Published: August 29, 2009 12:25 pm      

Knights rally to beat Tom Bean

By DARIN ALLRED

Register Sports Editor

LINDSAY — The Lindsay Knights defense may have given up 219 yards rushing to Tom Bean Friday, but they picked off four Tom Cat passes and used a pair of Ross Jones field goals to pick up a 19-12 win in the season opener for both teams.

Tom Bean’s Colby Pennell finished with 150 yards rushing, but almost all of those yards came on three plays.

The teams traded punts on the first three possessions of the game. Lindsay’s second offensive possession started at their own 49-yard line and resulted in a field goal. On the drive, Knight quarterback Frankie Cornett completed a pair of 12-yard passes to Jones as Lindsay moved the ball all the way down to the 9-yard line before settling for a 26-yard field goal by Jones as time expired in the first quarter.

The Tom Cats (0-1) gambled on their next possession. Facing a fourth and one from their own 47, Tom Bean quarterback Hunter Hendry tried to pass for the first down, but Jones intercepted the ball at the Lindsay 27-yard line.

The Knights (1-0) gave the ball right back two plays later on a fumble that was recovered by Tom Bean’s Troy Minchey at the Knight 39.

Two plays later, Pennell busted free on the left side and ran the ball all way to the Lindsay 10, but a block in the back penalty pushed the Tom Cats back to the Knight 22. Six plays later, the Tom Cats scored on fourth and goal from the one as Hendry pushed across the goal line on a quarterback sneak. The extra point kick failed, leaving Tom Bean with a 6-3 lead with 5:58 remaining in the half.

Lindsay had to punt on their next possession and Tom Bean wasted no time scoring once they got the ball back. Pennell started the drive with a 42-yard run that moved the ball to the Knight 31. A questionable pass interference call on Lindsay in the end zone moved the Cats to the 10. From there, Hendry hooked up with Rex Roberts on a 10-yard TD pass. Tom Bean went for two, but the pass failed, leaving them with a 12-3 lead with 2:17 remaining before halftime.

Like good teams do, the Knights answered right back. Jones set his team up with good field position thanks to a 34-yard kickoff return that put the ball at the Knight 49-yard line. On the first offensive play of the drive, Cornett pitched to Travis Skinner who threw downfield to a wide-open Jones for a 51-yard TD pass. Jones added the PAT kick to make it 12-10 with 1:58 left before half.

On Tom Bean’s next play, Pennell busted a 63-yard run all the way down to the Lindsay 10-yard line, but offsetting penalties on the play negated the gain and the Tom Cats would have to punt.

The Knights tried to get more points before halftime. Garrett Yancey threw a 13-yard pass to Jones to move the ball to the Tom Bean 27-yard line, but Yancey was intercepted by Hendry at the 1-yard line on the next play to end the threat and send Tom Bean into the locker room with a 12-10 lead.

After a Lindsay punt to start the second half, Pennell busted a 70-yard run on Tom Bean’s first play to move the ball to the Lindsay 5-yard line. They got as far as the 3, but Jones ended the threat with an acrobatic interception in the end zone.

The Knights then put together what turned out to be the game-winning drive.

Starting at their own 20, Cornett threw a 28-yard pass to Jones on first down. Skinner added runs of 7 and 6 yards and Cornett added an 8-yard run. It took the Knights just seven plays to move down to the Tom Bean 23. From there, Haverkamp found a hole on the right side and ran into the end zone for a touchdown with 4:31 left in the third quarter. Lindsay’s try for two failed, leaving the Knights with a 16-12 lead.

Tom Bean got a 29-yard run by Hendry on their next drive, but they would be forced to punt. That was the first of four-straight punts by the two teams as play moved into the fourth period.

Midway through the final quarter, the Cats moved the ball near midfield, but Ryan Haverkamp intercepted a Tom Bean pass to end the threat.

After another Lindsay punt, Tom Bean had the ball deep in their own territory when they tried to run the option, but the pitch was fumbled and Lindsay’s Sean Willard recovered at the Cat 11-yard line. The Knights actually went backwards on offense, but Jones connected on a 30-yard field goal with 2:02 remaining in the game to make it 19-12.

Tom Bean had one more chance on offense, but Haverkamp got his second interception of the game on a fourth down pass to seal the win.

Haverkamp was Lindsay’s leading rusher with 13 carries for 51 yards including a touchdown. Cornett was 3 of 10 passing for 53 yards, while Skinner was 1 for 1 for 51 yards and touchdown. Jones had 5 catches for 117 yards and a score. Blake Hunter had 10 tackles for the Knights, while Cornett added 7.

For the Tom Cats, Hendry was 7 of 23 passing for 42 yards with 4 interceptions. Jake Trentman had 3 catches for 24 yards.

Lindsay will be back at home next Friday to host Windthorst.