The best offence is a good defence.
The Holy Trinity Academy Knights were able to secure a victory when punter Carson McKenzie went back to punt late in the fourth quarter against the Holy Rosary Raiders Friday at Knights Field.
“I kind of messed up the punt and I was thinking I better make it up somehow,” McKenzie said. “I ran down the field and then I thought: ‘What a lucky bounce.’
“The ball was right there… So I ran as fast as I could and didn’t look back.”
McKenzie, who punted from the Raiders’ 46 yard line snared the ball at the 23 and cut outside and ran for the major to give the Knights a 16-2 lead just before the three-minute warning.
The bounce was the only luck the Knights had as they turned in a workmanlike effort in securing a 16-8 victory over the Raiders, who were finalists for the Division III high school crown last year.
The Knights got off to a fast start as they took the opening drive and marched down the field. The drive was capped off by a one-yard touchdown by Grade 12 rookie quarterback Adam Dielissen for a 6-0 lead.
The celebration was short-lived as Dielissen left the field with a suspected broken clavicle.
“To have our starting quarterback go down in the opening series would have taken the air out of our team the last couple of years, but these guys didn’t give up,” Knights head coach Matt Hassett said. “There was no let down and Julian (Jenkins) did a great job of filling in for Adam.”
The steady Jenkins — a Knights starting receiver — didn’t try anything flashy. Although he did throw one pick and fumbled in the game, he made good decisions and gave the Knights the opportunity to win.
“To step in like that on short notice, Julian did a great job,” Hassett said.
The Knights would take a 9-0 lead into the half when Jenkins kicked a 30-yard field goal with five minutes in the second quarter.
Meanwhile, the Knights defence was shutting out the Raiders.
Linebacker Evan Bruynzeel had a pair of sacks and tormented Raider ball carriers, receivers and QBs all evening.
“He is the leader of this defence, but I thought all of our linebackers, Spencer Kessel, Peter Ottenbreit and Evan were outstanding. Our line did a really good job. They got a tired, so we started to rotate in and out and they took over,” the coach added.
The Knights defence nearly threw a shutout. The Raiders didn’t get on the board until the offence conceded a safety midway through the third quarter.
Holy Trinity then put the game away with McKenzie’s punt and romp. The Raiders would score late in the game on a TD by runningback Dylan Gottinger late to make the final 16-8.
Kessel said there was no quit in the Knights D against a big Raiders squad.
“I told the guy size doesn’t matter it’s the heart and effort -- we showed that a lot tonight and it won the game,” Kessel said.
When Dielissen went down, the Knights D soared.
“As soon as we saw Adam go down, we knew that it was up to us,” Kessel said. “We didn’t have too much pressure because we trusted Julian Jenkins to come in and play and he did.”
Raiders coach Dustin Fallscheer said the Raiders are in the midst of rebuilding after losing 14 players to graduation from the team that narrowly lost to the Cochrane Cobras in the provincial final last year.
But that doesn’t take away from the fact they lost to a good team on Friday.
“We wanted that tough game experience and we knew Holy Trinity would be good,” Fallscheer said. “We knew they liked to bring a lot of pressure. Their front seven really likes to bring it. They got off the ball and pinned their ears back. Sometimes we handled it and sometimes we didn’t.”
He said the Raiders made some early season mistakes, with a few drop balls against the Knights.
“We would have liked to have the win, but we know what we have to work on -- it was a pretty successful day,” Fallscheer said.
The victory put HTA at no. 10 in the first week of the Football Alberta Div. II rankings. Holy Rosary is no. 2 in Div. III.
The Knights will have a scrimmage Friday at HTA against the St. Mary’s Saints.
