ARAB, Ala. – After enjoying last week off, the Arabian Knights returned home Friday night for a regional matchup against Boaz. Arab jumped out to an early, 14-0 lead in this one and went into the locker room leading 28-7 at the half but had to withstand an offensive burst from the Pirates in the second half and continued putting points on the board on their way to an impressive, 63-35 win. The 63 points scored against Boaz were the most the Knights have scored in a game since 2016.
The Knights put together a nine-play scoring drive to open up the first quarter, capping things off with a 28-yard touchdown pass over the middle of the field from quarterback Drew Puccio to Luke Hudson. On the ensuing Boaz possession, Lawson King stripped the football from the quarterback’s hands and recovered the fumble to set up Arab’s offense with a short field. Just a few plays later, Logan Silva punched one into the end zone from 16 yards out to stretch the lead to 14-0 late in the first quarter.
Following a Boaz punt, the Knights added to their lead with a methodical, 17-play scoring drive and a touchdown pass on a reverse from Noah Mann to Puccio made it a 21-0 game with just over three minutes remaining in the first half. The Pirates answered quickly, scoring in six plays and in less than a minute to cut the lead to 21-7 but Arab answered on the ensuing kickoff when Puccio received the ball near the goal line and ran it back 88 yards all the way down to the 6-yard line. On the Knights’ next play, Logan Alldredge took a handoff 6 yards up the middle for a touchdown to stretch the lead to 28-7 going into the halftime break.
It took Boaz just over a minute to find the end zone at the start of the third quarter, scoring a quick touchdown on its opening drive to trim the lead to 28-14. However, Arab responded, moving the ball deep down into Pirates territory after a big gain on a throwback pass to Silva. Alldredge punched it into the end zone from 2 yards out to finish the scoring drive and build the lead back up to 35-14. Another quick score by Boaz made it a 35-21 game with five minutes remaining in the third but the scoring was far from over.
Puccio connected with Landon Strickland through the air for a touchdown to keep the Knights in front 42-21 late in the third quarter and the Pirates ran another one into the end zone to trim the lead to 42-28 just before the start of the fourth.
Silva’s second touchdown run of the night gave Arab a 49-28 advantage early in the fourth, but Boaz was able to respond once again, driving the ball down for another score to make it a 49-35 game with 7:36 on the clock. At that point, the Knights were ready to put things away. The Arab defense held the Pirates out of the end zone the rest of the night and touchdown runs by Puccio and Alldredge allowed the Knights to pull away with a 63-35 win.
Arab improves to 5-2 with the win and the Knights will be back on the road next week for a big regional battle at Guntersville.
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