BOAZ, Ala. – Most local teams played their week three matchups Thursday night to avoid the potential wet weather Friday night, but the Arabian Knights braved the rain and traveled to Sardis for another big regional matchup. Arab took control of the game in the first half, scoring on its first three possessions and pulled away to defeat the Lions 42-0.
The Knights defense forced Sardis to punt on the game’s opening possession and a quick pair of first down runs by Drake Franklin got the Knights offense out near midfield. Arab continued to eat up yardage and time on its opening possession but a pair of holding calls slowed the Knights down as they moved into Lions territory. Arab finally finished the drive in the end zone when quarterback Aidan Cox hit Spencer Strickland over the middle, and he pulled away from the Sardis secondary to score from 35 yards out and put the Knights in front midway through the first quarter. Aiden Wooten’s extra point made it a 7-0 game.
Following another Lions punt, a 64-yard burst up the middle by Franklin got the Knights all the way down inside the Sardis 10-yard line and Hayden O’Reilly scored from 7 yards out one play later to stretch the Arab lead to 14-0 early in the second. A nice punt return by Brody McCain gave the Knights great field position to start their next possession and an 18-yard completion from Cox to McCain put Arab in scoring position. Franklin took a handoff from the 6-yard line a couple plays later and punched it into the end zone to give the Knights a 21-0 advantage with just under eight minutes remaining in the first half.
Arab was stopped short on fourth down later in the second quarter and the Knights went into the locker room leading 21-0 at halftime.
Arab continued to add to its lead in the third quarter, capping off the first possession of the second half with a 41-yard touchdown pass from Cox to McCain that extended the lead to 28-0. The Knights tacked on another score midway through the third when Cox hit McCain once again on a 2-yard touchdown pass, making it a 35-0 game. As the rain began to fall harder, coaches and officials agreed to a running clock the rest of the way. Cox ran one into the end zone to put Arab up 41-0 midway through the fourth and Reese Hallmark knocked through the extra point to make it 42-0. Hallmark is the first female player to ever kick for the Knights and hers was the final point of the night as Arab cruised to defeat the Lions 42-0.
Arab improves to 4-0 with the win and will return home for a big Region 7 matchup against Scottsboro.
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