Knoxville Catholic put another one in the bag on Friday to keep their perfect season alive. Everything went their way against the Winter Haven Blue Devils as the Knoxville Catholic Fighting Irish made off with a 34-14 win. Given the Fighting Irish's advantage in MaxPreps' football rankings in their respective home states (they are ranked 24th in Tennessee, while the Blue Devils are ranked 188th in Florida), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Knoxville Catholic to victory, but perhaps none more so than Tyreek King, who picked up 61 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Mack Bartholomew was another key signal caller, throwing for 47 yards and two touchdowns.
Knoxville Catholic wouldn't let Winter Haven keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force three fumbles. It was truly a group effort as Anton Hamilton, Kaleb Johnson, and Elliott Lindsey picked up one apiece. Johnson also deserves a shoutout for his performance on D, picking up three sacks, forcing a fumble, and making 14 total tackles (4.0 for loss).
Despite the loss, Winter Haven still got an impressive performance from John Kostuch, who rushed for 80 yards and a touchdown on only seven carries, and also threw for 45 yards and a touchdown. The dominant performance gave him a new career- in rushing yards.
Knoxville Catholic's victory bumped their record up to 3-0. As for Winter Haven, their loss ended a three-game streak of away wins dating back to last season and brought them to 1-2.
Both teams are looking forward to the support of their home crowds in their upcoming games. Knoxville Catholic's homestand will continue as they prepare to take on Ensworth on Friday. One thing working in Ensworth's favor is that they have posted at least 31 points every time they've taken the field this season. As for Winter Haven, they will host Lakeland at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
