Knights put Fisher Catholic in checkmate with a 40-14 win


Lancaster, Ohio- Last night I made the drive to Lancaster High School to watch Fairfield Christian Academy battle Lancaster Fisher Catholic. The game turned out to belopsided, and it really seemed like two different games, with Fisher winning the first one and Fairfied Christian Acadeny dominating the second one.

Hudson Harper and Danny Blair got the night started for the Knights defense as they teamed up to get Leo Hampshire for a loss of 6 yards. The Irish offense responded with a 20-yard pass from Grant Keefer to Jayden Morales. Hard-running Gage Armstong (6-1, 239) powered his way to an 11-yard run right up the got of the Knights defense. Bend, not break was what the Knihts defense was able to do when Keefer mishandled the ball and pouncing on it was Asher Rowly, with 7:09 left in the fast-moving opening quarter.

The Knights offense would face fourth and one, and they would elect to go for it, and that decision turned out to be right for them when Blair was able to eek out just enough to move the chains. The drive would end early in the second quarter with no points being scored.

The Irish would open the scoring with a 20-yard touchdown run by Morales and a conversion kick from Nick Sanford with 11:13 left in the half.

Parker Couch would compete a 13-yard pass to TJ Blair to get things started for the Knights. (The pass could have been caught by Eli Herron as both were in the vincinity and the play did take on the opposite side that I was setting on.) Couch would go back to the air fifteen seconds later, hitting Kaleb Debrah. Later on the drive, the Knights would face fourth and two and again elect to go for it. The drive ended on an incomplete pass, with 8:23 left in the half.

Keefer would hook up with Hyde O' Reilley for a 41-yard completion with 7:31 left in the half. The same combo would end the drive with a 15-yard touchdown pass and catch, making this a 14-0 game with 6:29 left on the clock.

Blair would gallop to a 25-yard gain to get things headed in the right direction for the Knights on the ensuing drive. It would take a tricky fake punt play to keep the drive alive with Debrah going right at the heart of the Irish line for a 17-yard pick-up. A 11-yard run by Blair took the ball to the Fisher Catholic eleven. Blair rushed in for the Knights first score from 4 yards out, followed by a conversion kick from Harrison Teal to close the gap to 14-7 with 1:34 left in the half.

The Knights would pick off a Keefer pass when Blair got to the spot where the pass was thrown before the receiver could. A Couch to Blair pass picked up 19 yards. A 34-yard pass from Couch to Herron would set up a 23-yard field goal with no time left on the clock by Teal, making the score 14-10 at the half.

The Knights would need just two plays to take their first lead of the game, with Couch finding Blair for a 58-yard touchdown to make this a 17-14 game with 11:04 left in the third quarter. The Knights only have 22 players on their roster; if they ever get their numbers up, they could be a pain in the sides of any team in their league as well as major in the playoffs, but with so many students finding reasons not to play football, that could be a longtime problem for them.

A fumble by Armstrong was recovered by Rowley, putting the Knights offense back on the field, with 10:19 showing on the clock. The Knights would need eight plays to light up the scoreboard again, with Blair using a spin move and running through a tackle to score from 9 yards out to make this a 24-14 game with 6:10 left in the quarter.

Morales would take the ensuing kick off nealry 60 yards to set up the offense at the Knights 23-yard line. A bad pass by Keefer was easily picked off by Blair, ending the Fisher Catholic drive with 3:38 left in the one-sided quarter. The Irish would end the quarter on a high note when Tommy Moon picked up a screen pass.

Keefer had been injured, placing Jacob Welsh into service, and he was sacked by Matthew Waters on a fourth and two try, giving the Knights the ballback with 11:08 left in the game. The Knights drive would end with another field goal from Teal, this one from 28 yards out, making the score 27-14 with 5:51 left. The drive totaled 60 yards, taking 11 plays.

Welsh would be picked off by Herron with 5:22 left in the game. The Knights would need another fake punt to light up the scoreboard again, with Blair floating a pass to Henry Roberts for the 36-yard score, making this a 34-14 game.

The final score came on a pick six from 23 yards out by Debrah on a pass thrown by Welsh to make the final score 40-14.

My unofficial stats

Knights

62 plays

431 yards

Passing, 12-18 2 TD's 1 Int

Fisher Catholic

39 plays

203 yards (8 in the 2nd half)

Passing, 11-16 1 TD 4 Int's

 Copy and paste the below link to see all of the game pics
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Comments

Anonymous said…
Very good written article. It was very informative.
September 22, 2024 at 9:17 PM
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