Knights turn to pass game, still unable to secure win against Phoenix

LAURINBURG — When a team’s season is “lost,” seeing them try new schemes or play calls isn’t unusual. Seeing them completely flip their offensive identity, on the other hand, is though.

It’s what the St. Andrews Knights football team did in Saturday’s Homecoming game against the Cumberland (Tenn.) Phoenix — and it worked for much of the afternoon.

The Knights passed the ball for 228 yards and ran for only 61, but a rough showing from the defense helped Cumberland take off and come away with a 62-15 nonconference victory.

“The guys understood the gameplan this week,” St. Andrews head coach Bob Curtin said. “We were going to go ahead and establish an early run game, two to three yards at a pop, and then we go ahead and throw the ball. Through film and study, we realized we had some good matchups we could take advantage of. And if we get our quarterback some time, which we were able to do in that first half, we (would be) able to exploit those matchups. And then, even in the second half, the quick hits, the hitches, the slants, and the outs, they were working really well. I’m proud of that. So, we got a little better today, and then we slid in some areas.”

One of those areas St. Andrews (0-9) didn’t do well in was turning the ball over. The Knights had three turnovers, two of which were fumbles on the exchange between center Quaylin McZeke and quarterbacks Darius Holly and Dylan O’Banks while they were under center; the most notable of them happened with four seconds remaining in the first half.

Holly had just completed a 41-yard pass to wide receiver Tyquan Watson, who was taken down at the Cumberland goal line before Holly tried to spike the ball and give the Knights one play to score a touchdown. Holly lost the ball on the exchange with McZeke, though, and the game clock ran out.

“The reason why we’re under center there is we’re trying to spike the ball, and that’s the safest way to spike the ball is under center,” Curtin said. “And we had four seconds on the clock, and we botched the snap. I don’t know any safer play call — go under center (and) spike the ball. You literally lose a second-and-a-half, and now we have time to put in the package that we want and run the ball.”

The defense allowing 477 yards of offense, with 370 rushing yards, was also a downside to St. Andrews’ performance.

“It’s a much better offense than we played last week and a very well-coached team,” Curtin said on Cumberland. “They changed it up and (did) some different things in the run game to sort of exploit our inabilities to tackle like we did last week.”

An example of the Knights’ tackle woes happened with 4:29 left in the first quarter. After a double flea-flicker that potentially would have resulted in a 75-yard TD was dropped by WR Latrell Snow on St. Andrews’ first play from scrimmage, and a 35-yard field goal try by kicker Diego Barahona was blocked on the Knights’ second drive, Cumberland (4-4) cashed in for a TD on a 64-yard run by running back Treylon Sheppard to make it 7-0.

About a minute into the second quarter, the Phoenix added another score with a 1-yard rush in the end zone by RB Nick Burge. But on St. Andrews’ following drive, Holly located tight end Ellison Sandiford for an 11-yard TD pass to make the score 14-7 with 8:41 left until halftime.

From there, though, Cumberland put up 48 straight points, including an 11-yard TD run by QB Luke Holloway and a 9-yard TD reception by WR Isaac Finch to close out the first half up 28-7.

On the opening kickoff of the second half, the Phoenix received the ball and went with a reverse pitch to WR Elijah Gaskin, who then took it 75 yards to the house to make their advantage 35-7. After an interception from Holly to Finch, in on the play as a defensive back, Sheppard helped Cumberland score again with a 2-yard rushing TD, but the PAT was wide left.

Cumberland’s next two possessions finished in the end zone as well, as Burge punched it in on the St. Andrews goal line with 3:09 to go in the third quarter, and Sheppard scored on a 32-yard run nearly two minutes later.

The Phoenix’s last TD came with 6:42 left on a 31-yard pass from QB Zach Holtzclaw to WR Tim Freel. St. Andrews got a consolidation TD from QB Jalen Dodd three minutes later after he rushed 37 yards in the end zone before WR Juwan Lyons rushed in the conversion for two points.

“It’s about personal pride,” Curtin said. “These reps now translate into how well we do next year. If you throw in the towel now, you’re going to lose three games of good reps that you’re going to have to learn next year. Let’s not do that. Let’s play these games as hard as we can, as fast as we can, with as much football IQ as we can, and so that we get better this year, so that we don’t have to learn these mistakes next year. It’s a process.”

Holly was 14-of-18 passing for 209 yards passing for the Knights. Dodd led the team in rushing with 36 yards; RB Nahjiir Seagraves had six carries for 34 yards; Watson had seven receptions for 101 yards — the first time a receiver has topped 100 yards for St. Andrews this season — and Snow had four grabs for 46 yards. DB Lavarius Heath-Lewis and linebackers Tierell Milligan and John Brown had five tackles each for St. Andrews, and defensive lineman Logan Sage had a tackle for loss.

Holloway finished the game 6-of-10 passing for 76 yards and had 57 yards rushing for Cumberland. Sheppard had 10 carries for 145 yards; Burge had 17 rushing attempts for 62 yards; RB Tim Pannell had five rushes for 36 yards and a blocked FG attempt; and Finch had two catches for 28 yards. On defense, DB Xaylyn McKinnie and DL Joey Samples each had five tackles; DL Jalen Brown had four tackles (two solo), a sack, and a tackle for loss; DL Jeremiah Matthews had two tackles for loss and a sack; and DL Josh Jones had a fumble recovery.

St. Andrews returns to Appalachian Athletic Conference action to take on Pikeville in their home finale next week.