Despite being powered by the play of senior running backs Jacob Kelly (20 carries, 103 yards, 2 TDs) and Mike Jensen (14 carries, 88 yards, 1 TD), among others, The Bishop’s School Knights weren’t quite able to get past Francis Parker in suffering a tough 31-23 loss to the Lancers in Coastal League football action last Friday, Oct. 17 at La Jolla’s Gene Edwards Stadium. Bishop’s got on the scoreboard first on the opening possession of the game when Kelly scored on a 2-yard touchdown run to give the Knights an early 7-0 lead with 6:57 left in the first quarter. The Bishop’s drive covered 80 yards and featured a nice 49-yard pass completion to junior tight end-kicker Justin Peabody (2 PATs, 1 FG) from freshman quarterback Joey Moreno (6 of 10, 101 yards, 1 INT). The Knights would come right back and score once again on their second possession of the contest as Peabody converted a 35-yard field goal to boost the Bishop’s bulge to 10-0 with 2:02 remaining in the first period. Runs of 21 and 23 yards by Jensen were key to helping highlight the 61-yard matriculation down the field by the Knights. It turned out that Bishop’s would be in for quite a fight on this night, as Francis Parker answered back on the very next possession. Junior quarterback Deon Randall capped a 78-yard Lancer drive with a 15-yard touchdown run to pull Parker to within 10-7 with 9:59 left in the second quarter. The two battling ballclubs continued to play hard in the second period as they exchanged touchdowns. First, Kelly knifed his way into the end zone from 3 yards out for the Knights. Then, Randall responded by tossing a 28-yard touchdown pass to sophomore wide receiver Roland Jackson to make the score 17-14 in favor of Bishop’s heading into the locker room at halftime. After the intermission, it was more of the same as Randall and senior wide receiver Myles Muagututia (4 catches, 109 yards, 1 TD) took matters into their own hands for the Lancers. Randall reached paydirt on a 19-yard scoring romp in the third quarter and then proceeded to throw a 34-yard touchdown pass to Muagututia in the fourth quarter to put Parker out in front 28-17. With 5:28 remaining in the fourth period, Jensen showed his school pride by jousting the Lancers on a 1-yard touchdown run to trim the margin to 28-23 for the Knights. Unfortunately for Bishop’s, that would be as close as they would get as Francis Parker sophomore Matt Wile (2 PATs, 1 FG) whacked a 33-yard field goal with 1:44 left in the fourth quarter to pretty much seal the victory for the Lancers. “We stuck together the whole way through to the very end,” Jensen said. “We fought and battled hard all game long. We figure the wins will come if we just keep playing hard.” With the win, Francis Parker improves to 5-1 overall and 1-0 in the Coastal League.  Meanwhile, the Knights saw their record fall to 4-3 overall and 0-1 in Coastal League play.