Evans quarterback steps up in big way as Knights football remains unbeaten

EVANS – Evans started slow but ended by scoring 38 unanswered points.

The Knights defeated Grovetown 38-3 Friday at Blanchard Stadium, earning their seventh-consecutive win over the Warriors.

The game didn’t start as planned for Evans as the Knights fumbled on the opening kickoff, giving Grovetown promising field position to start the game. Grovetown drove down the field but failed to get in the end zone and only got a field goal out of it. That seemed to be the only offense as the Knights shut down the Grovetown offense the rest of the night.

Evans quarterback EJ Hogan was the main man behind the offensive power for Evans on Friday. He had 4 total touchdowns including three on the ground and one through the air. When asked about the opening kickoff fumble he told his teammates “It is time to lock in. They came to play.”

After being idle last week, Evans brought its record to 2-0 on the year.

How Evans football routed cross-county rival Grovetown

After the Grovetown field goal, Evans put together a solid drive behind the running attack of Hogan and Tereco Harper Jr. The drive ended in a 28-yard screen pass to Harper Jr. for the first touchdown of the game, making the score 7-3.

At the end of the half Evans led 14-3 with 49 seconds on the clock and Grovetown had the ball. Evans called timeouts and made Grovetown settle for a punt on its own 6, which seemed to be the smart move according to Knights’ Coach Barrett Davis. The punt snap was mishandled and Evans got the ball on the 4-yard line where Hogan once again ran it in to make the score 21-3.

“Realizing we had three timeouts and had stopped the run well our goal was to flip the field on them and create momentum going into the second half,” said Davis

The momentum stayed on their side going into the second half.

To open the second half Grovetown went three and out, giving the Knights good field position. Breyden Johnson ended the drive with a ferocious 41-yard run, breaking multiple tackles and putting the final nail in the coffin for Evans.

Evans also had the chance to get some backups in for a drive setting up the final points of the game with a field goal by senior kicker Tyler Wallace. Wallace had previously missed a 38-yarder, but this time from 41 yards out drilled it through the uprights giving the knights 38 points with 5:09 left in the final quarter.

Davis and Hogan had high praise for the younger guys.

“It’s important to get these guys in because you do not know what is in store for the season,” Davis said.

“It felt like I did my job as a leader on the team helping the younger guys day in and day out,” Hogan added.

Evans (2-0) will be hosting lakeside next Friday, Sept. 6, while Grovetown (0-3) hosts Thomson.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Evans quarterback steps up in big way as Knights football remains unbeaten