By Erin McGovern

Associate Editor-In-Chief

After a night of lightning rescheduled the Knights’ game against Glenbrook South for last Saturday, a hard fought battle ended in defeat for the young team.

The Knights started strong to gain a 7-0 lead in the first quarter, but slipped behind to lose 41-14 to the Titans.

According to head varsity coach Mike Sebestyen, the game was the best learning experience his team could have in order to improve for teams to come.

“It showed that when you are undisciplined you’re going to pay for it,” he said. “Either we’re going to step up and fight, or we’re going to be in for a long season.”

Despite the final score, the Knights’ sophomore quarterback Matt Drew showed he was up for the challenge as he made his first start.

“I was really impressed with the way he played,” defensive line coach Brock Collins said. “As a sophomore starting his first game, I half expected him to let the jitters get to him, but if he was feeling super pressured, he didn’t show it.”

According to Collins, Drew proved he could make good reads and keep a cool head despite the leadership position he had to jump into so quickly.

The fault of the two interceptions thrown were tipped balls which is just a part of the game and proved Drew to be a competitor, even this early in his career.

“I got all my nerves out,” Drew said of his first start. “More than anything, I’m looking forward to us feeding off our mistakes to get better.”

And this is exactly what the Knights will have to do as they prepare to face Barrington this Friday at 7p.m. at George Gattas Memorial Stadium.

According to offensive line coach Tim Beishir, Barrington’s size is what will be one of the main challenges in store for Friday, along with solving the current problem of the team dynamic.

Because the team is so young and not used to playing alongside each other this early in the season, time and practice are what the coaches think will be the most beneficial for the 2013 team.

“We have some kids that we were looking to step up as leaders on the team who are still playing within themselves, and thats showing,” Beishir said.  “They need to start playing for each other.”

After the loss to Glenbrook South got out all of the first game jitters and showed exactly what the Knights need to work on, the team is ready to face Barrington and put their practice to the test in game two.

“We learned a lot about ourselves and how long it will take us to fight back,” Sebestyen said. “We need to have confidence in ourselves in the face of adversity.”