Escape trick
JEFFERSON TWP — Everything was going according to plan for Knoch.
Then disaster struck.
Facing a fourth and 19 from the Knoch 34-yard line with 31 seconds left and no timeouts, Gateway quarterback Roy Quez McNair scrambled to his left and desperately lofted a pass deep down the left sideline.
Knoch defenders Ben Lowery and Cody Milsom jumped in front of receiver Aiden Howard to deflect the pass away. The ball deflected off Lowery's hands — directly into Howard's.
As the Knight defenders fell to the ground, Howard waltzed into the end zone with 23 seconds to go. Malik Burks scored on a conversion run and Gateway snared a stunning 8-7 football victory Friday night at Knoch Stadium.
“We defended them well all night,” Knoch coach Mike King said. “We defended that last play well. They caught a break.
“This is a tough one.”
Tom Nola picked up his first victory as Gateway head coach. The Gators (1-3, 1-2) were limited to 22 net offensive yards in the first half.
“Luck is luck,” Nola said, shrugging his shoulders. “Sometimes your luck is good. Sometimes it's bad. All I know is we've lost a couple of games late this year. It feels good to win one.”
Knoch (2-2, 2-1) took the opening kickoff and marched 72 yards in nine plays. Dan Farinelli completed passes of 22 and 15 yards to Asa Adams, 27 yards to Addis Crouch. Milsom completed the march with a 4-yard scoring run on fourth-and-1.
Farinelli would throw for only 26 yards the rest of the night. Knoch managed only two more first downs before running the Wildcat formation in the fourth quarter.
“They jumped into different fronts, a four-man front, a six-man front ... We just bogged down offensively,” King said.
The Knights stubbornly clung to that 7-0 lead. Matt Jaworski sacked Gateway quarterback Mike Loffredo on fourth down from the Knoch 32 early in the second quarter.
The Gators took the second-half kickoff and marched 65 yards in 12 plays. On the 12th play, running back Adam White fumbled and Lowery recovered at the Knoch 2-yard line. Gateway took possession at its own 27 with no timeouts and 4:29 on the clock.
Slowly, the Gators moved downfield, winding up with a first down at the Knoch 25. Adams tackled Howard for a 6-yard loss on a pass completion. Ty Gornick blew up a screen pass to White for a 3-yard loss. McNair spiked the ball on third down. Then came Gateway's miracle.
“Our kids never gave up on this game,” Nola said. “They fought hard, played hard. That's why I decided we'd try to win the game with a two-pointer.
“We've got a good kicker. But that was the time to go for the win.”
Milsom had 26 carries for 100 yards for Knoch. White had 19 carries for 77 yards for Gateway.
“We can't feel sorry for ourselves,” King said. “Two and 2 isn't where we wanted to be at this point, but we have a lot of football to play — and we have to go to Hampton next week.”
