Polk County suffered a case of the terrible twos on Friday night.

Two fumbles inside the 10-yard line. Two touchdowns allowed on fluky plays. Two late possessions in North Henderson territory that yielded no points.

It all added up to another two – a second straight close loss to the Knights, for whom good things came in twos in a 19-14 win over the Wolverines in Polk’s season opener at G.M. Tennant Stadium.

It didn’t look to be North Henderson’s night at the outset; indeed, so well did things go early for the Wolverines that Polk County (1-1) could easily have been up 21-0 in the first half and likely on its way to victory. Instead, the Knights (1-1) left W.J. Miller Field at halftime with a 13-7 lead, swapped third-quarter touchdowns with Polk and made a key red-zone stop in the fourth quarter to give first-year head coach Justin Clark his maiden win.

Breaking down the loss was a simple matter for Wolverine head coach Jamie Thompson.

“Turnovers. It all boiled down to turnovers,” Thompson said. “We fumbled at the 1-yard line as we’re going in, we come back and get a first down inside their 10 and we drop a toss and they take it to the house for a touchdown.

“The defense didn’t give up a touchdown in the first half, but we still were down 13-7 at half. They return a fumble and they block a punt. Crazy things happen like that sometimes. It’s not one person’s fault. Last week, we didn’t have a single turnover. This week, we did.”

And, yet, the Wolverines still had an outstanding opportunity to retake the lead in the final quarter.

Taking possession at its 38, Polk County converted two fourth-down plays, both on the team’s special spread formation, to move into Knight territory. On third-and-3 at the 16, Elijah Sutton plowed ahead for 11 yards, giving Polk a first-and-goal at the Knight 5.

But there, the drive stalled. Quarterback Dillon Overholt was dropped in the backfield for a four-yard loss on first down, then stopped for a 1-yard gain on second down. Following a delay-of-game penalty, an Overholt pass to Josh Chupp gained just a yard, leaving Polk facing 4th-and-goal at the 12. Overholt’s scrambling fourth-down pass sailed incomplete, giving North Henderson the ball with five minutes remaining.

The Knights held it until the next-to-last play of the game, when on fourth down with just seconds left, sophomore quarterback Kalin Ensley scrambled around to kill the remaining time – but inadvertently took a knee with one second left on the clock. That gave Polk the ball at the North 24 and time for one more play.

Under pressure, Overholt scrambled and threw a pass into the right corner of the end zone, where it was deflected into the air, then grabbed by North’s Darren Lammons to end the game.

Not quite as close as the end of last year’s game, in which North stopped Polk inside its 5 on the game’s final play for a 20-14 victory, but no less painful.

“We played well. If I were to plus and minus the game, we win the game,” Thompson said. “But the only stat that matters is the scoreboard, and we lost there.”

Polk’s Dillon Knighton recovered a fumble on the opening kickoff, and the Wolverines capitalized, driving 38 yards for the game’s first score, an Overholt 2-yard run. The drive, though, proved costly, as senior Storm Wheeler suffered a knee injury on the game’s third play. The extent of that injury wasn’t known after the game.

Polk County’s Hayden Shumate recovered another North fumble on the Knights’ next drive, and the Wolverines again marched into the red zone. Facing 2nd-and-1 at the 4, Sutton pushed into the line and nearly reached the end zone before being hit and fumbling, the Knights recovering just shy of the goal line.

The Wolverines forced a Knight punt and, again, pushed into scoring position. Overholt and Sutton had back-to-back 15-yard runs on the drive as Polk reached the North Henderson 7.

There, the game changed – a toss sweep on third-and-6 led to a fumble, the ball bouncing into the air and into the hands of North Henderson’s Mikey Smithers, who raced 87 yards for a Knight touchdown with 5:08 left in the half, tying the game at 7.

Sixty-one seconds later, the Knights had the lead, blocking a Wyatt Derkach punt and recovering the ball in the end zone. It marked the second straight week that Polk County allowed a blocked punt that resulted in a touchdown, and it gave the Knights a 13-7 lead at the half.

Polk reached into its bag of tricks at the start of the third period, with Jaymes Wingo throwing a 67-yard touchdown pass to Chase Bishop on a halfback option play on the second play of the quarter. Derkach’s extra point gave Polk a 14-13 lead.

The Knights, though, came right back with a 10-play, 62-yard drive, capped by Ensley’s 11-yard touchdown scramble on third-and-9. The extra point failed, leaving the score at 19-14.

It would remain that way until game’s end.

“Hopefully, this will be a teaching lesson for us and we’ll grow stronger from it,” Thompson said.

Overholt ran for 111 yards on 24 carries and Sutton had 51 yards on eight carries for Polk County. Ensley finished 16-of-27 for 162 yards passing to lead North Henderson.

– Submitted by PolkSports.com