High school football: Knights knock off Lancers 13-9

LAYTON — Layton High coach Jim Batchelor described his team's 13-9 loss to Northridge on Friday night as "frustrating."

And Northridge head coach Erik Thompson said his team was outplayed and he felt that they "stole one" from Layton.

Northridge, behind a clutch fourth-quarter defensive stand and opportunistic offense, rallied to beat the Lancers and extend the Knights' record to 3-0 on the

season and 2-0 in Region 1. The loss drops Layton to 1-2 on the season and 0-1 in region 1 play.

Kyle Read, defensive end for the Knights, knew his team was going to pull out the victory, even with Layton on the cusp of scoring and pulling ahead

in the final minutes.

"I had no doubt in my heart that we were going to stop that drive," he said. "I knew our guys could do it."

That drive may have ended differently had it not been for the toughness of the Knights, mixed with a little bit of luck.

Layton started the drive at its own 28 and methodically moved the ball downfield, chewing up clock in the process. Layton running back Grant Walker

put the Lancers on the Northridge 7-yard line with an 18-yard run that set up the Lancers for a potential score.

Northridge stuffed the run at the line of scrimmage on first down, and Layton quarterback Derek Thomas fumbled the snap but recovered on second down. On

third down, Thomas threw a pass to Nick Johnson, who caught the ball but was barely out of bounds. On fourth down, Thomas rolled out and threw the ball to a wide-open receiver, who dropped the ball in the end zone.

The defensive stand gave the ball to Northridge, which ran the time down off the clock.

Layton struck first on a 29-yard field goal by kicker Walker, capping an almost eight-minute drive. The score put the Lancers up 3-0. Layton dominated the first quarter on both sides of the ball, using solid defense and a grinding running game to chew up clock and keep Northridge off the field.

Northridge countered in the second quarter on a 5-yard run by quarterback Trent Buckley. Buckley's score put the Knights up 6-3. Buckley's score came after a 32-yard run by Jordan Lee and a 28-yard pass to Nick Johnson.

Layton took a 9-6 lead on a 6-yard run by quarterback Derek Thomas. The score came at the 2:47 mark of the second quarter and gave the Lancers the

lead going into the half. Northridge's Shaymus Bertagnolli blocked the PAT, keeping the Knights within three points.

Northridge took the lead on a 3-yard run by Brock Johnson. Johnson's score put the Knights up for good at 13-9. Then the Northridge defense held on for the win.

Read knew that his team needed to step up in the second half if it was going to win the game.

"They were stealing from us in that first half," he said. "They stole our inches, our yards and our points. We weren't going to let them steal from us any more."