GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. – After outracing Boaz in a 63-35 shootout at home last week, the Arabian Knights were on the road Friday night for a big regional matchup against Guntersville and for the first time in 10 seasons, the Knights returned home with a win over the Wildcats.
Guntersville struck first with a 30-yard touchdown pass on its opening drive, but the ensuing extra point attempt was blocked by the Knights, making it a 6-0 game. Both teams exchanged punts on the next two possessions, but Arab was able to seize some momentum on its second drive. After converting on fourth and short, a big run by Logan Alldredge moved the Knights offense down to the Guntersville 20-yard line. Alldredge took his next carry down to the 5 and two plays later, Puccio ran it into the end zone from 6 yards out to tie the game at 6. Aiden Wooten’s extra point gave the Knights a 7-6 lead early in the second quarter.
It didn’t take long for the Wildcats to respond. A big gain on a pass down the Arab sideline moved Guntersville’s offense down inside the 5-yard line and they punched it into the end zone two plays later to move in front 13-7 midway through the second. A fumble on the ensuing Wildcats possession was recovered by Arab deep in Guntersville territory and the Knights offense took advantage of the short field a few plays later when Puccio ran his second touchdown of the night into the end zone to put Arab on top 14-13 going into the halftime break.
The Wildcats got on the board early in the second half with a 50-yard touchdown pass to pull ahead 19-14 at the midway through the third quarter but they were held out of the end zone on the two-point conversion attempt, holding the lead to 5. Arab capped off its next scoring drive on the first play of the fourth quarter when Logan Silva dove into the end zone for a 4-yard touchdown and a successful two-point conversion gave the Knights a 22-19 lead early in the final period.
Arab forced the Wildcats to punt the ball away on their next possession and the Knights pieced together a long, methodical drive that consumed most of the remaining time in the fourth quarter. Finally, with less than three minutes to play, Alldredge took a handoff from the 5-yard line and sliced through the defense for a touchdown to make it a 28-19 game. Wooten’s extra point stretched the lead to 29-19. Guntersville picked up yardage quickly and the Wildcats were in scoring range with a little over a minute remaining, but Hagan Stewart intercepted a pass in the end zone to seal the deal and wrap up a huge, 29-19 win for the Knights.
Arab improves to 6-2 with the win and the Knights will finish the regular season on the road against Hazel Green next week.
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