Little went right for the King’s football team during last week’s season opener against Cascade of Leavenworth.

Four ball carriers combined for eight King’s fumbles in a 27-26 non-conference loss that was decided by a last-second Cascade safety.

Clinging to a one-point lead, the Knights (0-1) ended Cascade’s final drive with Andrew Lutton’s interception at the 1:06 mark of the fourth quarter. But the offense stalled and King’s was forced to punt on fourth down out of its end zone.

The snap was low and the punter’s knee accidentally touched the turf as he crouched to gather the ball, resulting in a game-winning safety for the Kodiaks.

“In spite of all our turnovers, we still had a shot,” Knights coach Jim Shapiro said.

Five of the fumbles came in the first half. The low point was a sloppy, second-quarter stretch that saw the Knights turn over the ball three times in six plays.

Each of Cascade’s four touchdowns were set up by fumble recoveries inside the King’s 30-yard line. The Kodiaks passed for 174 yards and ran for another 117.

“I’ve been coaching for 11 years and I’ve never experienced anything like that. It was unreal,” Shapiro said. “Our guys were running too high, but their defenders did a good job putting their helmets on the ball.”

Victor Quan returned the opening kickoff 87 yards for a score and added touchdown runs of 36, 11 and 21 yards for the Knights. The senior tailback finished with 121 of his team’s 162 rushing yards.

King’s had two more kickoff returns for touchdowns wiped out by blocking infractions in the third quarter. The teams combined for 180 yards in penalties.