LAYTON -- Whether with agony or ecstasy, the participants in Friday night's cross-town rivalry will still be recalling this one for years to come.
Layton committed three key mistakes down the stretch, enabling Northridge to retain "The Sword" for the second straight year, as the Knights escaped with a 13-9 victory.
Trailing 13-9 with just over five minutes to play, the Lancers faced a fourth-and-goal from the Northridge six. Quarterback Derek Thomas rolled out and found a wide open receiver in the end zone, however the pass trickled through his cradled arms and fell incomplete negating the go-ahead touchdown.
Layton then forced the Knights into a fourth-and-three punting situation, but the Lancers were flagged for twelve men on the field to give Northridge a new set of downs. Finally, after pinning the Knights into a third-and-14 situation with just over a minute to play, the Layton defense allowed Austin Tate to rumble for a 26 yard gain.
"To be honest, Layton outplayed us and we kind of stole that one from them," Northridge coach Erik Thompson said. "My kids fought hard and we had to earn it there on that third-and-long when we executed that sprint out. I kind of feel like we played just hard enough to pull one out."
After controlling the ball for 17:15 in the first half, the Lancers took a 9-6 lead into the locker room behind a Grant Walker field goal and a seven-yard keeper by Thomas with 20 seconds to play in the second quarter.
Northridge scored its first touchdown at the 5:26 mark of the second period when quarterback Trent Buckley capped a six-play drive with a five-yard run.
In the second half, the Knights turned the table on the Lancers, implementing to a ball control offense that effectively kept the Layton defense on the field, allowing only two possessions for the Lancer offense.
With 11:56 to play, Northridge punched in the eventual winning score on the heels of a 16-play, 78-yard drive. Brock Johnson went into the end zone untouched from two yards out to put the Knights on top.
The Knight accumulated 239 yards of total offense, while Layton had 231, including 190 on the ground. Walker led all rushers with 81 yards on 18 carries.
Comments