Pitman High varsity football couldn’t stop Downey’s high-powered offense and fell to the Knights in the last game of the season 14-59 on Friday. The Pride weren’t able to defeat the league champions and were outgained by over 300 yards.
“They just kept fighting. We’ve been underdogs all year, but our kids never believed that. They fought and they just wanted to compete. And you know, we always told them to play hard, and good things happen,” said head coach Eric Reza
The Pride gained 200 yards of offense compared to 502 by the Knights. Pitman was led by 111 all-purpose yards and a touchdown from Joey Stout, who has been the Pride’s workhorse all season. Quarterback Drew Walker added 152 passing yards with two touchdowns and four interceptions.
“They’re just big and strong out there. We played hard throughout and we never gave up, I’m so proud of them,” said Reza.
Pitman had the ball first, but couldn’t get going and were forced to punt after five plays. The Knights were able to score on their first possession with a 49-yard touchdown pass.
The defenses were able to hold the offenses out of the endzone for the next few possessions. The Knights thought they had a big play, but Stout stripped the balled and recovered a fumble near midfield with 2:57 left in the first. Pitman wasn’t able to capitalized and punted a few plays later.
The Knights scored their second touchdown of the game on a 21-yard pass the first play of the second quarter. The Pride mounted good yardage the next few possessions but weren’t able to cash them in for points. Downey took a three-score lead with a 39-yard field goal to make it 0-17
Walker gave up his first interception the next possession, but the Pride were able block a Downey punt attempt and recovered it to get the ball back in the redzone. The Pride scored their first points the next play on 15-yard pass from Walker to wide receiver Dylan Freeman.
It didn’t take long for the Knights to answer though and they scored two plays later on a 42-pass with 3:33 left in the half. Pitman was driving to score before the half, but ran out of time to set up the field goal attempt to take a 7-24 deficit into the half.
Downey marched down the field coming out of the half scored a touchdown in 10-plays on an 8-yard pass. Walker was trying to bring his team back, but threw an interception two-plays into the Pride’s next drive.
The Knights scored another touchdown to take a commanding 38-7 lead with 5:04 left in the third. Pitman wouldn’t go away though and scored their second touchdown on a 76-yard pass from Walker to Stout. Downey scored three more touchdowns in the fourth quarter to secure the 59-14 win.
The Pride ended the season going 3-6 overall and 2-3 in league play. Reza said there are a lot of lessons to learn from his first season.
“We’re always have to keep working and we’ve got to get back to work. We’re going to go back to work and we’re going to see where we can get better, and maybe have more success next season,” he said.
