OAKWOOD — If only Johnson could erase the final four minutes of the second quarter.
The Knights fumbled four times inside their own 20, which were all converted into touchdowns in a three-minute span, and West Hall used that momentum to take a 35-9 win over the Knights at Spartans Field Friday night.
“You can’t turn the ball over,” Johnson coach Jason Roquemore said. “When you make mistakes like that it’s hard to win.”
Conversely, West Hall coach Tony Lotti said his defense’s ability to create turnovers was the difference. The Spartans (1-0) forced five Johnson fumbles in the game, which led to all 35 points.
“I liked how we were able to create them and then turn them into points,” Lotti said. “We made some mistakes for our first game but I thought defensively, at least in the first half, we did some good things.”
Johnson (1-1) held the Spartans scoreless in the second half and got a 36-yard touchdown pass from Sam Corbett to Orion Pittman with 3:14 left in the game for the only score in the second half.
“Our guys didn’t quit and we played much better in the second half. It would be nice to have those four minutes back,” Roquemore said.
Johnson held West Hall’s vaunted ground game to just 68 yards and just 106 total yards for the game. But Kwon Williams scored on runs of 3, 10, and 2-yards and paced the Spartans with 43 yards rushing.
The Knights grinded out 158 yards rushing of their own, mostly in the second half, and finished with 194 total yards. Ethan Emmett had 95 yards on 22 carries for Johnson.
The turnovers were the difference.
“It was a wild few minutes but I thought we went after the ball aggressively and made some things happen,” Lotti said. “It was a tougher game than the score shows.”
The game had been a defensive battle for the first 20 minutes with the Spartans leading just 7-2. But on four of five possessions the West Hall defense stripped a pair of ball carriers and forced two bad pitches.
The barrage began with Williams capping a 6-yard drive with a 2-yard dive with 4:00 left in the half, Tyquan Statham added a 25-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown, and Williams finished it with a 3-yard scoring run to completely take the air out of the Knights.
Both teams had some jitters at the start.
Johnson turned the ball over at its own 15 on its first possession with a bad snap on a punt. But the Spartans gave it right back on the next play with a fumble at the Knights’ 5.
The West Hall defense then took control the rest of the first half.
On Johnson’s next possession junior Michael Kidd ripped the ball away from Corbett at the Knights 5. West Hall quarterback Jacob Satterfield capped the short drive three plays later on a 2-yard run for a 7-0 lead with 5:27 left in the first half.
The two teams traded punts again with West Hall getting the ball at its 8 late in the first quarter. The Johnson defense made a stand tackling Satterfield in the end zone for a safety with 2:13 left to cut the lead to 7-2.
The first eight minutes of the second quarter the teams traded a pair of punts and it looked like it was going to stay close until halftime.
But the Knights’ offense fell apart.
SCORING SUMMARY
JOHNSON.......2......0.....0.....7 -- 9
WEST HALL....7....28.....0.....0 -- 35
First Quarter
WH -- Satterfield 2 run (Lopez kick) 7-0, 5:27
JHS -- Safety 7-2, 2:13
Second Quarter
WH -- K. Williams 3 run (Lopez kick) 14-2, 4:00
WH -- K. Williams 10 run (Lopez kick) 21-2, 1:50
WH -- Statham 25 fumble recovery (Lopez kick) 28-2, 1:30
WH -- K. Williams 2 run (Lopez kick) 35-2, 0:17
Fourth Quarter
JHS -- Pittman 36 pass from Corbett (Henry kick) 35-9, 3:14
