Last yearGreenon’s football squad went to St. Paris for Graham’s homecoming game and suffered a loss, owing almost completely to the efforts of the now-departed Nick Van Hoose, who scored four touchdowns, picked off a pass, and was also named homecoming king in the 36-22 Falcon victory.  Friday night the Knights faced Graham for their own homecoming and got their revenge with a dominant 38-6 win.  The teams share identical records at 2-5 and 1-1 in the Mad River division of the CBC, but there was no doubt about the better team.

Tyler Steiner set the tone right away with a 39- yard punt return after Graham went three and out.  Starting from the Graham 18, four running plays sandwiched around a connection between Josh Pilcher and Steiner got the Knights into the end zone.  Sebastian Connor went in from the one for a quick 7-0 lead.    The Greenon defensive unit, led by Kyle DeVore and Josh Bannick, spent all night in QB Luke Black’s face.  The Falcons covered the second punt better than they had the first, but it didn’t hinder the Knights. On fourth down and five, Pilcher took a delay of game penalty that served as a decoy.  Once lined up to punt, he hit a wide open Connor for 25 yards to save the drive.  Another big gain by Conner set the Knights in close, where Bannick came in for his trademark hard running.  He scored the first of his three touchdowns, and the quarter still held five minutes.

It wasn’t all perfect.  Another Black punt hit Steiner’s foot.  It was recovered by Graham, who covered the nine yards in three plays for their only score of the night on a four- yard run by Ben Meyers.  The Knights have sometimes faltered at changes in momentum, but this time they struck back right away.  Pilcher, who had by far his best game of the season, escaped a sack for a huge gain that put Bannick in range for another pile driving end zone run and a 21-6 lead.   When the Falcons dropped a fair catch on the next series, Anthony Colletti recovered it and took it back to the seven yard line.  Bannick wrestled three defenders into the end zone with him as the half waned.  He partially blocked another punt, but the offense finally stalled.

On the second series of the third period, the Knights lined up at their own 23 with Bannick in the backfield.  The ruse worked, as Pilcher hit Storck, who shook off two tackles at the line and raced 77 yards down the right sideline to extend the lead to 35-6.  Pilcher would later add a 31- yard field goal to ice the Knights’ homecoming cake.  Coach Jewell substituted freely after that.  Zach Restau looks to have to zip in his arm.  If he turns out to be the one to step into Pilcher’s spot next year, the Knights will be in good shape.    

The coach said that his defense was unreal.  Anthony Colletti, Marquis Gordon, and Colyn Norton played well behind the linemen, and although Graham did rush for 118 yards, it was due to being unable to get anything through the air.  Jewell said, “We were a little disappointed that we didn’t get the shutout, but everyone from the freshmen on up to the seniors played really well.  The freshmen do the dirty work in practice, and it really paid off this week.”  Asked about the homecoming effect, Jewell said, “We told the kids all week that the main part of homecoming was the football game, and we had a great week of preparation.”  This week the Knights will face Indian Lake at home.  The Lakers had their way with winless Northwestern on Friday, but the Knights are a different challenge.

Greenon vs. Graham

01/15 

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