Knights aiming for similar result as last year against Union

BARBOURVILLE, Ky. — Out of the 11 games the St. Andrews Knights played last season, they lost 10 of them. The one they were victorious in, though, was a 27-26 decision on Oct. 8, 2022, in Laurinburg against the Union Bulldogs.

On Saturday, the Knights will meet the Bulldogs again and hope to repeat the same instance for their first win of 2023.

“I do think that the team believes we can go beat them,” St. Andrews head coach Bob Curtin said. “And I think they believe we have a great opportunity here for success. But most of our team is comprised of brand-new players this year. And so, there’s not a lot of guys that remember that game (last year). There are a couple of guys left. But most of our new guys are in the mindset of, let’s continue the tradition. They understand Union is in the rebuild mode, just like we are, and that’s usually a couple-year process. But for the coaching staff that was here last year, it’s certainly in our minds. We escaped and got a victory last year. And hopefully, we get another win against Union.”

St. Andrews (0-5, 0-1 Appalachian Athletic Conference) is coming off a loss at Bluefield last Saturday, where the Rams won 49-14. The Knights had a chance to make it a one-score game in the third quarter, but an interception thrown by quarterback Darius Holly allowed Bluefield to extend their lead to 35-14 and halt St. Andrews’ momentum.

Something Curtin took away from the loss, though, is that his defense held Bluefield — the top passing offense in the NAIA going into the contest — to just 169 yards through the air from QB Nathan Herstich on 12-of-27 passing.

“I think this looks really good for our secondary in terms of opportunities because they’ve been playing positions really well.,” Curtin said. “Now it’s just about reps; when to high point the ball, when to step in front of the ball, when to just continue to body a guy out.”

Union is 1-4 and 0-1 in the AAC. That conference loss came last weekend against Pikeville in a 52-10 result, which was also Union’s third consecutive loss; their other three losses have come against NCAA Division II program UVA-Wise, the University of the Cumberlands (Ky.), and Campbellsville. The Bulldogs’ only win came in a 27-0 shutout over Cumberland (Tenn.) on Aug. 26.

“I think they’ve had a lighter schedule than we’ve had. But they’ve already tasted victory. And now, we’re going to look to do something very similar,” Curtin said. “I think this will be our most competitive game to date. I think Union’s a much-improved team from last year. I think we’re a much-improved team from last year as well. At least athletically, skill-wise, and now, a playbook where it’s very simple but very powerful. I think our defense is going to have to come up big.”

Curtin’s defense will look to take advantage of a Union offense averaging only 293 total yards and 14.2 points per game. A big reason for that is because of turnovers, as the Bulldogs’ starting QB Walker Russell and backup signal caller Bryson Grabowski have combined for eight passing touchdowns and 12 interceptions, and the team has also lost three fumbles.

“We hope that Union continues to do that and give us the opportunities, and we’ve just got to capitalize on it,” Curtin said about Union’s turnovers. “But in turn, they’re probably looking at us and saying, (the) last two weeks, they’ve let up a lot of rushing yards. So, we’re expecting them to come out in some sort of run game and then try to pass.”

The Bulldogs haven’t had much success on the ground, though. Their leading rusher, running back Taji Jackson, has 220 yards on 48 carries, while RB Omarion Parks is the only other player for Union who has run for over 100 yards, with Parks totaling 104.

Union, instead, tries to generate offense by giving the ball to their top wide receiver, Tony Norman. The sophomore has 32 grabs — nearly a third of the team’s total receptions — for 348 yards and two TDs on the year, while Chris Thomas is Union’s second most productive receiver with 13 catches for 176 yards and two scores.

“I don’t think they have a very prolific offense,” Curtin said. “It’ll probably be not as good an offense as we’ve seen, but they still could put points on the board.”

The Union defense has been a tale of two stories this season. While they’ve had a rough showing from their secondary — which has allowed 272.6 passing yards a game — they’ve had a formidable front seven that’s recorded 37 tackles for loss and 15 sacks, all while giving up only 105.2 rushing yards per game.

Despite that, Curtin plans running his veer option offense and continuing to work in some pass plays.

“I think we’re still going to try to establish our run game,” Curtin said. “My goal is to ensure that we as coaches are looking at what we can get, where we can get it, based on what the Union defense gives us. They have a very good defensive line; they run a nice 3-4. They roll the linebackers down well to help with the run game. They’re a little bit young in the secondary. And so, they give up a little bit more than they do in the run game. We want to establish the run game to really highlight what opens up in the passing game. So, we’re going to go at them like we normally do in a very traditional manner.”

Linebacker Noah Steen is Union’s top tackler with 38 total (19 solo); defensive lineman Byron Gee has a team-high 4 1/2 sacks, six tackles for loss, and two forced fumbles; and defensive back Jamarious McClellan leads the Bulldogs with two interceptions.

“They’re well-coached,” Curtin said. “I love their head coach (John Luttrell), and they’ve got a new DC (defensive coordinator) in there (Boston Bryant), so they’re really good. I think our guys are ready for it.”

After weeks of shifting around positions and moving players around on the depth chart, Curtin believes this is the week his team can begin to put it all together on the field. That includes the QB position, which Curtin has had a carousel of guys start at this season.

“We’re going to stick with Darius Holly,” Curtin said. “He had a great game (last week). Yeah, he had two interceptions. But one of them was a tipped ball. And then the other one was just a great defensive effort in the end zone.”

With a plethora of players — particularly underclassman — overtaking guys that started at the beginning of the season, one of them, LB Nick Henderson, has stood out to Curtin.

“We appointed him as a team captain for the game (last week),” Curtin said. “We just had a feeling about Nick last week, and all the hype that surrounded Nick Henderson coming out of Scotland High School was on display. He had a phenomenal game flying around to the ball (and) being a leader at inside linebacker this past weekend. We expect him to continue to grow. We’re really proud of Nick. And he’s excited to get back after it.”

Henderson has been starting in place of Austin Hunt, who is still unable to play after he was stretchered off the sideline against Webber International on Aug. 26 because of dehydration.

Curtin said Hunt has a chance to return to the field this weekend.

“There is a possibility, which would be amazing for us,” Curtin said. “He’s day-to-day right now. He’s working with the trainers. The doctors are being very optimistic. But we’ve got to take into effect (that) he’s a 22-year-old young man. We’ve got to make sure that he’s healthy.”

Saturday’s game kicks off at 1:30 p.m.