Football: Churchland 10, King's Fork 8

PORTSMOUTH

After Churchland pulled a Houdini act, after it managed to cling to its precarious lead until the final whistle Thursday, Truckers coach Cedric Cradle gathered his team and stated the obvious.

“It’s never going to be pretty,” he said. “But I will take it.”

Churchland had no problem with the end result – a 10-8 win over King’s Fork on Thursday night in the season opener for both teams. How the Truckers got there left a lot to be desired, though. They racked up 21 penalties that added up to 155 yards – 19 more than their offense accumulated over four sloppy quarters.

They still won, in part, because of a King’s Fork offense Bulldogs coach Joe Jones called a “disappointment.”

“We’ve got to crank it up,” Jones said. “When we give up 10 points, we have got to win those games.”

But King’s Fork managed only one touchdown. That came with seven minutes left in the game, when LaRay Kindred threw a well-placed fade pass to Tyrelle Shepherd for an 8-yard touchdown. The two would connect again seconds later on a two-point conversion that made the score 10-8.

After Churchland scored on its first drive on a 1-yard quarterback keeper by Craig Brooks, the winning points for the Truckers came from a 30-yard field goal by Matthew Stanek, whose kick sailed through the uprights midway through the third quarter.

“At the time, I didn’t know that would be the difference,” Stanek said.

But when Jarrell Young snagged his third interception of the game with less than a minute left – plucking Kindred’s pass – Stanek’s three points proved to be enough.

“Down near the end, we thought penalties were going to hurt us big,” he said. “But then (Jarrell) got the pick.”

And an ugly win was ensured.

Rainer Sabin, (757) 446-2367, rainer.sabin@pilotonline.com