Highland Christian football experienced a trial by fire.

In their first snaps in competition, the nine boys of the Knights’ eight-man football team stumbled against St. John Endicott in their season opener Sept. 5 before finding their footing. They lost the road game 60-20.

After the first quarter, Highland Christian trailed 22-0 thanks to a couple of long runs by the Spokane-area athletes and a blocked punt.

“The Knights did not give up and slowly figured out how to they needed to handle the 33 stack defense, but it was into the second half before they started to move the ball,” said Highland Christian coach Pete Miller.

Running back Stephen Myers helped Highland Christian move the chains, carrying the ball 12 times for 125 yards and a touchdown.

Taking over at quarterback this season, Randy Teal had some bumps along the way. He was 4-for-11 passing for 50 yards, including two touchdowns and an extra point, but also threw four picks.

St. John Endicott did a lot of the heavy lifting on the ground, as their backs combined to carry the ball 45 times for 455 yards, seven touchdowns and six extra points. They were 1-for-3 passing, but fumbled the ball eight times. Two of those were forced by Highland Christian’s Clayton Binder on defense.

Defensively, Teal had six solo tackles and was in on three more. Calvin Wold had four solo tackles and Myers had five.

Injuries didn’t help the matter, as the Knights ended the game with seven men on the field.

“St. John coach took a player out in good sportsmanship to end the game,” Miller said. “The Knights never gave up and left everything they had out on the field.”

The team’s Sept. 11 game against Oakville was cancelled by the would-be visitors. The Knights visit Wishkah Valley Sept. 19.