Knights Fall To Yellowjackets
The Silver Knights were riding high going into Fridays home matchup with the Williamstown Yellowjackets and were tied at 16-16 with three minutes to go in the first half, but Williamstow rattled off two quick T.D.’s to go up 30-16 with six seconds left in the half. Knights senior running back Mark Rucker then brought the crowd to their feet with a 63 yard run to close the half with the Yellowjackkets leading 30-22.
The Knights went into the locker room feeling pretty good about things and with the momentum on their side they came out after the break and stopped Williamstown on downs on their first drive. The Silver Knights looked like they were going to score and possibly tie the game but the visitors picked off a Huffman pass which gave them the ball back and turned the tide in teir favor. They came up with a huge play on their next posession and scored on a seven yard run by Ty Moore his third of five on the night and with the two point conversion good it was 38-22 with 4:40 left in the third quarter.
The Knights came back and scored on their next possession when Gage Huffman connected with Jayden Helmick for a 23-yard score to put the score at 38-28 with 2:56 left in the third, but that would end up being the last points for the Knights in the game Williamstown wasn’t through however as they got one more score from Moore on a two yard run with 9:20 to play in the game to get the victory.
“If anybody watched the game, it was a game that we expected was going to be like that,’ Walton said. “It was a physical football game. Both teams got after it. I am damn proud of my guys. We got young guys playing everywhere and we got some older guys that are taking care of them, guiding them along. I was proud of my guys.
“That’s a pretty good football team over there in Williamstown. Their defensive and offensive front is pretty good and Ty Moore is a pretty good ballplayer. He did a good job.”
Williamstown’s Coach Smith said, “I just think Rucker is a just tremendous player. Anytime he had the ball and had a chance to score, he did. We were able to slow him down in the second half a little bit, but my hats off to him. He’s really good. Whether he had blocks, didn’t have blocks, it didn’t matter. I’m just glad we held on.”
For the Silver Knights, Huffman threw for 131 yards going 12 of 20 in the process with two touchdowns and one interception. Helmick led the receiving corp for Tyler with 79 yards on four catches.
“We got three games left. The season is not over,” Walton said. “We got Magnolia, Valley and St. Marys left and all three of those games is something we got to take one game at a time.
“We’ll start preparing for Magnolia (today). It’s kind of in our hands. We control what we can control and that’s wins and losses. If we get the next three, maybe we can get in.”
Williamstown ran the ball 46 times for 413 yards and five touchdowns and completed 7-10 passes for 118 yards and a score. The Knights had 313 yards on the ground on 36 carries with Rucker picking up 250 yards on 22 rushes and two touschdowns. Walton carried the ball two times for 11 yards from the fullback position.
Gage Huffman had another outstanding game with 45 yards on 11 carries and completed 12-20 passes for 131 yards and two touchdowns. Rucker also had five catches for 26 yards. The Knights had 20 first downs while Williamstown ended with 21. Both teams lost a fumble. And Tyler has four penalties for 25 yards compared to Williamstowns nine for 70 yards.
With Magnolia coming to town on Friday look for the Silver Knights to pick up another win 48-14 and improve to 5-3 on the season