SUCCESS HARD TO HANDLE FOR KNAPPA
After what had to be one of the all-time upsets in Northwest League history last week, the Knappa Loggers came back to earth on Friday night. The Logger's opening drive ended with a bad punt snap and things didn't get much better.
"We followed our best game of the year with our worst," said Loggers assistant coach Jeff Miller following Knappa's 51-8 home loss to Nestucca Friday night.
The sixth-ranked Bobcats improved to 6-1 on the season, 2-0 in Northwest League play heading into their bye week. Knappa dropped to 2-5 overall and 1-1 in league, but due to their shocking league-opening win at Corbett, the Loggers have an opportunity to clinch a playoff spot with a win next week at Gaston.
In order to do that, Knappa must find some way to hold on to the football. The Loggers fumbled the ball eight times Friday night, losing six. Meanwhile, the Bobcats moved the ball at will, racking up 551 yards in offense on the way to a rout.
Nestucca took advantage of four recovered fumbles in the first period to take a 19-0 lead before Joe Strickland got the Loggers on the board with a 43-yard touchdown run. The junior running back also ran in the conversion to complete Knappa's only scoring play of the night and finished with a team-high 88 yards on nine carries and intercepted a pass on defense.
Freshman Cody Strickland, the Loggers starting quarterback for the second straight game, completed the only pass he threw to his big brother for eight yards. Strickland later left the game with an injury, forcing a banged-up Gary Aho back under center. Knappa's emergency quarterback completed a pair of passes for seven yards.
Another injury in the game could be very costly as Loggers' senior fullback and linebacker Mike Fulton injured his knee late in the fourth quarter after gaining 55 yards on seven carries. Fulton was taken to the hospital, but the extent of the injury is not known at this time. Steve Bokor added 44 yards on ten carries, but had a 70-yard touchdown run called back on a questionable illegal shift penalty.
"It was obvious we were going to move the ball with Fulton in there," said Miller. "He went out, Bokor got called back and things just fell apart completely.
"He [Fulton] is our middle linebacker on defense and has had huge success as a fullback. He had a 70-yard run in the first quarter tonight. He's one of the few senior leaders we have."
Elias Hunsinger also had an interception for Knappa and the Loggers blocked three consecutive Nestucca PAT attempts.
"You can survive some other mistakes if your're hanging on to the ball," said Miller. It's been our focus since the season started. We knew we weren't good enough to overcome those kind of mistakes. When we get blown out, we fumble."
The Loggers rushed for 211 yards as a team and had three drives into Nestucca's red zone, one inside the 5-yard line before coughing up the ball.
NESTUCCA 19-14-12-6-51
KNAPPA 0-8-0-0-8
Nestucca names not reported
1stQ-NES: #3 34 run (#70 kick)
1stQ-NES: #3 2 run (run failed)
1stQ-NES: #11 70 pass from #10 (run failed)
2ndQ-KNA: J. Strickland 43 run (J. Strickland run)
2ndQ-NES: #24 32 run after #3 10 pass from #10 and lateral (#70 kick)
2ndQ-NES: #11 11 pass from #10 (#70 kick)
3rdQ-NES: #3 12 run (kick blocked)
3rdQ-NES: #3 12 run (kick blocked)
4thQ-NES: #30 24 run (kick blocked)
RUSHING-NES; 36-225 (#3 9-89-4td), KNA: 40-211 (J. Strickland 9-88-td)
PASSING-NES: 13-21-1-230-3td, KNA: 3-3-0-15 (C. Strickland 1-1-8, Aho 2-2-7)
RECEIVING-NES: #11 3-105-2td, #24 5-65, KNA: J. Strickland 1-8
TURNOVERS-NES: 2, KNA: 6
PENALTITES-NES: 8-75, KNA: 6-45
"We followed our best game of the year with our worst," said Loggers assistant coach Jeff Miller following Knappa's 51-8 home loss to Nestucca Friday night.
The sixth-ranked Bobcats improved to 6-1 on the season, 2-0 in Northwest League play heading into their bye week. Knappa dropped to 2-5 overall and 1-1 in league, but due to their shocking league-opening win at Corbett, the Loggers have an opportunity to clinch a playoff spot with a win next week at Gaston.
In order to do that, Knappa must find some way to hold on to the football. The Loggers fumbled the ball eight times Friday night, losing six. Meanwhile, the Bobcats moved the ball at will, racking up 551 yards in offense on the way to a rout.
Nestucca took advantage of four recovered fumbles in the first period to take a 19-0 lead before Joe Strickland got the Loggers on the board with a 43-yard touchdown run. The junior running back also ran in the conversion to complete Knappa's only scoring play of the night and finished with a team-high 88 yards on nine carries and intercepted a pass on defense.
Freshman Cody Strickland, the Loggers starting quarterback for the second straight game, completed the only pass he threw to his big brother for eight yards. Strickland later left the game with an injury, forcing a banged-up Gary Aho back under center. Knappa's emergency quarterback completed a pair of passes for seven yards.
Another injury in the game could be very costly as Loggers' senior fullback and linebacker Mike Fulton injured his knee late in the fourth quarter after gaining 55 yards on seven carries. Fulton was taken to the hospital, but the extent of the injury is not known at this time. Steve Bokor added 44 yards on ten carries, but had a 70-yard touchdown run called back on a questionable illegal shift penalty.
"It was obvious we were going to move the ball with Fulton in there," said Miller. "He went out, Bokor got called back and things just fell apart completely.
"He [Fulton] is our middle linebacker on defense and has had huge success as a fullback. He had a 70-yard run in the first quarter tonight. He's one of the few senior leaders we have."
Elias Hunsinger also had an interception for Knappa and the Loggers blocked three consecutive Nestucca PAT attempts.
"You can survive some other mistakes if your're hanging on to the ball," said Miller. It's been our focus since the season started. We knew we weren't good enough to overcome those kind of mistakes. When we get blown out, we fumble."
The Loggers rushed for 211 yards as a team and had three drives into Nestucca's red zone, one inside the 5-yard line before coughing up the ball.
NESTUCCA 19-14-12-6-51
KNAPPA 0-8-0-0-8
Nestucca names not reported
1stQ-NES: #3 34 run (#70 kick)
1stQ-NES: #3 2 run (run failed)
1stQ-NES: #11 70 pass from #10 (run failed)
2ndQ-KNA: J. Strickland 43 run (J. Strickland run)
2ndQ-NES: #24 32 run after #3 10 pass from #10 and lateral (#70 kick)
2ndQ-NES: #11 11 pass from #10 (#70 kick)
3rdQ-NES: #3 12 run (kick blocked)
3rdQ-NES: #3 12 run (kick blocked)
4thQ-NES: #30 24 run (kick blocked)
RUSHING-NES; 36-225 (#3 9-89-4td), KNA: 40-211 (J. Strickland 9-88-td)
PASSING-NES: 13-21-1-230-3td, KNA: 3-3-0-15 (C. Strickland 1-1-8, Aho 2-2-7)
RECEIVING-NES: #11 3-105-2td, #24 5-65, KNA: J. Strickland 1-8
TURNOVERS-NES: 2, KNA: 6
PENALTITES-NES: 8-75, KNA: 6-45
posted by Matt Richert at 9:41 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home