Knoch wins on last-second FG
NEW KENSINGTON — One-yard line. One play. One kick.
One more game.
Knoch completed its journey to Heinz Field in a bizarre way Friday night when Kory Wood's 20-yard field goal on the game's final play produced a 9-7 victory over Franklin Regional in a WPIAL Class AAA football semifinal at Heinz Field.
The Knights (12-0) will take on Montour (10-2) — a 21-14 upset winner over top-seeded Central Valley — for the WPIAL title at 2 p.m. next Saturday at Heinz Field.
“You talk about a high school football experience ... That's the ultimate,” Knoch coach Mike King said about playing at Heinz Field. “I mean, there's nothing better than that.”
Then again, Friday night was pretty good.
When Nico LoDovico's punt was downed at the 1-yard line with 2:47 to play, Knoch trailed 7-6 and was staring at plenty of real estate.
But not for long.
On the next play, Ky Kenyon dropped back and hit Ben Tackett in stride on a straight fly pattern down the right sideline. Defensive back Cory Lauer — who intercepted Kenyon twice earlier in the evening — dragged Tackett down at the Franklin Regional 26-yard line.
“Ky read that play perfectly,” Tackett said. “We split two receivers to the right and he (Lauer) bit on our guy cutting inside. That gave me a few steps on him.
“All I said to myself when I saw that ball in the air was, ‘Don't drop it ... Just don't drop it.' That ball was laid in there perfect.
“I'm the one who let that punt fall and roll to the 1-yard line. When you make a bad play in a big game, you have to make up for it. Hopefully, I won't get chewed out too badly when we watch films,” Tackett added.
Kenyon was intercepted three times and lost a fumble in the game. Before that pass, he had thrown for just 24 yards.
“It's football, man. You go for it,” King said of the play. “What else were we going to do? We could've run a bunch of out patterns, but they would have been looking for that stuff.”
Kenyon said he's gotten used to receivers making big plays.
“I'm blessed to have a bunch of guys who can run under the football,” he said. “I just threw it out there.”
From the 26, the ball stayed in Kenyon's hands. He ran the ball on seven consecutive plays, the last taking the ball to the Panthers' 2-yard line.
The ball came loose on that final run, but the Knights' recovered.
Knoch let the clock run down to 3.8 seconds before sending Wood on to the field.
“I would have preferred the touchdown, of course,” Wood said. “Who needs the drama?”
King certainly didn't.
“A lot of things have to go right on a field goal from any distance,” King said. “The snap's gotta get there, the ball's gotta be put down, the kicker has to drill it through.”
Chad Tudor snapped it, Kenyon held it, Wood drilled it and the Knights are playing on.A low snap cost Wood a chance to kick the PAT after Knoch's lone touchdown in the first quarter, Kenyon scooped up the ball and tried running, only to be hammered into the turf.“Yeah, you think about that play a little. It went through my mind,” Kenyon said while awaiting the field goal snap. “But Kory was going to hit this. It was just like a PAT.”Wood never saw any of Kenyon's late runs, including the fumble. He was busy warming up on the sidelines.“As soon as (Tackett) caught that pass, I figured I'd better start getting ready,” he said. “I felt like I could have tried one from as far as 45 yards out.”Franklin Regional (11-1) lost despite forcing four turnovers, not turning the ball over itself and not taking a penalty until the fourth quarter.“I'm still trying to figure out how this happened,” Panthers coach Greg Botta said. “This one is going to hurt for a while.”Franklin Regional's season ended despite the team having an incredulous plus-26 turnover/takeaway margin for the year.Knoch took a 6-0 lead on its first possession as a 22-yard Alex Strezeski punt return set up a six-play, 33-yard scoring drive. A 14-yard scramble by Kenyon and 11-yard run by Mac Megahan highlighted the march, which Kenyon concluded with a 1-yard run.That lead held up until early in the final quarter. Kenyon tried hitting Andy Tuzikow over the middle, but Lauer jumped the route and picked the ball off at midfield, returning it 25 yards to the Knoch 25.On third-and-12 from the 27, running back Dane Brown took a handoff and lofted a 19-yard pass to Slater Simek, setting up a first-and-goal at the 8. The pass was the Panthers' lone completion for positive yardage all night.Two plays later, Brown scored on a 4-yard run, Mike Roberge added the PAT and Franklin Regional had its 7-6 lead with 9:09 to play.“These were two teams that really wanted it,” Botta said. “One team wound up making the play to win it and it wasn't us.“That was crazy, how this ended. Maybe they really are a team of destiny.”Tackett won't argue with him.“It feels like this was supposed to happen, like it's all part of a plan or something,” he said.King's not worried about the reason. He's only too happy to extend the season.And he could only grin as he saw an inflated Heinz ketchup bottle being tossed about by Knoch players and fans during the postgame celebration.“I'm seeing a lot of pride here,” he said. “A proud high school, a proud community, a proud coaching staff and a bunch of proud players.“These kids made it happen. It's their show.”<B>Knoch 9, Franklin Regional 7</B>Knoch 6 0 0 3 — 9Franklin Regional 0 0 0 7 — 7K FR12 First Downs 546-163 Rushes-Yards 32-7697 Passing Yards 155-9-3 Passes (Comp.-Att.-Int.) 2-8-0260 Total Yards 914-1 Fumbles-Lost 0-03-20 Penalties-Yards 3-20<B>First Quarter</B>K — Ky Kenyon 1 run (run failed),<B>Fourth Quarter</B>FR — Dane Brown 4 run (Mike Roberge kick), 9:09K — Kory Wood 20 field goal, :00<B>Individual StatisticsPassing:</B> Knoch, Ky Kenyon 5-9-97-3. Fraklin Regional,. Nico LoDovico 1-7-(-4)-0, Dane Brown 1-1-19-0.<B>Rushing:</B> Knoch, Ky Kenyon 24-97, Andrew Rumburg-Goodlin 19-63, Ben Tackett 1-5, Mac Megahan 1-11, Dakota Bruggeman 1-(-13). Franklin Regional, Dane Brown 19-53, Mark Nicholas 2-9, Nico LoDovico 11-14.<B>Receiving:</B> Knoch, Ben Tackett 4-90, Andy Tuzikow 1-7. Franklin Regional, Dane Brown 1-(-4), Slater Simek 1-19.
