Jim Hart/Contributing writer
jimhartrealestate@gmail.com

COURTLAND—The Southampton Indians hosted the Spottsylvania Knights and put up a strong defense during the first half.

However, after the halftime break, the Knights came on strong and forced the young Indians into several mistakes.

The Indians held a 3 point lead over the Knights at halftime after a 16 yard field goal by Russell Ballance with 12 seconds left in the first half proved to be the only score for the first half. However, the second half proved to be in favor of the Knights as they forced several crucial fumbles and interceptions on the Indians.

The first Knight score during the second half was a short run from inside the 5 yard line with a successful extra point making the score 7-3 in favor of the Knights. The ensuing kickoff return was a long one by Devine Fenner to the 27-yard line of the Knights. However, the Indians could not capitalize as a pass was picked off from Ballance, which resulted in another Knights touchdown with 6:07 left in the 3rd quarter, with the extra point being no good.

The Knights kicked off to the Indians and with the ball on the 24-yard line of the Indians and they fumbled. This resulted in a 12 yard field goal by the Knights with 4:45 to go in the 3rd quarter, carrying the score to 16-3.

The next Knight score came with a 40 yard touchdown run and with a good extra point, making the score 23-3.

Colby Williams of the Indians intercepted the ball with 11:28 left in the 4th quarter and with a successful run had the ball deep in Knight territory. However, the ball was fumbled on the 1 yard line by Ballance on a quarterback keeper and returned for another Knights TD. With the extra point good, the score was stretched to 30-3 with 9:03 left in the 4th quarter.

The final scoring drive was also by the Knights with a short run into the end zone with 3:34 left in the game. A two-point conversion was successful and the final score was 38-3 in favor of the Knights.

When asked what the difference was between the first half and second half, Coach Willie Gillus said “turnovers, just turnovers and mistakes. We have a young group of fine players who are improving every game, but it takes time. We were inside the Red Zone 4 times and did not capitalize on it. We have to take advantage of these opportunities. When you make key mistakes they hurt you.”

He also said that they graduated 19 seniors from their team last year.

“This is a young team and they are trying very hard, and they are improving. There is a large learning curve. We should show improvement as the year goes on. “

Southampton student Aaron Williams suffered an arm injury with about 6 minutes left in the 3rd quarter and was taken to a local hospital for treatment. No further information was available at press time.