KINGWOOD, W.Va. — On Friday night at Knights Stadium, the weather outside was warm and a little muggy — definitely not frightful — yet the Knights seemed to be in the Christmas spirit early against Class AA No. 7 Robert C. Byrd.
Giving the ball away twice and surrendering two easy touchdowns in the first two minutes had Knights fans wondering if another lopsided loss was in the offing, but Preston kept its head, came back and had a chance to make things very interesting late in the game before finally bowing to the Eagles 28-18.
Just 18 seconds in, RCB (3-1) grabbed the lead, as sophomore running back Jeremiah King took a first-down pitchout, skirted the right edge and cut through the middle on his way to a 62-yard score. Then the gift-giving began in earnest, as the Knights fumbled the ensuing kickoff back to the Eagles. It took just two plays for RCB to double its lead on a 23-yard corner route pass from Xavier Lopez to Nicholas Edwards.
Preston (1-3) trailed 14-0 before two minutes elapsed, and when it fumbled on its first offensive play, the smell of a possible blowout seemed especially ripe. But the Eagles’ 10-play drive stalled deep in PHS territory, and after taking over on downs, the Knights’ talented sophomore quarterback Trevor Thomas found mercurial receiver Colten Rosenberger alone on a double move, and the speedy senior raced in for a 65-yard score to make it 14-6.
The Eagles roared back on a 4-play, 74-yard drive capped by King’s 11-yard jaunt, pushing their lead to 21-6. On their next possession, the Knights had first down at the RCB 29 after a long Rosenberger flea-flicker pass completion, but penalties spoiled the threat. However, Zachary Riffle’s interception set the Knights up at midfield, and an 8-play drive was capped on a pretty Thomas bootleg run from the 10.
Preston dodged a bullet when King had a long touchdown run called back on a penalty, leading to a punt with 1:30 left in the half, and the Knights took full advantage in lightning fashion, as Rosenberger high-pointed a beautiful Thomas pass at the 5 and trotted in for a gorgeous 37-yard score to close the gap to 21-18 at the half.
A long injury and ambulance delay early in the third quarter slowed the Knights momentum and it might’ve cost them the ballgame.
Instead, RCB fed the Knights a very steady, very effective dose of King, even though the 15-play drive ended with no points and a turnover on downs at the PHS 10 (another King TD was negated by a penalty, one of 26 in the game, 13 by each team). When the Knights quickly went 3-and-out, it didn’t take long for King (who finished with 281 yards on 26 carries) to knife through the exhausted Preston defense on a 28-yard run early in the final quarter to restore the RCB lead to double digits at 28-18.
With 8:48 left, the Knights needed two scores to win, and starting on their own 27, they engineered a long, time-consuming drive that resulted in a 1st-and-goal from the 4 with just under two minutes left. Two costly holding penalties, one that pushed them back to the 12, and another that wiped out a Rosenberger TD catch, left the Knights with one final chance on 4th-and-12, but Rosenberger’s option pass was deflected and dropped at the goal line, and moments later the final horn sounded.
After the game, a decidedly upbeat Knights’ coach Jonathan Tennant recognized just how far his team has come in one short year.
“This was a lot like last year,” he said of the Eagles’ 69-14 bombing of the Knights in 2018, “and also of our first game this year. Hampshire scored on the first play of the game, and left us shell-shocked a little bit. But I’m so proud of how we hung together, stayed positive and fought back. Our plan was to get it in the end zone, and we had a real good plan on for an onside kick. We just came up a little short.”
Preston hosts Lewis County at 7:30 p.m. next Friday.
