2 weeks Ago By by Trevor King PRESTON NEWS & JOURNAL
CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WV News) — The Preston Knights rolled into Clarksburg on Friday night and enjoyed a 28-7 victory over the Robert C.
Byrd Flying Eagles. This was the second year in a row that Preston picked up its first win of the season via a win over RCB. "We're very happy with the win and I'm proud of the guys," Preston head coach Mark Deep said.
"We still need to get better and have better focus for four quarters, but it's a good win and a great effort.' The Knights were helped by rushing attack that picked up 232 yards, highlighted by a 94-yard night by Slaton Manko, a 69-yard effort from Ethan Likens and a 65-yard outburst from Drake Kelly. Cody Smith also chipped in with four yards on the ground.
The ground game was also helped with an aerial attack orchestrated by Manko to the tune of 160 yards and three touchdowns on 7 of 15 passing. "Offensively, that's what we're trying to be night in and night out," Deep stated. "We're going to run the ball a lot and then take our shots downfield when we can.
Manko found his targets for the most part, and our receivers got good separation." Defensively, the Knights were able to keep the explosive Junior Smith in check as they held the sophomore quarterback to under 100 yards on the ground. "We knew their quarterback was a heck of an athlete, but we knew how we could stop their offense," Deep said.
"He got us around the edge a couple times, but we had a heck of a game plan." The early part of the game was maddening for the Knights as they came up empty on their first two drives. On the opening possession of the contest, Preston drove down to the RCB five-yard line and was faced with a fourth-and-inches situation, but a false start penalty pushed the Knights back.
The Flying Eagles' defense then came up with a stop for a turnover on downs with 8:18 to go in the first quarter. The Knights then quickly forced a fumble which was recovered by Aiden Strawser to begin on the RCB 24. After Preston pushed the ball into the red zone, a sack and an overthrown pass to a wide-open receiver in the back of the end zone led to a 41-yard field goal attempt by Cole Turner which hit the right upright and bounced onto the field.
"We had great field position early, but we made silly mistakes," said Deep. "We had the false start on fourth and inches and that stopped us, then we had the sack and the missed field goal. But we regrouped.
" The Knights' defense remained resolute, however, and got a fourth down stop on the RCB 44-yard line with three minutes to go in the first. Manko then constructed a productive drive that saw Likens punch his ticket to the goal line on the ground from five yards out. Turner's extra point made it a 7-0 Preston lead with 33 seconds to go in the frame.
The Knights then got another break when they recovered a muffed punt at the RCB 40-yard line. On the next play, Manko dialed up a 40-yard touchdown pass to Cody Smith to double the Knights' lead (PAT good) at 14-0 with 9:27 to go in the half. RCB looked to answer later in the half, but a personal foul nullified what was a 1-yard touchdown dive by Junior Smith, and then an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty made it 30 yards in penalties.
Preston would get the stop and close out the rest of the half leading 14-0. The Knights would add a pair of Manko touchdown passes in the third quarter to put the final nails in the coffin. The first was from 37 yards out to Kelly at the 7:45 mark, and then the second was an 18-yard rope to Turner who made a diving catch in the back of the end zone to make it 28-0 (both PATs good).
The Flying Eagles' lone score came on the first play of the fourth quarter when Junior Smith evaded tacklers and ran into the end zone from 15 yards out. Stratten Wooddell's extra point brought the score to its 28-7 final. Cody Smith led the Knights in receiving yards with 81 on two catches to go with his touchdown.
Kelly logged 43 yards on two grabs (one TD) and Turner's lone catch was his 18-yard touchdown reception. Aiden Schmidl also helped stretch the defense with 18 yards on two catches. "We keep telling them, just play hard and things will change, and things did change for us tonight," Deep said.
Robert C. Byrd (2-2) battles the Bridgeport Indians (4-0) at 7 p.m.
next Friday. Preston (1-3) will return to action at 4 p.m.
on Thursday when it hosts East Fairmont (2-2) during its annual Buckwheat Festival..
