Knightdale’s Marquavious Johnson breaks loose in win over Harnett Central

Knighdale quarterback Marquavious Johnson broke open a close game as he ran 48 and 54 yards for touchdowns and added a 66-yard fumble recovery for a score in a 40-13 win over Harnett Central.

By Cale Colosimo

Correspondent

KNIGHTDALE -- Following his team’s 40-13 win over Harnett Central, Knightdale coach Rob Senseney had some intense words for his players, something you don’t hear too often following a convincing win.

“I didn’t like our performance at all tonight. Not at all,” said Senseney. “Some of it goes to Harnett Central for the way they played. They played tough, but to be honest we did not come out very driven to be the best team tonight.”

Knighdale quarterback Marquavious Johnson broke open a close game as he ran 48 and 54 yards for touchdowns and added a 66-yard fumble recovery when his pitch bounced off a running back and fell to the ground..

“I guess my running back thought I was pulling it but I was trying to give it. It was a misunderstanding. I saw the ball, picked it up and saw space,” said Johnson.

The Knights scored 33 unanswered points to cruise to the win, bouncing back nicely following last week’s 42-7 loss to first-place Garner.

“We played a terrible game against Garner,” said Johnson. “We didn’t like the way we played, and we wanted to come out and play hard.”

Marquavious Johnson, Nathaniel Harvey and Malik Johnson led the offensive ground attack. Knightdale rushed 37 times and attempted only seven passes. Harvey had 53 rushing yards and Malik Johnson had 96 yards, all in the second half.

With just one game left to play, Senseney isn’t pleased with how his team looks with playoffs just around the corner.

“It’s a playoff game next week, plain and simple.”

Johnson agreed with his coach. A loss next week and the Knights could very well be going on the road in the playoffs.

“We didn’t play the way (Senseney) wanted us. We need to pick it up against Clayton,” Johnson said.