Knox sends Wirt out with a loss

Knox junior Kyle Hernandez (28) celebrates his touchdown with senior Alex Windbigler (52) against Wirt.
(Scott M. Bort/Post-Tribune)

Font Size

Email

Bookmark

Black Text

White Text

GARY -- There was no doubt Wirt wanted its prep football experience to last as long as it could with the school scheduled to shut down courtesy of a vote by the Gary School Board.

And in a way, they Troopers got their wish Friday night in their sectional duel with Knox. But it wasn't exactly the long-lasting idea the Troopers had in mind.

The Redskins, specifically running back Kyle Hernandez officially turned out the lights on Wirt football with a four-touchdown, 163-yard rushing night in a 32-18 win over the Troopers, in a game that was delayed three times because of lightning and didn't end until 11:30 p.m.

Knox will get over it though, punching their ticket to the second round of the playoffs and a date with Clark who defeated Gavit last night. That game will be at Knox on Friday.

There will likely be no tomorrow for Wirt football after the city's school board voted unanimously to shut down the school and replace it with the Emerson School of Performing Arts next year. As it turned out, it was Hernandez who preformed a work of art on the Trooper defense, scoring three times in the second half to turn a 13-0 Knox halftime lead into a 32-6 advantage in the fourth quarter.

Wirt quarterback Kendall Johnson did his part to try to keep Wirt alive for at least another week with a three touchdown performance including an electrifying third quarter run in which he made one man miss, then ducked a second defender before scampering 75 yards for the Troopers first touchdown.

Johnson also scored from 2 yards out in the fourth quarter.

The senior also had a hand in a new Gary football trivia question: Who scored the final touchdown for Wirt? The answer: Sophomore Dorian Oren who caught a 40-yard scoring pass from Johnson for the final tally of the game.

Ironically, the Troopers and Redskins were almost even stats-wise, with Knox (6-4) only outgaining Wirt 275-258 while the Troopers outrushed their opponents 217-210 with Johnson picking up 183 of those yards.

The difference in this game was in the red zone. Early in the game the Troopers had the ball at the Knox 2-yard line trailing 6-0 and could not score. Knox had the ball in the red zone four times Friday night and scored all four times.

With the loss, the Troopers winning streak came to an end at three straight.