JEFFERSON TWP — It all came down to an extra point Friday.

Knoch missed three point-after attempts, including a crucial one in overtime, and was edged by Blackhawk 28-27 in Northwest Nine Conference play at Knoch Stadium.

“It's just tough,” said Knoch coach Mike King. “It's your first time out. I've got a whole lot of seniors on the field, and then we've got some young guys that got to grow up real fast.”

After a scoreless second half, Knoch and Blackhawk went into overtime deadlocked at 21. The Knights scored first.

Two runs from quarterback Mac Christy got the Knights (0-1, 0-1) to the 4, and then Jayden Renfrew ran left to the outside for the 4-yard touchdown.

However, kicker Mark Kroneburg's extra-point attempt was blocked.

The Cougars (1-0, 1-0) responded with a dagger after stumbling. Blackhawk was pushed back to the 23-yard line by a false start and holding.

On second and 23, Michael Savilisky connected with his twin brother, Danny, at the 10.

One play later, Michael Savilisky found Mark McKenna for the touchdown.

It was all up to kicker Myles Vujaklya, who missed three field goals, including one from 44 yards out as time expired in regulation.

Vujaklya came through in overtime.

“He makes them every day in practice,” said Blackhawk coach Joe Lamenza. “I know he missed a couple field goals, but we have confidence in him and he got the job done when it mattered most.”

Knoch started strongly, with Christy ripping off a 44-yard touchdown run less than two minutes into the first quarter for the 7-0 lead.

The Knights followed that up with an 11-yard touchdown run by Renfrew with 4:40 to go in the first quarter. A bad snap on the point-after attempt led to Kroneburg trying to run the ball, and being stopped for the 13-0 lead.

A momentum shift came for Blackhawk with around 1:30 left in the first quarter when Michael Savilisky found Jordan Krut for a 32-yard reception at the Knoch 5.

The initial call on the field was that Krut fumbled and the Knights recovered. However, Lamenza contested the call, and after the officials' deliberation it was overturned.

Blackhawk's Noah Haney scored from five yards out on the next play to cut the deficit to 13-7.

King wasn't happy with the call being overturned, referring to it as a “blown call.”

“(It) could have been the difference in the game,” he said.

Lamenza was glad the officials took the time to talk about it.

“I've always said that it's important to get those calls right,” he said. “A lot of the times officials, they don't always conference like that. But they conferenced, got the call right and that was a critical situation for us.”

The Cougars scored again on a 36-yard run by Alex Desmond early in the second quarter.

The Knights' defense, thinking he was down at around the 20, stopped trying to wrestle him down, but Desmond managed to stay up, a whistle was never blown, and he ran in the ball to give Blackhawk the 14-13 lead.

The Knights took the lead back, 15-14, when Christy hit Michael Savilisky in the endzone for a safetywith 5:48 to go in the first half.

On Knoch's ensuing possession, Zach Boldy turned a short pass from Christy into a 33-yard touchdown. Again, the point-after attempt was unsuccessful, and Knoch led 21-14.

Blackhawk managed to tie the score before halftime when Spencer Hunter ran in the ball from five yards out.

Both teams were whistled often. Blackhawk was flagged 12 times for 75 yards, while Knoch was flagged 13 times for 130 yards.

King acknowledged that there were “legit penalties” called on Knoch, but said there were too many called.

“I thought those guys were a little bit overanxious in calling some penalties,” he said.

King also spoke of room for improvement.

“They all went out there and tried their best,” he said. “I can't blame a young kid out there. (Blackhawk) had some things, we had some things. It was a hard-fought game, a lot of penalties first time out. We got a lot of things to fix.”