Tennessee’s Pope John Paul II used a 28-point second quarter to bury visiting Christian County on Friday night in Hendersonville, holding the Colonels to a single, late touchdown in a 56-8 landslide.
The Knights enjoyed a running clock throughout the second half, while improving their record to 4-2 with the Homcoming victory. The Colonels remain winless and will open district play next week when Greenwood visits the Stadium of Champions.
The Knights took the lead midway through the first quarter when Antwan Roberts found the endzone with an 11-yard run. Any thoughts that this would be a low-scoring affair were dispelled early in the second quarter, with Sawyer Watts hitting Brendan Keaton for a 15-yard touchdown completion, the first of four second-quarter scores for Pope John Paul II.
Rory White took a screen pass 56 yards for a score and a 21-0 Knights’ lead, but the Colonels showed some life when Cam Coleman came up with a big catch to put the ball at the Pope John Paul II 27. However, the drive stalled and while going for it on 4th and 2, the Colonels turned the ball over on a fumble.
That would be as close as Christian County would get for a while as Roberts broke off a 72-yard scoring run, followed by White’s second touchdown catch for a 35-0 Knights’ halftime advantage.
Cade Marino hauled in a 20-yard toucdown pass for the only score of the third quarter, followed by scoring catches by Colin Cook and Fisher Donovan in the fourth quarter to stretch the Knight lead to 56-0 with 4:21 to play.
Christian County finally got on the board in the final seconds when Austin Grant-Hall found the endzone from 8 yards out, with Cam Coleman pulling in a pass from Donta Abren for the 2-point conversion.
