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Junior bantam Knights miss out on perfect season

The Knights sit at 8-1 going into the final week of the regular season
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A perfect season eluded the Meadow Ridge Knights junior bantam football team on Saturday, as it suffered its first loss of the year, 12-11 to the Chilliwack Blue Giants.

Jeremy Kankalongo had a long touchdown run early in the game to give the Knights an early lead. The defence played tough in the first half, and after Chico David kicked a 30-yard field goal, the Knights were up 11-0 at half time.

The game went back and forth in the second half, with both defences holding strong until late in the fourth quarter, when Chilliwack scored 11 points with less than three minutes left to tie the game.

With time winding down, Chilliwack moved the ball deep in Knights’ territory and looked to poised to score at least a field goal. However, the Knights defence stepped up with a series of quarterback sacks, pushing the Giants out of field goal range.

On the ensuing punt, the Giants sent the ball deep into the endzone, where David caught the ball. Despite avoiding numerous tackles, David was finally brought down just inches inside the goal line, conceding the single point to the Blue Giants, and the game.

With the loss, the Knights sit at 8-1 going into the final week of the regular season. The Blue Giants also now hold an 8-1 record. However, the Knights retain first place according to the B.C. Community Football Association tiebreaker rules, by having allowed fewer points against this season.

The atom Gold Knights are also at 8-1 this season after downing Chilliwack 41-6. The offence had one of its best games of the season, with nearly 300 yards rushing. Quarterback Adam Jones led the way by running and throwing the ball for two touchdowns. Tyson Phare scored a touchdown on a pass reception and added another on a defensive recovery. Kurtis Brown also had two touchdowns, while Eric Clark carried the ball for another.

Defensively, the Knights controlled the game, with linemen Evan Love, Liam Mountford, Brandon Goodridge and Mackenzie Gordon making tackle after tackle in Chilliwack’s backfield.

The win keeps the atom Gold Knights in first place going into the last week of the regular season, their only loss a forfeit in Week 3.

The peewee Blue Knights had no trouble in their game against Mission this past weekend, as they blanked the neighbouring program 20-0.

The Knights’ offence was lead by back-up quarterback Tato Ferreyro-Araya, who scored the game’s first touchdown, while Brandon Hunt added two more. Mason Wakabayashi, Kailesh Kumar and Jake Loftus did a great job blocking.

On defence, Liam Cumarasamy, Sebastian Berg, Jevon Anutooshkin and Darius Joseph made key tackles. Mahlon Taylor had two fumble recoveries late in the game to preserve the shutout. The peewee Blue Knights face the Chilliwack Red Giants in the final game of the season this coming weekend.

The atom Blue Knights did not fare as well however, as they lost 28–0 to their Mission counterparts. The Knights put in a solid effort with great tackles from Ty Verrier and Dominick Hawke, but a few key plays went for big gains contributing to the loss.

Knight’s ball carriers, Evan Vasarhely and Ciaran Davies made some impressive runs and saw a lot of positive yards, but the Mission defence kept the Knights out of the end zone.

The peewee Gold Knights lost 34-8 to the Chilliwack Blue Giants. On defence, Brock Pelwecki, Eric Tweten and Zachary Mayer-Buss played well trying to stop Chilliwack’s strong ground attack. Colton Marshall played a solid game on both offence and defence while Angus MacDonald and Mason Reeves led the offensive line.

The loss drops the Gold Knights’ record to 7-2 as they prepare for Abbotsford this weekend.

The midget Knights fell 40-0 White Rock, the top midget team in the province. The Knights fell behind 33-0 at half time but played well in the second half. The Knights had their best drive in the second half as Joe Schuster, Cory Takahara, Tanner Hartley and Dylan Macdermid helped move the ball into scoring position, but couldn’t capitalize.  Josh Rodgers, Taran Humphrey, Duncan Milne and Kieran McWilliams limited the top-ranked White Rock team to one touchdown in the second half but it wasn’t enough. The senior team plays Langley this coming weekend at SRT.