Bethlehem Christian Academy’s trip to Curtis Baptist in Augusta did not produce the deserved results as the gridiron Knights fell 45-0.
BCA coach Don Garmon said he knew going in it would be a difficult game for the Knights.
“Their style of play was going to be tough for us,” Garmon said. “We knew we were going to have some matchup problems. There were a ton of penalties called in the game as well. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many penalties called in one game.”
Curtis Baptist seized control of the contest pretty quickly and never gave the visiting Knights a chance to get on track.
“We were punched in the mouth pretty good,” Garmon said. “The scoreboard didn’t show it but we had a great defensive scheme to stop them. Coach (Nick) Pou had a great game plan going in, but we didn’t make the necessary plays. We also allowed a punt return for a score where we had the runner cornered but let him slip out. It was a game that ended up getting away from us pretty quickly.”
There were some opportunities to move the football, but BCA could not take advantage of them and finish the scoring chances.
“We gave them a short field several times late in the game,” Garmon said.
“We went for it a couple of times near midfield and didn’t convert. Overall, it was simply a game where we did not respond well to start with.”
Despite the final score, several Knight players had strong individual performances. Jared Martin was praised for his effort at both nose guard and center.
“Curtis Baptist has a huge nose guard and Jared contained him,” Garmon said. “We didn’t have to double team him. Defensively, Jared also made several tackles in the backfield.”
Jacob Fincher played well at wide receiver and was credited with making solid down field blocks.
One play which was typical of the night overall came when Fincher jumped up and caught a pass between two defenders and was then hit by another. An official then called Fincher for making head-to-head contact, something almost unheard of for an offensive player.
“I never use penalties or calls made by officials as an excuse,” Garmon said. “However, I must say that was a strange call and I’ve watched it several times on film as well. In the end, we had opportunities to put points on the board and didn’t. We had opportunities to make tackles and didn’t. That’s what it comes down to.”
Overall, it was a tough outing for the Knights in Augusta, offensive coordinator Lance Fendley said.
“Friday was a tough one for us,” Fendley said. “Offensively, we never could quite pick up the blitz and they almost took away our ability to run the ball up the middle. Curtis Baptist is a good football team and they have the ability to compete with anyone in this league. We played competitive football all night — just things didn’t go our way.”
