In a preseason game plagued by penalties and sloppy play, the North Fort Myers Red Knights defeated the Port Charlotte Pirates 18-7 at Moody Field Friday night.

The game started out with a bang when North’s Terrell Neal took the first play from scrimmage 80 yards for a touchdown. The play by both teams was less than stellar, and the first quarter dragged on for 45 minutes, due to an injury to the Pirates’ Jarrod Murry, several penalties and incomplete passes. There were few turnovers, but plenty of dropped passes.

Port Charlotte had its own bright spot late in the quarter. Bolstered by a 56-yard run by Evan Banks, the Pirates scored when Robert Kubond hit Chase Russell from 12 yards out. With the point-after, the Pirates took their only lead at 7-6.

North scored the only touchdown in the second quarter when Brandon Makar found Shawn Byrd open on the right side, and Byrd fought his way into the end zone.

As an indication of how ugly the game was, each team had more penalties than first downs. Drive after drive by both teams was stymied by mental mistakes and penalty flags.

“An ugly win is better than an ugly loss any day.” said North coach Barry Goettemoeller. “We know that this game doesn’t count in the standings, but we want to ride the momentum of this win into the regular season.”

One of the key plays in the game came with under four minutes left in the fourth quarter and North leading 12-7. The Pirates had just called timeout with hopes of stopping the Knights and getting the ball back for a last drive. North was third-and-13 at their 45.

Makar dropped back to pass and hit Brian Byrd on the run. He took the ball all the way to the Pirates’ 4. Another penalty at the end of the play put the ball at the 2. Makar ran it in from there on the next play. With 3:08 to go, the Knights had an insurmountable 18-7 lead.

Goettemoeller was especially pleased with the way his team held together late.

“We have lost a lot of games late in recent years,” said Goettemoeller. “The leadership and chemistry that has been built through the summer showed tonight. The players deserve all the credit.”

The regular season starts for the Red Knights next Friday when they host Cape Coral.

“We have to work on our mistakes,” Goettemoeller said.”When they are aggressive mistakes, we can deal with that. We have to work on mental mistakes.”

Port Charlotte 7 0 0 0 – 7

North FM 6 6 0 6 – 18

First Quarter

NFM – Terrell Neal 80 run (kick blocked)

PC – Chase Russell 12 pass from Robert Kubond (Brion Ashley kick)

Second Quarter

NFM – Shawn Byrd 21 pass from Brandon Makar (Pass failed)

Fourth Quarter

NFM – Makar 2 run (kick failed)