By Gray Haynes
On the first chilly, Fall night of the year, the North Webster Knights traveled to Bastrop to face the Rams. North Webster got on the board early on the second play of the game. On the opening offensive play, quarterback, Justin Stewart, found JaKayden Jackson for ten yards. On the second offensive play, J’Quarian Easter took the ball up the middle for a 65 yard touchdown. Jake Pipes kicked the point after touchdown to make the score 7-0 early in the game. The Knight defense was strong as usual and forced Bastrop into a 3 and out. After the punt, the Knights’ offense took over deep in their own territory. The Knights took over on their own 11 yard line and, with a good mix of passing and running, drove out to the Rams’ 45. From there, Jackson took the ball on a sweep around the left side for the Knights’ second touchdown of the night. Pipes, again, added the PAT to make the score 14-0 in the first quarter. On their next possession, the Rams found something by running the quarterback. Three big runs took Bastrop deep into North Webster territory before Brayden Parrish stripped the ball at the Knights’ 20 yard line.
The Knights split the workload with Jackson, Easter, and Jeramiah Washington each picking up big yards on the ground. Then, Stewart found Braylon Washington for 34 yard pitch and catch up the right sideline. Washington’s catch took the ball down to the 10 yard line where the Knights faced first and goal. Jackson completed the drive with a 2 yard run for the touchdown to make the score 20-0 Knights. Bastrop was able to move the ball down inside North Webster territory to the 40 yard line before the defense stiffened and presented Bastrop with a 4th and long from the Knights’ 40 yard line. Bastrop lined up in an offensive formation, but the quarterback punted from the formation and pinned the Knights on their own 8 yard line. Undeterred by the bad field position, Stewart found Jerdin Gill for a 27 yard pass. A horse collar penalty tacked onto the end of the run gave the Knights the ball at midfield. After picking up one more first down, the Knights’ offense stalled. They were forced to punt from the 40 yard line. Deaken Whitlock placed the punt perfectly, and the ball was downed inside the Bastrop 1 yard line. Bastrop was able to move the ball out to the 15 but were forced to punt from there. North Webster took over at the Rams’ 40 yard line late in the first half. The Knights seemed to have something going when Stewart picked up 25 on first down, but the play was called back for holding. After a couple of passes and a big run by Jackson, the Knights had the ball on the 20 with less than a minute remaining in the half. However, Bastrop intercepted a pass on the 15 to end the threat. Bastrop seemed content to go into the half trailing 20-0 until they found a streaking receiver down the left side. The Knights’ prevent defense did exactly what it was designed to do, and Jeramiah Washington made the tackle with no time left on the clock. At the half, the Knights led 20-0.
Bastrop took the opening kickoff of the second half and marched right down the field. They seemed to find a chink in the Knights’ defense by throwing to the running back out of the backfield. The scored on a short pass to the back out of the backfield and converted to the two point conversion to make the score 20-8 early in the 3rd quarter. The Knights answered with a long drive down to the Bastrop 28. From there, Easter finished off the scoring drive with a 28 yard touchdown run on a sweep around the left side. Jeremiah Washington added the two point conversion to make the score 28-8 late in the 3rd period.
Bastrop tried to answer, but an interception by Chandler McKenzie on the Knights’ 30 yard line thwarted the Rams drive. The Knights took over on the 30 with about 11 minutes left in the game and a 20 point lead. On their next drive, North Webster did not score but did exactly what they needed to do. The Knights ate up all but a minute of the final period on a 10 minute drive down to the Bastrop 2 yard line where they were stopped on a 4th down and goal play. Bastrop was left with less than a minute to go from their own 2 yard line. After two running plays, the final horn blew to give the Knights a 28-8 win. Next week, the Knights travel back to Monroe to face Sterlington in another district 1-3A battle.
