Yorktown Gives Hayfield First Football Loss

There may not be a Northern Region player more important to his football team than Hayfield’s Hayden Knudson. He returns kicks, is a threat to make big plays on offense and he’s the last line of defense when the other team has the ball. So with Knudson out due to a concussion, the Hawks were understandably anxious about Friday night’s game at Yorktown. They knew they would have to play a perfect game if they were to leave Arlington with a win. Perhaps that’s what led to a shaky first half.

The second half, however, was dominated by the Patriots, and with Knudson looking on, wearing his No. 6 jersey and sweatpants, Hayfield suffered its first loss of the season, 21-0. The Hawks are now 3-1, while Yorktown (4-0) took over first place in the National District.

Going back to the beginning of the Hawks’ 2010 playoff push, which began on Oct. 29 with a win over Falls Church, the team’s only two losses have come with Knudson watching the game from the sidelines. The other loss came when he was knocked out early from last season’s regional championship game against Stone Bridge.

The game was expected to be a playoff preview featuring two of Class AAA Division 5’s top teams, but instead it became a let-down without Knudson’s firepower on offense and Kelechi Adoma’s strength on defense.

In a postgame huddle, coach Roy Hill told his team that football is a rough sport, and players will get hurt. As a result, younger players need to be prepared to fill in. Last night, those players didn’t seem ready.

“You’ve got to have players step up,” said tailback Steve Lynch, the Hawks’ top offensive player Friday. “This what happens when the back-ups don’t step up.”

Quarterback Ellis Knudson tried to hold back tears when speaking about his older brother’s role on the team.
“It’s a big difference (without him),” he said. “It’s hard. He’s a big playmaker and a good leader.”

The Hawks’ had a chance early to take control, but after Nathan Trebach intercepted Yorktown quarterback Jordan Smith’s first pass on just the second play of the game, Knudson lofted a pass into the end zone that was picked off by M.J. Stewart.

Stewart, who also rushed for almost 100 yards and scored a touchdown for the Patriots, brought the ball out to the 20, but the drive ended shortly thereafter, beginning a sequence of the teams combining for five straight punts.

It would have been seven if Hayfield hadn’t stopped Stewart on 4^th-and-6 from the 32 with 6:14 to play in the first half.  The Hawks were forced to punt after three plays, and Yorktown capitalized. Smith found 6-foot-4 receiver Nick Yore for a long gain to Hayfield’s 20, and Stewart swept through the left side of Hayfield’s defense to the 1. Smith scored two plays later to make it 7-0.

“We played hard the first two quarters and then we just gave up too many big plays,” said Lynch, who gained only 16 yards on eight carries in the first half. “And the big plays and penalties killed us. We didn’t play too good on special teams, and special teams is important.”

Ellis Knudson, who was forced into duty to replace his brother as the punter, was constantly under pressure from the Yorktown defense, and had two punts partially blocked. While the plays did not turn the game, they underscored how much better Yorktown played than Hayfield.

“We’re a pretty good football team,” said Yorktown coach Bruce Hanson, who won his 201^st-career game. “But we could have done even better. I know they didn’t have [Knudson] and he’s a great player, but who’s to say we wouldn’t have played better with him in there?”

The strangest sequence of the game came at the beginning of the second half. Hayfield started with the ball on its own 10, and on the first play, Lynch ripped off a 37-yard gain. But half of the yardage was neutralized by a penalty, and even though they got another first down in the drive, the Hawks failed to capitalize on the next few plays. On 4^th-and-8 from the 47, Knudson’s punt was blocked, and it looked as if Yorktown would take over near midfield. But the referees decided they had blown the play dead too early, and Hayfield took the option to re-kick. That’s what the Hawks did, and Knudson’s next kick pinned Yorktown at its 19. A defensive stand plus a good punt return would have set up Hayfield for a chance to tie the game. However, Mason Hitt’s punt from his own 36 was downed at Hayfield’s 32, and the Hawks were forced to punt again shortly after.

On the next play, 240-pound Yorktown fullback Austin Browne busted through the middle of Hayfield’s defense for a 41-yard touchdown. It was 14-0 and then Stewart scored on a sweep left on the last play of the third quarter to put the Hawks down 21-0.

Without its best offensive player, Hayfield couldn’t come back.

“Good programs have guys step up and we didn’t quite get that done tonight,” said Hill. “We’ve got Centreville next week and they’re not going to feel any sympathy for us.”

Hayfield hosts Centreville, one of the top Division 6 teams in the Northern Region, next Friday. The Wildcats moved to 4-0 with a 41-14 win over Herndon.

When asked what the Hawks can do to prep for that game, Lynch said “we’ve got to watch film this weekend and there’s got to be no playing around, no joking around in practice.”

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