East Knox Bulldogs dominate Conotton Valley, 42- 21
The East Knox Bulldogs dominated play with a balance offense, took a first quarter lead and, after falling behind in the second quarter, went ahead for good five minutes before halftime in their 42-21 victory Friday over the Conotton Valley Rockets.
East Knox had scores from Cole Degauhder (38-yard pass from Peyton Lester) in the first and a 1-yard plunge from Shane Knepp and a 21-yard pass from Lester to Knepp in the second quarter. The second half saw Bulldog scores of Steinmetz from Lester (35 yards) and Lester running from 5 yards out in the third quarter, and a 2-yard run from Knepp in the fourth.
The Bulldogs gained 476 yards in total offense, throwing for 252 yards and rushing for 224 while holding the Rockets to 233 total yards (89 passing and 144 rushing). Significantly, the ‘Dogs scored quickly while making the Rockets work and come up empty, as Conotton controlled the ball for 29:49 and the Bulldogs needed only 18:11 to score 42 points. First downs were 26-18 in favor of East Knox, who converted five of six third-down attempts, while Conotton made good on four of 11 third-down conversions.
Through the air for East Knox, Lester hit on 14 of 22 passes for 252 yards and three touchdowns. Lester’s favorite target for the game was Knepp, who caught six passes for 106 yards. Leading the Bulldogs’ ground game, Carson Steinmetz gained 89 yard on seven carries – he also returned two punts for 26 yards. On defense, Blake Elliott had three solo tackles and 10 assists, and Steinmetz had four solos and three assists.
Danville controls game, but Northmor prevails with big plays, 14-7
The Danville Blue Devils controlled the play most of the way but were held off by the Northmor Golden Knights and two big plays, 14-7, Friday night at Memorial Park.
The Blue Devils ran off 61 plays to 28 by Northmor, gained 288 yards in total offense to the Golden Knights’ 189 and held a time of possession advantage of 31:39 to 16:07, but two long first-half scores by Northmor held up for the Golden Knights’ victory.
Northmor got on the board first with 8:20 remaining in the first quarter on a 48-yard touchdown run by Marcus Cortez. After a missed PAT, Danville got the ball and scored on a 13-yard pass from Walker Weckesser to Kaiden Calopy. The PAT by Sophie Snively gave the Blue Devil a 7-6 lead at the end of the quarter. In the first possession of the second quarter, Max Lower sprinted 71 yards for a long TD run, and a 2-point conversion by Max Lower with 9:04 left in the half put Northmor on top for good, 14-7. The rest of the game was a scoreless battle.
Cortez completed 3 of 4 passes for 22 yards for Northmor and Weckesser was 7 of 15 for 78 for the 'Devils. On the ground, Lower picked up 94 yards on 11 carries and Cortez gained 66 on 6 carries for the Golden Knights, while Danville was led by Payne’s 104 yards on 19 carries and Weckesser’s 73 yards on 18 tries. Trento Ramos caught 2 passes for 18 yards for Northmor, and Kaiden Calopy hauled down 4 aerials for 55 yards for Danville.
