Knights knock out Titans in rematch

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Prasham Jobanputra

Quarterback Kolby Barrow in the shotgun formation awaiting the snap.

WARRINGTON- Beating a team once might be easy, but beating the same team again, that’s a more difficult task, something the Titans learned in the first round of the playoffs.

The North Penn Knights (8-3) took down the CB South Titans (7-4) 35-7 in the first round of district playoffs.  This comes 2 weeks after the Knights lost this same matchup 36-35.

“I told our kids, and this was the disappointing part of the first loss, I can take a loss but, I can’t take a loss when the other team is just playing harder than us and the first game, they were playing harder than us.  And I told them, we had to play harder this time,” Head Coach Dick Beck said.

The first score of the game came late in the first quarter when senior RJ Macnamara rushed for a yard to score a touchdown.  Daniel Moon’s kick was good and the Knights went up 7-0.  At the end of the first half, the Knights tried to make it 10-0, but Moon missed a 35-yard field goal and the score was 7-0 heading into halftime.

“Everyone just came ready to play today.  No one was scared of them because we had already played them before and everyone wanted to win tonight and everyone came ready to win,” Macnamara said.

In the third quarter, Nate Brown rushed for a 36-yard pickup to setup a Khalani Eaton touchdown and put the Knights ahead 14-0.  With 6:44 left in the third quarter, Cory Keim came up with a big sack to force a turnover on downs for the Titans.  The Knights capitalized with a 7-yard run from Evan Spann for a touchdown.  Eaton rushed for 149 yards and Spann added 129 yards through the ground.

“Started off running with the offensive line and they just held their blocks and we just punched the ball in,” Spann said on his touchdown runs.

The passing game took a backseat to the ground attack this week.  Quarterback Kolby Barrow was 7-16 on passes and threw for 98 yards.

“The defense really stepped up and kept the game intact for the offense to produce in the second half and the o-line worked their butts off tonight and we pounded it against them and it was a great job by the offensive line,” Barrow said.

The Knights continued their dominance in the 4th quarter.  Spann rushed for a 45-yard gain and followed it up with a 2-yard rushing touchdown to put the Knights ahead 28-0.  On defense, Mike Morasco stripped the football lose and the Knights recovered it to force the turnover.  With 2:21 left in the game, Zayd Ward-Richardson ran for an 11-yard touchdown and Grace Macnamara’s PAT was good as the Knights had a 35-0 lead.  They couldn’t get the shutout however as with 43.9 seconds left in the game, Sean Smith received a 43-yard touchdown pass from Carter Hallgren.  But it was too late for a comeback and the Knights will see one more week.

They will be up against the #1 seeded Downingtown West Whippets next Friday.