Saturday Knight Lights, Rustin wins 21-14

West Chester- If you judged strictly from the body language as the teams met each other along the fifty yard-line following the game at J. Oscar Dicks Stadium Saturday night, it would have been difficult to figure out which team had just won the game.

The jubilation on the Bayard Rustin sideline as the Golden Knights had scored three touchdowns in the span of seven minutes to take a 21-0 lead into the locker room at the intermission, was quickly replaced by apprehension and frustration during the second half as Rustin had to hold off Unionville for a 21-14 Ches-Mont league win.

“It was a little frustrating after having a big lead,” said senior Conor Burke. “They made some great adjustments on us at the half. We just went with what they did and tried to make the most of what was there for us.”

After a scoreless first period, the Golden Knights got on the board when Burke plunged into the end zone from one yard out, capitalizing on an Indians fumble and the shortened field.

Burke scored the second of his three touchdowns on the night as he broke to the outside and sprinted 10 yards for the score.  The senior fullback then completed his scoring trifecta and closed out the scoring sheet for the Golden Knights by snaring a 14 yard touchdown strike from Mike Delancey with 21 second remaining in the half.

“I have to be honest, it’s great getting to run behind a line like ours,” added Burke. “I guess we seemed down after the game because it was frustrating to not be on the field in the second half and we let them make a game of it. We will work this week getting ready for next week and getting back to 'Rustin football.' Pounding the ball inside.”

Unionville took the opening kick to start the second half and put together a 67 yard scoring drive, which ate up almost eight minutes of game time, and culminated the drive with quarterback Tom Pancoast rolling into the end zone from three yards out.

After an exchange of punts and a seven play drive that ended at the Unionville 24 yard line after a failed conversion of a fourth and seven by the Golden Knights, the Indians assumed possession and again consumed seven minutes of game clock.  Unionville orchestrated a 76 yard scoring drive, cutting the Rustin lead to 21-14 following a five yard touchdown run by “wildcat” quarterback Rich Sampson.

The tension mounted again for the home crowd as the Golden Knights could not manage a first down and had to relinquish the ball to the Indians with 2:35 left in regulation.  Following a broken up pass play on fourth and eleven, the fans and sideline could breathe a collective sigh of relief as the Golden Knight improved to 3-1 on the season with the win.

“What is with all of the heads down,” said Rustin head coach Mike St. Clair to his troops afterwards. “You just won a football game, that’s why they play four quarters, we had a game plan for them and they adjusted for us in the second half, bottom line we won the game, let’s get ready for next week now with a good week of practice.”  

Unionville            0            0            6            8            14

Bayard Rustin    0            21            0            0            21

Scoring

Second quarter

7:17     BR            Burke  1 yd run            (kick)

3:32     BR            Burke 10 yd run            (kick)

  :21     BR            Burke  14 yard pass from Delancey (kick)

Third quarter

4:24     UN            Pancoast 3 yard run            (kick failed)

Fourth quarter

3:28     UN            Sampson 5 yd run   (Sampson run)