Knights football perseveres against tough Cumberland squad
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By Sally McCarthy
On Friday, Sept. 12, the 2-0 Arthur Lovington Atwood Hammond Knights football team faced off against the 2-0 Cumberland Pirates on their home field. Past contests between these two have often produced close games and this one would continue that streak till the end when an interception by Knights’ junior Marcus Otto set up the last score by ALAH’s senior Easton Frederick to give the Knights a 15 point lead with just over a minute left in the game.
ALAH was up 14-7 at half after a 23 yard touchdown run by senior running back Trey Strode in the first quarter and a 50 yard pass between the Hale brothers, Cruz at quarterback and Cash at wide receiver in the second. Extra point kicks by Brayan Martinez, who would be perfect on EPs in the game gave ALAH their 14 points. Cumberland scored in the second to tie the game at 7 on a 23 yard pass from their senior qb Hudson McElravy to senior wide receiver Kade McMechan. Their extra point kick by Landon Finn was also good giving them 7 at the break. Marcus Otto made a huge play with his first of two interceptions at the Knights’ 20 yard line.
The home team extended their lead to 21-7 on their first series of the second half when senior Easton Frederick took the ball in from 15 yards out with 9:48 remaining in the third quarter.
Cumberland had their second turnover of the game in their first second half possession when ALAH junior Elijah VanSyoc recovered a Pirate fumble at the Knights’ 3 yard line.
ALAH took over at their own 5 and would go on a 95 yard drive that would take the game into the fourth quarter. Trey Strode would pick up his second td on a10 yard run to put the red, black, and gold up 28-7 and at the 11:21 mark of the fourth and the home crowd was feeling pretty good!
But the Pirates were not going down without a fight. They scored on their next series on a 1 yard run by McElravy and the EP kick made the score 28-14 with 7:11 left in the game. Cumberland would quickly add another score after blocking a Knight punt. McElravy connected with McMechan again, this time on a 33 yard pass. The ALAH defense stepped up and blocked the extra point kick making the score 28-20 in favor of the Knights.
ALAH took over with 4:05 left and quarterback, Otto hit Frederick with a 37 yard touchdown pass. With the extra point kick the Knights led 35-20 with just 2:41 remaining.
Otto would seal the victory on defense when he got his second pick of the game with 1:06 to go. All the offense had to do then was take a knee a couple of times and ALAH moved to 3-0 on the season.
The Knights will travel to Argenta-Oreana next Friday, September 19 to take on the Bombers who are 1-2 on the season.
Stats from Week 3
vs. Cumberland
OFFENSIVE STATS
Rushing – Easton Frederick, 12 for 70 & 1 TD; Marcus Otto, 5 for 67; Payton Warrior, 5 for 62; Trey Strode, 5 for 38 & 2 TD; Brayden Leech, 3 for 11; Brennon Hutson, 6 for 9;Cruz Hale, 2 for -4
Passing – Marcus Otto, 3 of 4, 88, 1 TD; Cruz Hale, 2 of 3, 76, 1 TD
Receiving – Cash Hale, 2 for 76 & 1 TD….Easton Frederick, 2 for 67 &1 TD; Jayden Parsons, 1 for 21
DEFENSIVE STATS
Tackles – Elijah VanScyoc, 12; Cash Hale, 9; Easton Frederick, 8; Payton Warrior, 8; Brennon Hutson, 8; Josh Taylor, 5;Kamden Morfey, 4; Trey Strode,.Marcus Otto, Brayan Martinez, 3; Jayden Parsons, Donovan Vanausdoll, Kaden Herschberger, Mason Thomas, Brayden Leech, 2; Cruz Hale, Nick Hubster, Edik Arwine, Tristan Keagle, Jonah Burket, Owen Hilton, 1
Tackles for Loss – Easton Frederick, 2; Elijah VanScyoc, Brayden Leech, 1
Pass Break-Ups – Cruz Hale, Elijah VanScyoc, 1
Interceptions – Marcus Otto, 2
Forced Fumbles – Elijah VanScyoc, 1
Fumble Recoveries – Elijah VanScyoc, 1
SPECIAL TEAMS STATS
PATs – Brayan Martinez, 5 for 5
Blocked PATs – Cash Hale, 1
Kick-Offs – Brayan Martinez, 5 for 133
Kick-off Returns – Trey Strode, 2 for 7; Lincoln Scroggins, 1 for 0 (onside recovery); Brayden Leech, 1 for 0 (onside recovery)
Punts – Brayan Martinez, 1 for 37
Punt Returns – Brennon Hutson, 1 for 24