King’s Fork High School’s football team entered Friday night’s playoff game on a four-game losing streak, and fans might have been wondering to where the imposing Bulldog squad that has made a habit of success disappeared.

That team reappeared on Friday, improving King’s Fork’s home playoff record to 3-0 with a 42-36 victory over Smithfield High School.

“We went out and played hard and played with some passion, and that’s what we were looking for,” Bulldogs coach Joe Jones said on Saturday. “We wanted to get back to playing football with heart and desire and passion, and I’m proud of the guys for doing what they did. They played for each other last night.”

The game was not without drama, however, due to a variety of reasons, including the Packers’ explosive offense.

“I thought we played very well and had control of the game for 45 minutes,” Jones said. “It was those last three minutes that got my blood pressure up.”

Leading up to that point, King’s Fork had established a 42-20 advantage after senior feature back Deshaun Wethington scored his fifth touchdown of the game with 9:24 to go.

Later in the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs turned the ball over on a fumble, opening the door for Smithfield to score on a 38-yard touchdown pass. Another pass gave it a two-point conversion and the score was 42-28 with 3:32 remaining.

Then, the Packers executed an onside kick, which Jones said his team did not even touch. The Packers grabbed the ball in stride.

“That’s what got them back in the game the first time we played them was they recovered an onside kick,” Jones said, referring to the Bulldogs’ season opener at Smithfield on Aug. 28.

After the kick recovery on Friday night, a nine-yard touchdown pass and short two-point conversion pass made the score 42-36 with 2:29 to go.

On the ensuing kickoff, Smithfield again executed an onside kick, and again, they recovered the ball.

King’s Fork held the Packers on fourth down, forcing a turnover on downs and seemingly preserving the win.

But in what Jones attributed to bad luck, Wethington, who Jones noted does a great job securing the football, had the ball poked away, giving Smithfield possession at the Bulldogs’ 45-yard line with 1:23 left.

The King’s Fork defense held again, forcing another turnover on downs.

“Ironically, we got scored on twice there quickly in under three minutes, but we also had two big four-down defensive stands to seal the win,” Jones said.

The Bulldogs went up 28-12 on a 55-yard pass completion from senior quarterback Ryan Kluck to senior slotback Kevin Cotton with 1:21 left in the first half, and Jones said a member of his staff wondered if they had scored too soon.

The Packers held the potential to score quickly and claim the momentum going into the break, but the King’s Fork defense stopped them then, as well.

“I’m just so proud of them,” Jones said. “They did a great job making the plays.”

While Smithfield piled up 323 yards and five touchdowns through the air, passing was its only recourse since the Bulldogs limited the Packers ground game to 12 yards.

No. 4 King’s Fork (6-5) travels to play No. 1 Lake Taylor High School (11-0) later this week.