Knightdale — Justin Louis tipped Ben Bolling's pass and Martin McCallum grabbed it out of the sky to seal the Warriors’ 14-7 victory over the Knights Friday night.

As penalties outnumbered first downs 2-to-1 in the first half of play, both teams struggled to find their opponent’s side of the field, much less the end zone.

Gus Goodson ended the drought on a 2-yard rush with 3:25 left in the first half. Knightdale’s answering drive continued all the way to the East Wake 1-yard line, but yet another penalty backed the ball to the 6. Greg Jackson, in direct snap formation, tried to rush the ball in twice before spiking the ball with :2.2 left in the half. The final play was a field goal turned fake, but Jackson’s pass found the field instead of a receiver.

The Warriors came out on a mission after the half. Goodson took the team to the Knightdale 20-yard line after defense had held the Knights’ opening drive, and Mike Engles was fresh for the 1-yard finish and the 14-0 lead.

Josh Gorham, the Knights’ fast, power back who was held to 59 yards on the night, was certainly a key target for the Warrior defense. And after Shane Egan hit Gorham hard to bring up a Knightdale punt as the third quarter ended, it became clear holding the ball was a good way to keep the home team down.

Better late than never, the majority of Gorham’s yards sent the Knights to the East Wake 42 as the next drive began. A pair of Bolling passes followed before he hit Greg Jackson for a 38-yarder and six. Craig Gage’s extra point just cleared the uprights, and the one score posession had the Knightdale fan base at its highest level of exitement and volume of the entire night. Or did it?

Knightdale’s onside kick moments later went in and out of the hands of Marcus Hinnant and Donald Rose before the Warriors miraculously recovered, but defense denied East Wake on its next drive. With 2:50 left in the game, the Knights earned their offense another chance to tie.

Although penalties plagued both teams throughout the first half, they could be finger-counted in the second. One of those few called on the Warriors became costly, backing their punt an additional 10 yards and giving Gorham a second chance at returning — the last thing you want awarded to the Knightdale team — but the return was nixed short.

With the ball on their own 30, the Knights, looking for their first possession of the 64 sword, were facing a two-minute drill. Bolling sailed one to Gorham near the Knightdale bench and East Wake 40-yard line, then to Jackson to the 9. Jackson rushed again to the 5, but out of timeouts, and with the clock running, Khari Jenkins stepped in and delivered a yard-losing hit on Gorham’s rush to the flat.

Knightdale’s fans now wired on the odds of a comeback, Bolling managed to set up and spike the ball one final time with four seconds left in the game. But his final pass, intended for Ira Tripp, wasn’t meant to be — at least not against the Warriors’ defensive call — and Knightdale’s field became the cite of an East Wake festival.

It was upset city from the overdogs. East Wake remained undefeated against the Knights and evened the two teams’ conference records at 3-4.

“There were nights I was pleased and nights I wasn’t,” Knightdale coach Kamelio Johnson said. “Any time you lose more than you win, it’s disapointing, but as for the program, hopefully it’s a building block. We’ll try to use it and hopefully we can look back at this year in years to come and see it as a foundation for eventual consistent success at Knightdale.”

Warrior coach Jimmy Williams said it’s always good to beat Knightdale — even if tiddlywinks is the game.

“We could have won every conference game just about. We were in every game,” Williams said of the four games in which the team lost by an average of 10 points per game. “We kept them out of the playoffs.”

Although a less than desirable outcome, Williams said his team will now have time to get back in the weight room and work things out.

“We’ve had two bad years here. Prior to that, we were a really good team.”

Williams said there’s a lot to be said for playing the best programs in the area, and the team’s schedule for the 2009-10 season is loaded with competetion. The Warriors will open with Jack Britt, Leesville, Millbrook and Wake Forest-Rolesville. Three of the four opening games will be played in Wendell, only traveling to Millbrook to take on the Wildcats.

“We’ll start getting on it,” he said. “We’ve got a young group coming up that plays hard football and has good talent, we’ve just got to see if they can commit to getting us over this hump, win those close games and not surrender.”