Kelseyville offense held in check in second half as St. Helena erases 11-point deficit
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ST. HELENA >> The Kelseyville Knights certainly know how to compete. Now they just have to figure out how to finish games.
Leading by 11 points on two occasions in the second quarter Friday night against St. Helena – 18-7 and 24-13 – the Knights ended up on the wrong end of a 27-24 decision to the Saints during North Central League I interlock varsity football action at St. Helena High School.
Unfortunately for the Knights (1-3), they’re doing just enough wrong in close games to end up with the loss.
“They (Saints) pulled out all the stops on us,” Kelseyville head coach Logan Barrick said of St. Helena’s play selection. “The wrinkles they showed us were enough to extend drives.”
One such play, a reverse on fourth-and-one late in the game led to a first down and ultimately led to a five-minute St. Helena touchdown drive that wiped out a 24-20 Kelseyville lead.
The Knights had almost two minutes left to answer and were able to pick up a first down. After a run for a small gain, a penalty backed up the Knights, and they threw a pair of incomplete passes, turning the ball over on downs. The Saints (2-2) ran out the remaining seconds.
St. Helena scored first in the game to go up 7-0, but Kelseyville quickly answered on a 66-yard touchdown pass from Kimo Brown to JD Smart. The Knights missed the extra-point kick and would not convert any of their one- or two-point conversions tries during the game, which certainly figured in the final outcome.
The first of two long Case Pivniska touchdown runs – 42 and 46 yards – gave Kelseyville its first lead of the night at 12-7. Bryce Keener’s 1-yard run in the second quarter made it 18-7.
St. Helena closed to 18-13 before Pivniska scored again to boost Kelseyville’s halftime lead to 24-13.
Smart had a long fumble return to the St. Helena 40-yard-line right before halftime, but the Knights didn’t have enough time left to take advantage, according to Barrick.
The Saints rallied to win it with touchdowns drives early in the third quarter and late in the fourth quarter.
A season-long trend of costly penalties continued to hurt the Knights in this one.
“We kept putting ourselves behind the chains,” Barrick said.
On one possession alone, a chop block (15 yards) and five-yard penalty ended a Kelseyville drive before it had a chance to begin.
“We had penalties in the first half that didn’t break us, but we made too many mistake with penalties in the second half,” Barrick said. “We can’t keep doing this.”
While Kelseyville’s coach was generally pleased with the play of his defense, he said the Saints were able to break a handful of tackles that led to key gains.
“They run the veer up the middle a lot and do a good job with it,” Barrick said. “It will test your defense.”
Pivniska finished with 107 yards on 10 carries while Keener added 95 yards on 14 carries. Brown went 5-for-10 passing for 116 yards, one TD and one interception.
St. Helena beat Kelseyville 15-0 in the junior varsity game, leaving the Knights at 0-4 on the season. The Saints are 3-1.
Kelseyville returns home next Friday to play Lower Lake (1-2), its final tuneup before the start of league play Oct. 9 at home against Cloverdale.
