that the Knights became stuck in only grew larger throughout the game as they lost 51-14 and dropped to 0-2 on the season.

“They’re a heck of a team; they’re as advertised,” Curtin said about Lindsey Wilson. “But we’ve got to get better. Offensively, we’ve got to convert on third-and-short. We’ve got to do that a little bit better. Defensively, we got better, but we’ve still got to close out. We’re a bend, but don’t break defense. And we bent quite a bit today; we broke six or seven times. They’re still fighting, still working hard, and we’re going to get better.”

A week ago, St. Andrews had seven penalties, two lost fumbles, and an interception thrown by quarterback Jalen Dodd. This week, however, the Knights had only four penalties, no turnovers, and got their first takeaway of the year, too.

“We did a better job getting out of our own way,” Curtin said. “We cleaned up some penalties. We cleaned up some turnovers. But these are the types of challenges we want. Programs aren’t built by playing cream puffs. Our guys fought this score. Yes, it was certainly lopsided, but there was nothing given up. Everything was a long drive. So, I’m really proud that the guys came back after last week’s flat, not exciting, not precise game.”

St. Andrews had favorable field position to begin the game after Lindsey Wilson (1-0) did an onside kick, and the Knights recovered. But St. Andrews suffered a turnover on downs in Blue Raiders territory before Lindsey Wilson scored a 2-yard run with quarterback Reid Brickey, who only came in for that play. Brickey also ran in the two-point attempt on the next play.

On the Knights’ next drive, a pass from Dodd that was batted up in the air seemingly went 70 yards for a TD. The play was called back, though, due to an inadvertent whistle.

“We were disappointed,” Curtin said. “It would have been nice to have 21 (total) points on the board. But as we mature as a program and as individual football players, we’ve got to be able to rebound from things like that. The referee certainly didn’t do it maliciously. I don’t like how it turned out because it was a heck of a play; it was some great heads-up football by our guys. I wish we could give them the credit for that, but it is what it is, and we’ve got to grow from that.”

St. Andrews ended that possession with a punt, and Lindsey Wilson, again, capitalized by getting a 1-yard TD run from running back Jbias Dawson, which came before a two-point conversion run by Therone Orr that made the Blue Raiders’ lead 16-0 with 4:32 left in the first quarter.

St. Andrews got on the board after a fumble that was recovered by Brandon Basknight, who was ejected later on after being involved in a dispute with Lindsey Wilson’s Ronald Carr, led to a five-play, 39-yard drive that ended in a shovel pass to RB Kevon Daniels for a 6-yard score with the extra point being blocked.

On the proceeding kickoff, Blue Raider returner Logan Collier took the kick 90 yards to the house, which grew the Lindsey Wilson lead to 23-6 with 1:34 to go in the first.

In the second quarter, the Blue Raiders had a 24-yard TD reception by wide receiver Logan Neufield and a 1-yard TD run by RB CJ Fluker, making the Knights’ halftime deficit 37-6.

Curtin’s message to his team during the break was to fight back and not give up.

“What we can affect is the way we behave and the way we come out in the second half,” Curtin said. “We can either just sit down here and just say, ‘Oh crap, we’re down 30-some points,’ or we can continue to make them fight for every single thing in the second half. And I think they did. It was about controlling who we are and what we do. It was about when you get your reps, make them count.”

Lindsey Wilson opened the third quarter with a nearly five-minute drive that was capped off with a 2-yard TD run by RB David Gardner Jr. to put the Blue Raiders up 44-6.

St. Andrews’ only other score came in the fourth quarter when a Lindsey Wilson punt on fourth down was blocked by Tierell Milligan and recovered in the end zone by Lavarius Heath-Lewis. The Knights went for two points on the conversion attempt and got it after QB Dylan O’Banks found WR Aronson Cook.

The Blue Raiders’ final score came with 3:26 remaining on a 2-yard run by RB Caleb Marsh.

“The burden of loss is always on the coach, so let me take that,” Curtin said. “As long as they’re getting better, I don’t mind. These are young men, and they need to be able to understand that I just got to play football. I got to love it, I got to have fun, and I get to be a part of something special. And, I think we’re building that here, not only in the football team but the entire university.”

Dodd finished 13 of 23 for 109 yards for St. Andrews, RB Anterius Carpenter had nine carries for 32 yards, and Cook had four catches for 68 yards. Defensive lineman Aldair Serrato had a tackle for loss and a sack, defensive back Jadon Stephens had a team-high eight tackles (seven solo), and linebacker Josh Henderson had an interception.

Lindsey Wilson QB Ethan Cash was 13 of 20 for 164 yards, Dawson had 11 carries for 47 yards, WR Decarlos Frazier Jr. had four receptions for 69 yards, and Neufield had four grabs for 59 yards. Defensive lineman Roman McDonald had 2 ½ tackles for loss and 1 ½ sacks, and defensive back Adrienne Bailey led the Blue Raiders with six tackles (all solo).

With the Knights dropping their first two games by a combined 72 points, it begs to ask if Curtin will make any position changes before next Saturday’s game.

Curtin said, for now, he believes the team is heading in a good enough direction that he doesn’t need to make that decision quite yet.

“We’ve got to go back, and we’ve got to honestly look at, in terms of just making a personnel change, are we improving? Is each and every individual improving? Did we meet our weekly goals against Lindsey Wilson?” Curtin said. “Because they’re tough, and it’s really hard. And we had to make sure we worked really hard at what our goals were this week. It was how do we make not only systemic (gains) but gains that were step by step. I think we did that. We’re getting there.”

The Knights will be on the road next week to play No. 8 Bethel (Tenn.).