MINONK — With the No. 2 seed, you don’t expect to be in a dogfight against the No. 15 seed, but that’s exactly what Fieldcrest was in as West Carroll led the majority of the way in a Class 2A first-round game Friday.

But the Knights rallied in the fourth quarter to come away with a 20-8 victory over the Thunder and survive a scare.

“Wow, what a game,” Fieldcrest coach Derek Schneeman said. “We haven’t trailed at halftime all year, so that was new to us, but we lost a lot of tough games last year and we learned from that and fought back and had a big fourth quarter.”

The Knights stalled on their first drive of the game and punted the ball to the Thunder.

On their very first offensive play, Derek Tracy found Michael Popkin, who out jumped two defenders and turned and ran 73 yards for a touchdown to give West Carroll an 8-0 lead after the two-point conversion.

“We saw something we liked on film and ran that play for that reason,” West Carroll coach Matt Leitzen said. “It was a run-option play and Derek (Tracy) made the read, and what a play from there by Popkin.”

Fieldcrest responded though on its second drive that got started after Jaxon Cusac-McKay returned the kickoff 34 yards.

On fourth-and-2, Matt Lorton delivered a 3-yard pass to Cusac-McKay to keep the drive alive.

On the next play, Kenton Casterjon rumbled 34 yards with the help of some great blocking up front.

Shortly after that, Casterjon bulldozed his way into the end zone from a yard out, but the two-point conversion failed and the Knights trailed 8-6.

“I have to give all the credit to the guys up front,” Casterjon said. “That’s how it’s been all year. Great blocking and this team makes the plays because of it.”

From there, defense was the name of the game on both sides of the field.

Facing a third-and-6, Tracy was tackled for a loss and West Carroll had to punt.

Casterjon ran for a 27-yard gain, but fumbled on the next play.

But the Thunder had issues of their own as a bad snap led to a 15-yard loss and the Knights defense took over from there.

Both teams moved the ball from time to time, but both ended up being forced to punt the ball.

Tracy completed a pass that was thought to be a first down, but he was over the line of scrimmage.

On the other side, Casterjon was racking up the yards with 164 in the first half, but once again the Thunder defense was up to the challenge.

“West Carroll was able to match us physically up front,” Schneeman said. “I wouldn’t say they surprised us, but they really battled up front and did a nice job all night long.”

Both teams punted to start the second half before Cusac-McKay picked off Tracy deep in West Carroll territory, but again the Knights offense stalled and turned the ball over on downs.

In the fourth quarter, Cory Land connected with Cusac-McKay for 13 yards.

Land, Cusac-McKay and Casterjon all ran the ball well on the drive and then Casterjon put the Knights ahead for the first time with a 1-yard run. Keegan Robbins looked like he was going to run the two-point conversion, but he passed instead to Matt Lorton for a 14-8 lead.

Then things got a little sloppy as the teams traded turnovers.

When the Thunder took over again, Tracy was hammered by the Knights defense when attempting to pass, he fumbled and it was recovered by Fieldcrest’s Mason Faulk.

On the Knights’ next drive, Land got some great blocking again up front and ran for a 20-yard gain.

Shortly after that, Cusac-McKay ran into the end zone from 5 yards out to put Fieldcrest ahead 20-8.

The Knights defense came up with two more interceptions to seal the win and head to the second round of the playoffs next week when they face the winner of today’s game between Elgin St. Edwards and Chicago Orr.

Brad Martin Sr. can be reached at 220-6939 or at ntsports@shawmedia.com.