Defence led to offence as the Knights marched on to the provincial quarterfinals.
Keyed by a dominant second half performance with 21 points over an eight-minute span, the Holy Trinity Academy Knights shutout the W.H. Croxford Cavaliers 47-0 in the high school football provincial playoff clash Friday night in Cochrane.
“On offence, we were just taking too many penalties in the first half and it was a different guy on each play,” said HTA head coach Matt Hassett. “We just said, ‘The only one stopping us is us, so can we knock it off?’ When the guy is not at the point of the attack, you’ve got to let ‘em go.
“It was just playing smarter and they did that, the defence picked it up even more and special teams did a great job.”
The Knights took a 19-0 lead into the half with quarterback Declan Lyth connecting with sure-handed wide receiver Ben Gutek for a 23-yard touchdown late in the second quarter.
HTA, the top-ranked team at the 4A level, took over following the restart.
Two-way ace Jack Bjorge’s powerful run set up a Seth Poelzer 26-yard major on the opening drive, punt returner Malik Robbins got the Knights excellent field position with Poelzer running in another major.
“They were starting to throw it deep, what they were doing wasn’t working they had to try some new things,” said Knights linebacker Thomas Rowan. “And we just had to adjust to what they were doing and shut it down.”
Croxford’s starting quarterback William Bagnell did not play in the contest with Marshall Diggens taking over behind centre for the Cavaliers.
“It was game-planning for the run,” said HTA rush end Ben Haden. “(Joseph Abou Mechrek), their fullback is a big guy, really strong and we had to gameplan around his blocking ability and get around that.”
After Bjorge secured an interception, Lyth linked up with Gutek for a 23-yard fade route and on the first play of the fourth quarter, the latter took a handoff in the backfield and found the end zone on a 10-yard scamper to put an exclamation point on the result.
“(Haden) was great, that was his best game all year and he’s just such a force out there,” Hassett said. “Jack Bjorge was all over the field and Thomas Rowan had some big plays.
“I really thought it was the best complete defensive effort just because they were doing their jobs. It was just some adjustments at halftime and everyone playing good defence.”
Next up for the Knights is the provincial quarter-final, a Nov. 9 battle versus either the Chinook Coyotes or Medicine Hat High Hawks at Calgary’s Shouldice Park at 4 p.m.
“You want to be hitting your stride at the right time,” Hassett said. “And with that second half, if we play like that, I like our chances."
