The Vegas Knight Hawks won their first home game of the season, 39-33, Sunday afternoon against the Jacksonville Sharks at The Dollar Loan Center.
 
The Vegas Knight Hawks first game against the Jacksonville Sharks began with the opening kick hitting the arena's ceiling, the first in a trend for this game. Ja'Rome Johnson and the VKH offense came up short on 4th down at the Jacksonville 10-yard line on their opening drive. The Sharks' first possession of the game ended with a Bryce Hampton pick from a deflected pass. 
 
On the following drive, after converting on 4th down, Johnson kept the ball on the ground and put the Knight Hawks on the board 7-0. Vegas' defense continues its effort from last week and is not allowing anything on the ground. Jacksonville's final play of the first quarter is a comedy of errors as a fumbled snap is canceled out by an offensive false start.
 
The second quarter began where the first left off. Jacksonville had a touchdown run called back on a false start penalty. On the subsequent play, Jackson Calhoun reminded Sharks QB Conor Blount what color the turf is by recording his first sack of the afternoon. Jacksonville settled for a field goal and cut the Vegas lead to 7-3.
 
The following kick off is sent through the uprights, giving Jacksonville a deuce, and making the score 7-5. After a drive that was full of penalties on both sides, Johnson recorded an 11-yard touchdown pass to Caleb Holley, raising their lead to nine. 
 
Jacksonville's Kamrin Solomon took the following kickoff, which was swallowed up by a horde of Knight Hawks at his own 10-yard line. After starting with poor field position and having to extend plays with his legs, Blount threw his first touchdown pass of the game to Solomon. The Vegas lead was cut to 14-12. 
 
For the second time, the kickoff hit the ceiling and Vegas started their next drive at midfield. The Knight Hawks fought their way down field to the 12-yard line where Taurean Taylor got his first rushing score of the 2024 campaign. 
 
Continuing the trend of unique kickoff results, Kevin Macias squibbed the kickoff of a Jacksonville player's foot, and the ball was recovered by Quentin Randolph. The first half ended with Macias lining up for a chip-shot field goal. The score heading into the break was 24-12 in favor of the home team.
 
With Jacksonville set to take the second-half kick, Macias once again squibbed the ball and after a favorable hop, the ball was downed in the endzone giving Vegas a rouge. This single point made the score 25-12. The Sharks began their drive at their own 15 where Calhoun once again got to Blount. Jacksonville settled for a field goal attempt. The attempt hit the scoreboard and Vegas got back to work on offense.
 
Soon after the Johnson to Holley connection gave the Knight Hawks another touchdown, raising the score to 32-12. Once again, Macias squibbed the kickoff and Jacksonville started on their own 12-yard line. After a long, tedious drive, the Sharks make it all the way to the VKH 1-yard line before the crowd made itself known. The crowd forced two false start penalties before Blount found Solomon in the back of the endzone. The score now read 32-19, Vegas on top.
 
On the last play of the third quarter, Johnson took a late hit on a run and veteran QB Joe Mancuso came in for the Knight Hawks. After a drive for each team that didn't change the score, JAX dropped the Vegas lead to single digits, 32-26. The Knight Hawks offense then took the field with the intent to stop the 14-0 run that the Sharks put together.
 
Following a Mancuso touchdown run that was called back on a penalty, Taylor and his linemen fought their way in for another rushing TD. Vegas put more distance between them and Jacksonville, 39-26. 
 
Jacksonville took the ball right down the field on their next possession. Blount threw a 50-50 ball into the endzone that was initially ruled a touchdown. However, after a challenge by Coach Mike Davis the ruling was overturned. On the following play, Bryce Hampton picked off Blount in the endzone for his second INT of the game.
 
The next drive saw Mancuso fumble the ball on the second play of the drive. The Sharks proceeded to set themselves up for a first and goal from the VKH 4-yard line. After two stops on the goal line, Jacksonville broke through and made the score 39-33 with 49 seconds left in the fourth.
 
Jacksonville's attempted onside kick ended up in the stands setting Vegas up on the Sharks 15-yard line. After three straight runs to kill off the Jacksonville timeouts, Mancuso took a knee to make the Knight Hawks 2-0 on the season.
 
UP NEXT
 
Vegas heads into their first bye week of the season before taking on the San Antonio Gunslingers on Friday, April 12 at 7 p.m. PT at The Stronghold. Tickets are still available here.