White Knoll head coach Nick Pelham issued his team a challenge after their opening playoff win over Lucy Beckham. 

Following a narrow 14-10 victory, he asked the Timberwolves to readjust their focus and take preparation more seriously. He challenged his players to play not just for themselves, but for their teammates as well. 

 ”Some of our antics, it's not always fun to watch us. Some of our young guys just think that you show up and you're just magically good. That's not how it happens,” Pelham said.  “ Can we build each other up instead of always pointing fingers?”

The Timberwolves struggled at times in their win, and tempers were rising because of it. 

Lucy Beckham made it difficult for the Timberwolves' offense to have clean drives, and White Knoll’s defense was on its toes all night defending a complex scheme with multiple options. 

“They run schemes that fit their kids perfectly,” Pelham said. “ They've got some triple option, they've got some power football. They've got great line play. Whoever coached their offensive line does a tremendous job. The quarterback is as fast as can be. The fullback is a man. … I wasn't really sure that we could win this with defense.”

White Knoll did win with defense, though. 

After allowing a touchdown on the opening drive, the Timberwolves held Lucy Beckham to three points. The Bengals had opportunities, but each time White Knoll’s defense stood firm and kept their opponent out of the endzone. 

“ I was really happy with how we communicated on defense and lined up,” Pelham said. “We threw five different fronts at them. We threw a bunch of different coverages at them. We were just trying to throw anything at the wall that would stick because they were so well coached on offense.” 

White Knoll’s offense did just enough to win thanks to some timely explosive plays. 

Down 7-0 late in the second quarter, quarterback Jhais McKiever threw a prayer downfield to receiver Caleb Geronomi. He went up and pulled the ball down with two receivers in coverage before leaving them in the dust towards the endzone. 

The 40-yard touchdown evened the score at seven just before halftime. 

Lucy Beckham got the ball to start the second half and drove downfield before being stopped just outside the red zone. They settled for a 34-yard field goal and went up 10-7.

White Knoll did not respond until early in the fourth quarter. McKiever, playing through some frustration, settled in and delivered when his team needed him. 

The team moved downfield fairly easily thanks to its run game. Tiyon Fanning found lanes between the defense and put White Knoll in a position for McKiever to keep it himself from 10 yards out. 

From that moment on, the rest of the game was a battle between the two defenses. No more points were scored, and the teams never even got close to threatening. 

Lucy Beckham ended the game with the ball and tried to move downfield for a go-ahead touchdown. With no timeouts at their disposal, it was a scramble drill with both teams having to get set on the fly. 

White Knoll’s defense gave up some yards but ultimately did its job and kept Lucy Beckham out of the endzone, sealing the win. 

“We’ve worked on those situations,” Pelham said. “ I'm real proud. A lot of those mundane things never come to fruition in a game when you practice them all summer and practice them all season. Today, that did actually come into play.”

With the win, White Knoll advances to the third round of the playoffs for the third year in a row. For the second year in a row, they will match up against their region rival, Irmo. 

The Yellow Jackets knocked the Timberwolves out of the playoffs last season and beat them in their regular-season contest this season. 

Pelham is hoping his team uses all the experience they’ve gathered since then to flip the results. 

“ Next week's the game we've been working for,” Pelham said. “ Let's just see how far we've come, how much we've improved.”