Knights Football Finishes Season 9-0

ALAH senior Easton Frederick splits the two Villa Grove defenders to score a touchdown on a 15 yard run in the fourth quarter of the Knights’ game at Villa Grove on October 24. Frederick had two rushing touchdowns and a receiving touchdown in the contest. He had 6 carries for 56 yards and 3 catches for 36 yards. Easton also led the team in tackles with 10. ALAH will be playing a first round IHSA playoff game at home against the Marshall Lions. Game time is 1:00 p.m.

By Sally McCarthy

After a week off due to the forfeit win last week, the Arthur Lovington Atwood Hammond Knights traveled to Villa Grove for the last regular season game on October 24. The Blue Devils gave the Knights a good game but, in the end, ALAH prevailed 49-26.

ALAH kicked off to VG to start the game, but the Devils couldn’t get anything going and turned the ball over on downs with 9 minutes on the clock.

The Knights only series in the first quarter started at their own 33 and with just running plays they moved the ball down the field where Brayden Leech scored on a 9 yard run. The extra point kick by Brayan Martinez was wide left and ALAH led 6-0 with 3:59 left in the first quarter.

The Blue Devils got a nice kick return and began their second series on their own 45. Their drive lasted into the second quarter and at the 11:54 mark quarterback Jackson Gire hit a receiver with an 18 yard touchdown pass. The kick by Sophia Shaw gave the home team a 7-6 lead.

ALAH would score on their next three possessions the defense would force Villa Grove to punt on theirs. The first score by the Knights was a 4 yard run by Payton Warrior, but the two point run was not good making the lead 12-7. The next score by the visitors was a 28 yard pass from quarterback Marcus Otto to Easton Frederick. Trey Strode ran in the two point try to extend the lead to 20-7 with 4:50 remaining in the half. Frederick would add another td on a 7 yard run with 43 seconds left in the half. Strode again got the call for the two point try and it was good to make the score 28-7 in favor of the Knights.

But the home team still had some fight left. Their offense put together a 39 yard drive and with one-tenth of a second left on the clock Gire hit Gavin Taylor with a 19 yard td pass. With Shaw’s kick the Knights’ lead was cut in half to 28-14 at the break.

The third quarter saw two punts by ALAH with one of them being blocked. But the defense stepped up after that and forced the Devils to turn the ball over on downs. The second Knight punt set the home team up at their own 36 where they mounted a drive with 4:55 left in the third quarter that would end with Max Wilson running the ball in from 1 yard out at the 11:37 mark of the fourth. ALAH’s Cash Hale blocked the EP kick and the ALAH lead was down to 28-20.

After a huge kick return of 58 yards by the Knights’ Warrior, ALAH quickly answered with a touchdown of their own on a four play drive when Frederick scored yet again, this time on a 15 yard run. Martinez kicked the extra point and the lead was back up to 35-20.

Villa Grove wasn’t finished yet and would get one more score on another 1 yard run by Wilson. The two point conversion was no good but they had cut the lead to 35-26.

The Knights would add two more scores with quarterback Otto scoring on a 9 yard run with 4:46 left in the game. Knights’ linebacker Brennon Hutson made a huge defensive play on the Devils’ next series when he intercepted a Gire pass. With the ball back, ALAH would pick up their last touchdown on a 1 yard run by Leech. Martinez hit on both extra point kicks giving the red, black, and gold a 49-26 lead with 2:47 left in the game.

The ALAH defense forced a turnover on downs for Villa Grove’s last possession and then just ran out the clock by taking a knee three times.

ALAH with their 9-0 record, will host a first round playoff game. That game will be on Saturday, November 1 at 1:00 p.m. and the opponent will be the Marshall Lions.

ALAH Stats from the week 9 football game at Villa Grove

OFFENSIVE STATS
Rushing – Payton Warrior, 5 for 87 & 1 TD; Marcus Otto, 11 for 84 & 1 TD; Brennon Hutson, 9 for 69; Easton Frederick, 6 for 56 & 2 TD; Trey Strode, 4 for 26; Brayden Leech, 6 for 25 & 2 TD
Passing – Marcus Otto, 6 for 10, 62, 1 TD
Receiving – Easton Frederick, 3 for 36 & 1 TD; Cash Hale, 2 for 19; Jayden Parsons, 1 for 7

DEFENSIVE STATS
Tackles – Easton Frederick, 10; Donovan Vanausdoll, 9; Elijah Van Scyoc, Payton Warrior, Cash Hale, 8; Trey Strode, 7; Kaden Herschberger, Daylon Doggett, 6; Jayden Parsons, 5; Brennon Hutson, Kamden Morfey, 4; Brayden Leech, Josh Taylor, 3; Jase Kingery, 2; Edik Arwine, Jonah Burket, Tristan Keagle, Alex Olivero, Mace Stirrett, 1
Tackles for Loss – Donovan Vanausdoll, Kamden Morfey, 2; Trey Strode, Elijah Van Scyoc, 1
Pass Break-Ups – Cash Hale, 3; Payton Warrior, 2; Elijah Van Scyoc, Easton Frederick, Daylon Doggett, 1
Interceptions – Brennon Hutson, 1
Sacks – Payton Warrior, 1

SPECIAL TEAMS STATS
PATs – Brayan Martinez, 3 for 4
Kick-Offs – Brayan Martinez, 8 for 241
Kick-Off Returns – Payton Warrior, 1 for 58; Trey Strode, 1 for 4
Punts – Brennon Hutson, 1 for 34
Blocked PATs – Cash Hale, 1