Sabres Hand Varsity Knights First Loss of the Season, 35-14

A late first-half touchdown turned the game in Southside Christian's favor, and the Sabres went on to a 35-14 win over the host Knights in a Region 1-1A battle Friday night.

It marked the first loss of the season for the Knights (5-1, 1-1), who entered the game ranked second in the state.

St. Joe's struck first, capitalizing on a fumble recovery by Nathaniel Coffi on the Sabres' first possession.

With Cade Alt's pass to Gabe Nelson, Alt's run (plus a macemasking call) and a 23-yard gain by Lucas Salgado, the Knights had a first down at the SCS 11-yard line.

After being backed up, they had fourth-and 15 at the 16. Alt fired over the middle to Michael Poinsette, who made a leaping grab in front of two defenders in the end zone. Brodie Martin added the point-after kick, and it was 7-0.

Southside Christian hit a pass for 40 yards on its next possession, and Silas Robertson capped off the drive with a 10-yard touchdown run, tying the score at 7-7.

The Sabres scored again midway through the second quarter, with quarterback Carson Boleman taking it in from a yard out. The kick was no good, but Southside Christian had a 13-7 lead.

The Knights answered that score with a 45-yard touchdown run by Alt, who kept the ball on an option left and raced to the end zone. Martin's kick put St. Joe's back on top at the 5:37 mark of the second quarter, 14-13.

Poinsette's interception halted a Sabres' drive, but Southside Christian picked off a pass and marched into SJCS territory.

With less than 20 seconds remaining in the half, SCS quarterback Paul Cobin dumped a screen over the middle, and Robertson cut to the left sideline and ran 33 yards for a touchdown. Cobin hit Zack Brewster for the two-point conversion, and the Sabres had a 21-14 lead and a big momentum boost just 4.9 seconds before halftime.

After neither team scored in the third quarter, the Knights moved as far as the SCS 24-yard line early in the fourth but turned the ball over on downs.

Lucas McKinney ran 40 yards for a touchdown to extend the Sabres' lead to 28-14 with 7:48 remaining. Then Kolby Sentelle caught a screen pass from Cobin and went 55 yards for a score with 5:16 left.

Salgado led the Knights with 85 yards rushing on seven attempts, and Alt had 10 carries for 63 yards.

Hammond Fayssoux had a team-high 10 tackles, Johnny Jaraczewski had eight and each had two tackles for loss. Walker Wolfram had six stops and four tackles for loss.

The Knights will play at home again this week, hosting Calhoun Falls in a region game at 7:30 PM.

Alumni, alumni parents and SJCS retirees are invited to a Homecoming Tailgate under the white tent from 5:30-7:30.

PHOTO GALLERY


SJCS 61 WARE SHOALS 12

SCS    7 - 14 - 0 - 14 -- 35
SJCS   7 -  7 - 0 -  0 -- 14

 

First Quarter

SJ-Michael Poinsette 16 pass from Cade Alt (Brodie Martin kick)
SC-Silas Robertson 10 run (Hayden Henly kick)

Second Quarter

SC-Carson Boleman 1 run (kick failed)
SJ-Alt 45 run (Martin kick)
SC-Robertson 33 pass from Paul Cobin (Zack Brewster pass from Cobin)

Fourth Quarter

SC-Lucas McKinney 40 run (Henly kick)
SC-Kolby Sentelle 55 pass from Cobin (Henly kick)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING: SJ-Lucas Salgado 7-85, Cade Alt 10-63, Michael Poinsette 11-49, Brayden Johnson 12-29.

PASSING: SJ-Alt 3-14-1 30.

RECEIVING: SJ-Gabe Nelson 2-14, Tradd Coulter 2-11, Poinsette 1-16.

TACKLES (Tackles-TFL): SJ-Hammond Fayssoux 10-2, Johnny Jaraczewski 8-2, Walker Wolfram 6-4, Chase Kennedy 5-0, Coulter 3-1, Nathaniel Coffi 3-0, Salgado 2-0, Nelson 2-0, Brendan Alvis 2-0, Jack Flynn 2-0, Collins Langdon 1-0.