Note to Editor: Covrette Stadium is the correct spelling.
When this season’s football playoffs began, there were six local schools in the competition in three divisions/regions. Last week, Highland, Northmor and East Knox were still in the mix and played quarterfinal matches. In this week of semifinals (Round Three), there is one local school still standing – East Knox, which plays Newark Catholic today for the right to move on to the final.
This week’s game:
Saturday. Nov. 13
Division VII, Region 27 Semifinal
No. 4 East Knox (10-2) vs. No. 1 Newark Catholic (12-1)
Covrette Stadium (Fishburn Family Field) - (Marengo) 7 p.m.
The Bulldogs are 10-2 and were 5-1 in KMAC League play. They are riding a 5-game win streak and have outscored their opponents by a 406-223 margin. They reached the semifinals on a leaping, last-minute reception by Shane Knepp on a pass from Peyton Lester to beat No. 5 Glouster Trimble 35-28. Lester completed 24 of 38 passes for 395 yards and threw for all five of East Knox’s touchdowns. Four of them were caught by Knepp, who leapt higher than his defenders to pull down three of them. Blake Bonham also caught an alley-oop TD.
In the semifinals, they face No. 1-seeded Newark Catholic, 12-1, fresh from a 42-7 victory over No. 8 Caldwell (6-6). The Green Wave took a 35-0 lead into the locker room at halftime and coasted to the win. They scored from long distances all game, including a 60-yard TD run, a 42-yard TD pass and scoring runs of 40, 20 and 34 yards. In the game, Green Wave QB Cole Canter was 6-for-11 passing for 71 yards and a TD, and Mason Hackett rushed 12 times for 107 yards and four scores. They needed only 43 plays to amass 315 yards, while Northridge ran 52 plays for 196 yards.
The Bulldogs’ 406-223 scoring advantage pales to the Green Waves’ 512 points scored and 185 points allowed in one more game played. Both are first-half scoring machines, with East Knox averaging 21 points in the first half and Newark Catholic 28.
Common opponents include Northridge (5-6), beaten by NC 45-14 and by EK 22-8; Utica (1-9), beaten by The Green Wave 48-8 and by EK 37-6; and Danville (4-7), defeated by Newark Catholic 34-16 and by East Knox 35-21.
The Green Wave haven’t lost since Oct. 15 to powerful Heath (10-2), 28-21. Heath takes on Bloom-Carroll (12-0) in a semifinal match, The last Bulldogs loss was to playoff team Northmor (9-3), 24-7, on Oct. 1. Northmor was eliminated in last week’s Div. VI, region 23 quarterfinals by West Jefferson (11-1), 63-13.
The Green Wave are led by quarterback Kanter with 856 yards passing for nine TDs and five INTs and running back Hackett with 714 yards rushing on 93 carries and 13 TDs. The Bulldogs are led by Lester’s 2,428 yards passing with 29 TDs and three INTs, and 245 yards rushing on 79 carries. Cole Delaughder has put up 1,095 yards on 211 carries with 17 TDs for the Bulldogs and has caught 22 passes for 379 yards and five TDs. Knepp has gained 140 yards on 36 carries with eight TDs and has 48 receptions for 874 yards and 13 TDs.
The winner of this week’s matchup will face the winner of the 7th-seed Hannibal River (8-4) vs. No. 3 Shadyside (10-1) semifinal game. The winner of that final match will move on to the State semifinals.
