Knights remain winless after falling into large 1st-half hole against No. 23 Reinhardt
Oct. 14—LAURINBURG — In the first quarter of Saturday's game between the St. Andrews Knights and the No. 23 Reinhardt Eagles, the Knights let up a 6-yard touchdown run from running back Jerdavian Colbert on Reinhardt's opening drive.
St. Andrews responded by marching down the field on a drive that lasted just over seven-and-a-half minutes — and being forced to punt the ball at Reinhardt's 39-yard line due to a false start penalty that made a fourth-and-4, five yards longer.
"That just completely stalled the drive and completely stalled everything we were doing," St. Andrews head coach Bob Curtin said. "And you could see that we're so young and immature in the game of football that when the momentum shifts, we're not capable of reestablishing ourselves and reestablishing the momentum on our side."
That error was when Curtin felt his team was already beginning to slip the game away. His gut feeling eventually became correct.
At halftime, St. Andrews trailed 30-0 and struggled to move the ball in the second half, resulting in a 57-0 shutout loss to Reinhardt and their 11th-straight loss dating back to last season.
"It's disheartening," Curtin said. "I've never been in an organization where we've suffered so many constant losses. It's a struggle for me. And I'm not here to make excuses. I always knew coming into this job that it was going to get really bad before it gets any better. And I think we're close to the bottom. Now, it's time for us to start climbing. We've got to climb up, and it's not going to be overnight. But building a program is just that. We allowed the program to deteriorate to such a level that, when the new coaching staff got in here (this past offseason), we didn't have enough time to get things going. We knew we were going to bottom out."
St. Andrews (0-7, 0-3 Appalachian Athletic Conference) had just 88 yards of total offense despite possessing the ball for close to 43 minutes, and turned the ball over three times.
"We're not executing as well as we should," Curtin said. "We're making mistakes that continue to hurt us. We've got some decent drives we put together. But all three facets of the game are not clicking the way they should.
"We're getting great stops on defense, and then we're letting up big plays on defense. We're getting great drives on offense, and then we're having a miscue with the ball. Our kicker has been kicking and playing great. So that part is nice. And then we let up a 75-yard return; you can't do that. That puts our defense in a bind. A little bit of today is on the coaches, and a lot of it's on me. The synchronization coordination between the coaches (has) got to get better."
For Reinhardt (4-2, 2-0 AAC), they had 329 of their 451 yards on the day come in the run game. While none of their players reached the century mark, they did have three that rushed for over 50 yards.
RB Tyress McKey led the Eagles with 67 rushing yards on 11 carries, Colbert had eight rushes for 65 yards, and wide receiver Luis Morris ran for 52 yards on three attempts.
One of them for Morris went for a TD in the second quarter. After WR Collin Fletcher caught a 45-yard TD reception from quarterback Taylor Jackson to make Reinhardt's lead 14-0 late in the first quarter, Morris scored on a 42-yard run with 10:23 to go in the second.
On the ensuing drive, St. Andrews was forced to punt from their 36-yard line, but the snap went over punter Diego Barahona's head and inside the 10-yard line. Barahona kicked the ball out the back of the end zone for a safety to avoid the Eagles getting the opportunity for an easy score.
With Reinhardt getting the ball again, McKey added to their lead on the drive's first play from scrimmage with a 65-yard TD scamper to put the score at 30-0 with 6:19 left before halftime.
Following a three-and-out, the Knights had one of their few positive plays of the day happen when defensive back Xazavion Simpson — who started the season playing WR — intercepted Jackson in St. Andrews territory.
"I'm never opposed to playing a guy both ways if it makes sense," Curtin said. "When you're down and struggling like this, you're trying to get the best 11 athletes on the field. And you're trying to give guys opportunities. The reason he was out there is, we had some guys that got a little bit lumped up. Guys that were a little bit sore from playing the game. Of our 108-man roster, we only dressed 50 guys today."
Linebacker Riley McKee intercepted St. Andrews QB Dylan O'Banks' pass on that drive, putting it to bed.
Out of the halftime break, the Knights went three-and-out and punted to Reinhardt, which led to Jackson rushing in the end zone from 25 yards out on that drive to extend the Eagles lead to 37-0.
McKey scored on a 21-yard sweep play before a missed extra point put the score at 43-0; tight end Jakorrian Paulk had a 19-yard TD reception; and defensive lineman Colby Sloan returned a stripped fumble by St. Andrews WR J.J. Cobb 25 yards for the final Eagles score in the waning moments of the fourth quarter.
St. Andrews drove down the field on their next drive and made it to the Reinhardt 1-yard line after a completion from QB Jalen Dodd to TE Ellison Sandiford with five seconds left. In an attempt to get points, the Knights came out of a timeout and tried to run a QB sneak, but the ball was fumbled by Dodd and recovered by Sloan to run the clock out.
"We want to get our first win, but we want to see much more improvement," Curtin said. "I want to see the offense put multiple drives together, put it in the end zone, not cave on the half-yard line. I want to see the defense make some good stops and not give up the big plays. And I want to see our special teams be able to kick the ball and not give up long runbacks. It's about personal pride."
QB Darius Holly, who started the game for the Knights, was 2 of 6 for 9 yards. Dodd was 3-of-8 passing for 28 yards; RB Kevon Daniels had nine carries for 32 yards; RB Anterius Carpenter had eight rushes for 24 yards; and Sandiford had two receptions for 18 yards. On defense, DB Lavarius Heath-Lewis and DL Ervin Gardner had five tackles each, with Gardner also forcing a fumble.
Jackson was 2-of-7 passing for 68 yards and an interception for Reinhardt. Colbert had 11 carries for 49 yards, and Fletcher had two grabs for 80 yards. LB Kendrick Hawkins had seven tackles (five solo) and 1 1/2 tackles for loss; LB Orlando Gandy Jr. had six tackles (five solo), two sacks, and two tackles for loss; Sloan had six tackles (all solo), two tackles for loss, a forced fumble, and a sack; and McKee had five tackles (all solo), a sack, and a tackle for loss.
With the Knights way out of contention for the AAC title, Curtin is looking to gain an advantage for the future in his team's remaining games. And with the team's roster made up of mainly freshmen, he's looking to give them even more snaps than they've already gotten.
"We just don't have a high football IQ. And the only way we're going to get a better high football IQ is by getting reps," Curtin said. "We have four seniors on the team. We have six juniors on the team. And some of the guys that do have a lot of reps, they're getting beat out by younger guys. We're working on our football IQ, and we've got to do a lot more."
St. Andrews hosts Kentucky Christian next week in the annual "Knights vs. Knights" rivalry game.
Reach Brandon Hodge at 910-506-3171 or by email at bhodge@laurinburgexchange.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @BrandonHSports.
