North Polk scored 20 points in the first five minutes of the game and that was all the Comets needed to defeat Knoxville on Homecoming Friday night at Ken Locke Stadium 48-21. In a game heard live on 95.3 KNIA North Polk got two touchdowns on short fields coupled with a bad snap on a punt recovered in the end zone to make it 20-0 after one quarter. The Panthers would settle down in the second quarter as Gavin Montalvo scored on a one yard touchdown run, but North Polk answered with two more scores to make it 34-7. Assistant Coach Chris Hudson was able to find positives in a lopsided loss.

Hudson:
“We have a lot of young kids playing not even close to 100%, and it impacts, it’s not an excuse, but it impacts. We calmed down, but give credit to North Polk, they executed when they needed to we wernt’ able to capitalize on things we worked on this week. You move on and you work on things you need to get better at next week.”

Quarterback Kieren Nichols did not play in the second half due to an abdominal injury. Keegan Cox ran the quarterback position and scored on a five yard run in the third quarter and hooked up with Mike Hudson for the game’s final score. Knoxville was led by Montalvo on the ground with 91 yards on eight carries, while Mike Hudson had 95 yards receiving on seven catches and a touchdown. Knoxville is now 1-5 on the season and 0-4 in district play. The Panthers will travel to Carlisle to close out the regular season next Friday.