The playoff hopes of the Bethlehem Christian Academy football team were hurt Friday with a 46-12 loss to Dawson Street.
The Knights trailed 28-12 at halftime but the visiting Wildcats would score 26 unaswered points to put the game out of reach.
“We had some penalties which hurt us early in the game and stalled out some drives,” said BCA coach Don Garmon.
An injury to Graham Doolittle (knee) also hurt the Knights’ chances of victory.
“It hurt not only losing him at running back, but also at the Will linebacker position,” Garmon said.
Chandler Garmon stepped in at the Will position after Doolittle was injured.
Also on the injury front, Kevin Green had his ankle hurt again and was in and out of the contest.
“They did exactly what we thought they would do,” Garmon said. “They are very athletic at the skill positions and had a lot of speed. If they got the edge, we had a hard time preventing a big gain.”
While disappointed in the outcome, Garmon said the Knights had chances offensively and defensively to make plays.
“Despite trailing at halftime, I had no doubt we could come back and win the game,” Garmon said. “We just missed on too many chances we had.”
Trailing late in the game, BCA began taking more chances which led to some big plays for Dawson Street.
BCA is hoping to finish in the top four of Region 1-A in GISA play. The Knights are off this week but will then travel to Nathanael Greene before venturing to region favorite Thomas Jefferson Nov. 9.
This past Friday night was senior night for BCA with Danny Sceviour, Matt Masters, Chandler Garmon and Jared Martin recognized before their final home contest.
The four players are the first senior class in the history of the BCA football program which is playing a full varsity schedule for the first time in 2012.
“We’ll try to heal up as much as we can,” Garmon said. “We’ll start looking at some film and spend the week working on the fundamentals, focusing on our blocking and tackling.”
BCA offensive coordinator Lance Fendley said the season is far from over. The Knights will continue battling during their final two games.
“Last Friday was a tough one for us,” Fendley said. “Dawson Street is a good team filled with lots of athletes. I must say that I still felt like we had our chances. We had receivers in the right spots and backs hitting the holes. We just could never put it all together.
“This week, we will allow our bodies to rest and get back to the basics. We will use this time to examine a few positions and see who gives us the best chance to win the next two games. Most people won’t give us a chance to win the last two, but as a team we believe and we are going into these last three weeks with one thing on our mind — winning the last two and having a chance at the playoffs.”
