No. 16 Ardrey Kell rolls past Harding, sets up Saturday showdown with No. 15 Olympic

Ardrey Kell head football coach Greg Jachym and his staff walked a bit of a tightrope Tuesday night in their team’s 48-0 rout of SoMeck 7 4A foe Harding.

The Knights were playing the second of three games in an eight-day period -- an unusually heavy schedule in football. And their next contest, Saturday at Olympic, could go a long way in deciding the conference championship.

So Jachym wanted his team to avoid injuries and, hopefully, not have to expend a ton of energy.

But despite the lopsided score, Harding didn’t exactly cooperate. Coach Van Smith’s team played hard and actually had some success in moving the ball a few times.

“That was a very physical game,” Jachym said. “Both of those teams played very hard.”

In the end, it appears as if Ardrey Kell (3-0, 3-0) managed to accomplish what Jachym had hoped for.

“We won’t know for sure until Wednesday morning, but it appears as if we avoided injuries,” he said. “And I thought we played very well, overall.”

There wasn’t much drama about the eventual outcome.

Harding (0-3, 0-2) had two costly turnovers in the first quarter, and Ardrey Kell led 28-0 before the period was finished.

The Knights scored on their first possession, with Jack Curtis connecting with Joshua Johnson on a 15-yard scoring toss.

Johnson scored on a short run with 4:45 left in the first quarter, and the Knights added two more touchdowns in the closing 2:40 of the period. The first followed a Harding fumble, and the second was set up by a high snap on a Harding punt attempt.

Jachym said his team’s defense played very well. The Knights limited Harding to 124 yards’ total offense on the night.

“Our secondary was really sharp,” he said. “They shut down the passing game, and they came up in support of the line.

“We were able to rotate players in and out a lot, to keep everyone fresh. With another game coming up Saturday, that was one of our goals.”

And while the defense was doing its job, Ardrey Kell’s offense operated smoothly behind quarterback Jack Curtis, who fired four touchdown passes.

“Curtis is going to be a really good one,” Jachym said. “He grew during the offseason and worked a lot. He has an incredible work ethic, and he’s really polishing up his game.”

THREE WHO MATTERED

Jack Curtis, Ardrey Kell: A 6-4, 190-pound junior, Curtis completed 10-of-12 passes for 170 yards and four touchdowns.

Stephen Bauer, Ardrey Kell: Bauer, a senior middle linebacker, had at least three tackles for lost yardage. “It seemed like every time the players got up from the pile, Stephen was at the bottom of it,” Jachym said.

Nathaniel Francis, Ardrey Kell: A senior receiver, Francis caught touchdown passes of 27 and 31 yards from Curtis.

WORTH MENTIONING

▪ From the final score, you’d never imagine that Harding dominated 25 percent of the game. But the Rams had the ball for all but about 20 seconds of the second quarter and gained 80 of their 124 total yards on two drives in the period. One of those drives ended at the Ardrey Kell 1, when the Knights held on fourth down.

▪ Tuesday’s game originally was scheduled for March 6 but was postponed due to COVID-19 issues. Jachym said his team reacted with happiness when the contest was rescheduled as part of a three-games-in-eight-days stretch. “This might sound trite, but these kids are happy just to be playing football this spring,” Jachym said.

▪ Kyree Faust was a bright spot for Harding on Tuesday night. He rushed for 40 yards and had two of the Rams’ four pass receptions.

▪ Tuesday’s contest was a home game for Harding, but it was played at Berry Academy’s field, which is a turf surface. On a day when more than 1 inch of rain fell, the turf field gave both teams solid footing.

WHAT’S NEXT

Both teams play SoMeck 7 4A games Saturday. Harding is home against South Mecklenburg at 1 p.m., and Ardrey Kell visits Olympic at 6 p.m.

Steve Lyttle on Twitter: @slyttle

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Ardrey Kell 28 0 13 7 -- 48

Harding 0 0 0 0 -- 0

AK -- Joshua Johnson 15 pass from Jack Curtis (Alexander Chillcot kick)

AK -- Johnson 2 run (Chillcot kick)

AK -- Nathaniel Francis 27 pass from Curtis (Chillcot kick)

AK -- Brooks Stankavage 1 run (Chillcot kick)

AK -- Francis 31 pass from Curtis (kick failed)

AK -- Brevin Caldwell 5 pass from Curtis (Chillcot kick)

AK -- Thad Jankard 3 run (Chillcot kick)