Robbinsville enters conference play 5-0
Robbinsville – Before the Blue Knights knew what hit them, Robbinsville had a 41-0 lead.
Robbinsville (5-0) struck early and often in the non-conference finale Friday night against Georgia Force Christian (2-2), then put the game on cruise control after scoring six times in 16 minutes and still came out with a 62-27 triumph.
The dominant performance was the first resounding victory of the season, with the Black Knights’ first-string defense holding Georgia Force to a mere five yards in the first half. It was the effort Robbinsville faithful, players and coaches alike had been waiting for – and it could not have came at a more pivotal time, as Smoky Mountain Conference play begins Friday night at Rosman.
“We just went back to fundamentals,” said Robbinsville assistant coach Lucas Ford. “We as coaches got together over the weekend and talked … we knew we had to preach defense to them; we’re not going to win big games without it.
“We’re not where we want to be, but we’re heading in the right direction. We tackled and pursued the ball much better (tonight). That’s what defense is all about.”
A 52-yard touchdown run from Lex Hooper jump-started the offensive battery for Robbinsville before Rylee Anderson trampled into the end zone from 49 yards out. A fumble recovery by Aaron Phillips opened the door for back-to-back Hooper touchdowns, with respective 5- and 20-yard dashes giving the Black Knights a four-score lead.
Clayson Lane found the end zone on the first play of the second quarter, then Wade Hamilton joined in on the fun with an 8-yard carry across the goal line with 8:02 left in the half.
Lane would later recover a Blue Knights fumble, but with the reserves taking the field, the outpour slowed significantly. A 6-yard quarterback keeper from Force quarterback Kyle Moseley would finally got the visitors on the scoreboard with 18 seconds left in the half.
A 20-yard Seth McClure run on the first drive of the third stanza trimmed the deficit minutely, but Anderson would show that Robbinsville was still in control with consecutive 31 and 10-yard runs that widened the Black Knights’ lead to 55-13. Moseley would later find Josh Patterson on a 65-yard touchdown pass, but Robbinsville’s Hunter Blevins put a stamp on the performance with a 2-yard push into the end zone with 9:28 left in the game.
The Force closed the game with a 4-yard pass from Moseley to Jacob Cieply at the 1-minute mark.
Next up: The Tigers
The Black Knights will now make the long trek to Rosman, a team that fell 63-0 to Smoky Mountain just three weeks after Robbinsville tamed the Mustangs in a comeback effort 26-21.
“We came out in the first quarter against Smoky and just laid an egg, then we shut them down the rest of the game,” Ford said. “But football is football. It’s blocking, tackling and running. If you do those three things in our conference, you’re going to be successful.
“Fundamentals are going to win at the end of the day.”