Relatively in the sense that the entire Comets football team played like a family.

And when a family stands together, it can not be denied, and neither were the Comets as they rallied for a 16-14 Greater Neuse River 4A Conference victory over winless Knightdale.

Combining all three aspects - offense, defense and special teams, Clayton kept its playoff hopes alive with its second straight win in improving to 3-7 overall and 2-4 in the GNRC.

The Comets welcome Smithfield-Selma Friday night with a post-season playoff berth awaiting the winner.

For Knightdale, it was another case of close-but no cigar, as the Knights dropped their sixth heart-breaking loss of the season and second in as many weeks.

The Knights fell to West Johnston, 13-12 last week, after holding a 12-7 lead with six minutes to play.

Friday, the Knights seemed to have their first win of the season in hand, following an interception by Aaron Smith of a Matt Reid pass at the Comets 41.

That pick, which came on the heels of a 45-yard touchdown run by Terrance Davis off the right side of the Comets line and gave Knightdale a 14-10 lead, seemed to be the final nail in the Comets coffin.

Smith appeared to carry the ball to pay dirt, only to see the score called back for holding at the Clayton 19-yard line during the return.

At that point, the Comets defense, which had denied Knightdale for most of the evening, came through with a critical four-and-out.

"They came in and made some big plays," Fowler said. "That was big, because when you have speed like we were playing against in Knightdale, it can hurt you at any time - and it had."

Following an encroachment penalty on the Knights, Clayton surrendered a seven-yard gain to Smith, then stuffed Davis for a one yard pickup, setting up third and seven from the Comets 26.

Putting pressure on quarterback quarterback Ben Bolling, the Comets forced consecutive incompletions, giving the ball to the offense for one final push.

Reid put the interception behind him and drove the Comets down the field, hitting Daiquan Thompson for seven yards, and after a three-yard gain by Montrell Sanders, found Sean Wensley on the right flat.

Wensley snatched the ball from the hands of the defender and raced 45 yards down the sideline to the Knights 14 with just over two minutes to play.

The drive almost stalled, following a delay penalty on second down and an incompletion that sailed off the hands of Wensley and Oran Rose.

But the third snap of the series was the charm, as Reid found Matt Crutcher off the left tackle, and Crutcher bulled his way into the end zone for the winning score.

Knightdale had one final shot, moving the ball to its 43 with 50 seconds to play, but four consecutive incompletions sealed the win.

"We could smell it and taste it, but we put ourselves in a bad position with a couple of mental lapses on defense, and they (Comets) got the ball on the doorstep and were able to put it in," Johnson said.

Knightdale got on the scoreboard on its second drive of the night, moving 54 yards in ten plays, culminated by an 18-yard touchdown pass from Bolling to Devin Johnson.

After that, until Davis' run, the Comets defense stymied the Knights offense, with the biggest stop coming late in the third quarter, when Clayton stuffed Davis on third and fourth-and-one from the 35 for no gain.

Stymied in the first quarter, the Comets moved the ball throughout the second quarter, and were rewarded for their efforts with a 12-play, 76-yard scoring drive, with all the yardage coming on the ground, culminated by Montrell Sanders' 12-yard run.

Special teams joined the Comets' cause in the third quarter when a kickoff return gave Clayton good starting field position at the Knights' 48-yard line.

Behind the legs of Sanders and Brad Stanback, the Comets moved to the 24-yard line, where Ryan Benson boomed home a 40-yard field goal for a 10-7 lead that stood until Smith's TD run.