BELLVILLE — The Faith Academy Knights hosted Bryan St Joseph for the District Championship, Nov. 1, at SAB Stadium in Bellville.
Both teams came in undefeated in district play. St Joes jumped out to an early lead, scoring on the first play from scrimmage on a 52 yard run. But the Knights gained their composure and bounced back, taking the lead and never looking back. Senior Travis Woodley continued to shine, carrying the ball eight times for 185 yards, and TDs over 62, 60, and 1 yard runs. He also added four receptions for 73 yards, and TDs from 12 and 19 yards out, giving him five on the night.
Junior QB Christian Pillow had his best game as a Knight throwing the ball. He went 16 for 25 for 359 yards and seven TDs. He found junior Jackson Dunn on passes from 42, 21, and 15 yards.
Dunn, who is also the starting running back, ran the ball 16 times for another 91 yards and 1 TD.
Also, junior Joshua Stark had a stellar game on both sides of the ball. Offensively, he caught four passes for 137 yards and two TDs. His TDs came from 22 and 19 yards, before finding pay-dirt. His other yards came on two important fourth down plays, where he split the defenders and picked up gains of 36 and 38 yards on perfectly thrown balls from Pillow.
The Knights racked up 297 yards on the ground, 376 yards through the air, another 55 yards on Kickoff Returns, and on a return from Senior Cash Eckermann late in the game to seal the win for the Knights, 93-82.
The 728 total yards from the Knights would be the second highest yardages all year. Number 1, is obviously weeks back, when the Knights beat Valor Prep, with a win in a record setting fashion 148-112. That night, the Knights racked up 8 yards shy of 900 total yards. These yardage stats are accredited to the offensive line made up of sophomore center Kayden Marcotte, senior guard Dylan Callihan, and sophomore tight end Wyatt Davis. They have made running lanes all year for the Knight ball carriers. That doesn’t go unnoticed as unselfish football.
Davis also added a 1 yard TD run of his own. Extra Point kicks were huge in the contest, coming off the foot of sophomore Dyllan Olivares.
Defensively, the Knights had their hands full from the passing attack from the Eagles. Stark and Woodley led the Knights in tackles with 12 each, and Stark breaking up seven passes.
Late in the game, Woodley also chased down the Eagles’ fastest ball carrier, causing him to fumble on the 2 yard line where the Knights took over. Eckermann, as well as Junior Gage Wilson, played outstanding games from the defensive end position, forcing the ball carriers and QB of the Eagles to make quick decisions. Sophomore Kelton Galle also had seven QB Hurries on the QB of St. Joes.
In the kicking game, the Knights were lead by sophomores Riley Heyman and Ellis Lanham that pinned the Eagles deep in their own territory many times.
