by Trent-David Comer, The Verve

Photographs by Natalie Mangiaracina, The Verve

The Crown Knights competed in the first round of the GFC’s football conference playoffs against the East Atlanta Mustangs, coming out on top with a close score of 17-14.

The atmosphere of the game was intense the entire night with fans of both sides often jeering or cheering. Foul play and many injuries occurred to each side. Defense’s Brady Warren of the Knights said, “It was pretty intense with both teams going at it. There was a lot of hard hitting. It was a great game; it finished the way it should’ve. We’ll take that to the semi-finals.”

This game was very focused on defense with much lower scoring than most games played by the Knights.

The Knights sacked the Mustangs’ quarterback multiple times, and their secondary was also able to disrupt the opponents’ passing game with two crucial interceptions by Chas Walters and Daniel Matteson.

The first score of the game did not occur until the second quarter at 7:45 when Crown’s quarterback, Hamilton Armour, connected with Samuel Buhler for a 21-yard pass. With the extra point made by AJ Redlinger, the score rose to 7-0 Knights. Neither team scored during the remainder of the second quarter.

As the third quarter began, the Mustangs pulled ahead. The Mustang quarterback and receiver connected for a monstrous 65-yard pass that led to a touchdown. The Mustangs then successfully went for a two-point conversion, bringing the score to 8-7 with the Mustangs on top.

Right when things were looking grim for the Knights, Redlinger kicked a huge 45-yard field goal to give the Knights the lead again at 10-8.

The Mustangs came back on another drive with a pass play to reach the goal line. They proceeded to run the ball in for a touchdown, but botched the two-point conversion. With 9 minutes left in the fourth quarter, the score was 14-10 Mustangs.

The Knights continued to persevere; Armour threw a 25-yard pass to Redlinger to bring the ball to the 26-yard line. The Knights handed the ball to Simeon Buhler who ran the ball in for a touchdown with five seconds remaining.

When everyone thought the game was over, the Knights made a crucial interception with three seconds left in the game. When the Knights fumbled the ball on the following drive, the Mustangs had one last chance for their playoff dreams. Luckily for the Knights, Matteson came away with an amazing interception with 1:09 seconds left in the fourth quarter. The Knights proceeded to knee the ball to go on to victory.

Matteson said, “[When I intercepted the ball,] I was just thinking to catch it and then fall down to make sure I don’t lose it. I had a similar play last week, so I was expecting it. Always give God the glory.”

Armour said, “Our defensive line had a really great game. Our running backs had a decent game. In the second half we did a really good job maintaining possession and driving down the field even though we had some errors in the end with the fumbling and ball handling. Overall I think our defensive line won the game for us.”