HOWARD — The Northmor Golden Knights are one of the youngest teams in the Knox-Morrow Athletic Conference.
They carry just five seniors on their 51-man roster (Fredericktown, for comparison’s sake, has 14). Most of their starters are sophomores and juniors, including first-year quarterback A.J. Bower, who starred at the junior varsity level as a freshman but had thrown just nine varsity passes coming into this season.
This inexperience has proven costly at times. Head coach Scott Armrose is quick to note there have been growing pains. But on Friday night, in a hostile road environment, it was Northmor that appeared the more seasoned ball club – the one that’s been there before, and knows what it takes to win.
The Golden Knights overcame an 11-point first-quarter deficit to dispatch East Knox, 36-23, in a game that may very well serve as a cornerstone for the program’s growth in years to come.
They proved they could come from behind and win a physical, late-season game on the road, ending a two-game slide and preserving the possibility of a home playoff game come late October.
“These guys have no quit in them. They don’t give up,” Armrose said. “You know, we came out and they punched us in the mouth early, and we’re thinking we’re in trouble. And these kids don’t quit. They don’t back down.
“We’ve been like that all year. We’ve been in a lot of close football games. We’ve pulled some ’em off and some of ’em we let go. That’s a young football team, and that’s what happens sometimes. But we’re just tough, we’re physical, and we don’t quit. That’s what I love about these guys.”
The Golden Knights lost senior tailback Max Lower, the KMAC’s Co-Player of the Year last season, to a wrist injury in Week 3. But they didn’t give in. They regrouped, readjusted and continued to fight, and now find themselves in prime contention for a playoff bid with three weeks of regular season football remaining.
They were ranked 10th this week in Division VI Region 23, and are likely to rise following Friday’s hard-earned win.
“It was a typical Morrow County-Knox County rivalry – just a battle, man. It was just very physical. … Two young, physical football teams,” Armrose said of the game. “And somehow we made a couple more plays than they did and pulled it off.”
THE GAME: It wasn’t all peaches and cream for Northmor (5-2, 2-2 KMAC) on Friday night.
In fact, the game’s first 10 minutes seemed to signal a Bulldog blowout win.
East Knox (2-5, 1-3 KMAC) scored on its sixth play from scrimmage – and it did so in style. Freshman quarterback Jax Lester pitched the ball to junior tailback Cole Delaughder, who reared back and launched a missile down the sideline, hitting junior wideout Bracen Davis in-stride and leading to a 68-yard touchdown strike that brought the home crowd at Chet Looney Stadium to life.
A toss from senior wideout Gage Steinmetz to Lester in the corner of the end zone gave East Knox the two-point conversion, making it 8-0 Bulldogs with 6:21 left in the first quarter.
East Knox would strike again after forcing another Northmor punt.
Delaughder took a handoff and burst into the secondary, racing 69 yards up the middle of the field to the Northmor 4-yard-line. Penalties and tackles-for-loss by the Golden Knights forced the Bulldogs into a 25-yard field goal from the left hash, which junior Will Jensen made with ease.
East Knox led 11-0 with 1:40 left in the first quarter.
But Northmor wasn’t done yet. The Golden Knights were ready to fight back, as they’ve done all season.
Bower fired a 36-yard strike to junior wideout Hunter Fulk, moving the ball into Bulldog territory, before finding senior C.J. Stoney over the middle for a 18-yard touchdown completion. Junior tailback Caleb Schnuerer took a direct snap and burst into the end zone for the two-point conversion, making it 11-8 with 27 seconds left in the opening quarter.
The Bulldogs regained momentum midway through the second quarter, marching into Golden Knight territory behind several big Delaughder runs, but an interception flipped the script. Northmor sophomore Cowin Becker picked off a tipped pass near the sideline and raced to the East Knox 46-yard-line, giving the Knights the ball – and the momentum – with 6:37 left until halftime.
Northmor capitalized two plays later. Bower reared back and launched a 34-yard missile to Fulk, whose diving catch in the corner of the end zone set the black-and-gold road bleachers ablaze. An extra point gave Northmor its first lead of the night at 15-11.
That lead held until halftime, and once the third quarter started, Armrose’s club was ready to add to it.
Four straight completions and a keeper from Bower moved Northmor quickly into East Knox territory on its first offensive possession of the half.
Then, three plays later, Bower did it again, finding Fulk in the corner of the end zone for a 17-yard touchdown completion. The sophomore’s scoring strike on fourth-and-five gave Northmor a 22-11 lead with 8:35 left in the third quarter.
An interception by Stoney moments later gave Northmor the ball back. This time, however, Bower and the Knights slowed the tempo, moving methodically down the field behind a series of runs and pinpoint passes.
The play of the drive came on a 46-yard completion from Bower to sophomore Jaxson Wenger, who raced to the Bulldog 25-yard-line and put Northmor in scoring territory. The Golden Knights capitalized seven plays later, scoring on a 10-yard touchdown strike from Bower to sophomore wideout Bo Landin, who won a jump ball in the corner of the end zone and kept his feet in-bounds to finish off the 12-play, 68-yard drive in style.
An extra point gave Northmor a 29-11 lead with 3:48 left in the third quarter.
East Knox didn’t give in. The Bulldogs, facing an 18-point deficit at the start of the quarter, continued to fight, scoring on their first possession of the period.
Steinmetz caught a screen pass and raced 56 yards up the field, eventually being brought down at the Northmor 1-yard-line. Delaughder plunged into the end zone on the next play, narrowing the margin to 29-17 with 9:28 remaining (the two-point conversion failed).
But Northmor had an answer. Bower dropped back, cocked his right arm and launched his fifth and final touchdown pass of the night two plays later – a 65-yard missile to none other than Fulk, who had already caught two scoring passes previously.
The wideout beat his defender on a go-route once again, and Bower timed it up perfectly, dropping the pigskin in Fulk’s outstretched arms as he glided down the sideline and into the end zone.
The point-after kick made it 36-17 Golden Knights with 8:47 left.
East Knox scored once more, on a 7-yard touchdown strike from Lester to Davis in the corner of the end zone with 6:02 remaining. The junior leapt to catch the ball, capping off a nine-play, 76-yard drive that lasted less than three minutes.
But Northmor slammed the door shut on its next defensive possession. Schnuerer recorded the Golden Knights’ third and final interception of the night, picking off a pass over the middle and racing to the East Knox five-yard-line before stepping out-of-bounds with 2:31 remaining.
Northmor turned the ball over on downs after an array of penalties, but East Knox did the same on its final offensive possession of the night, allowing the Golden Knights to run out the clock and come away with the victory.
THE KEYS: Bower was brilliant on Friday night, completing 20 of his 39 passes for 331 yards, five touchdowns and one interception.
The chemistry between the sophomore and his receiving corps was evident – and Armrose said it was earned through months of preparation.
“Nobody works harder than these guys,” the sixth-year head coach said. “I mean, A.J. and his receivers all summer – just how much they like to be together, like to work, and like to practice. They love the seven-on-seven, and you can just see that. You can just see that.”
Fulk had eight catches for 177 yards and three touchdowns for the Golden Knights. Schnuerer had four catches for 36 yards, while Stoney had three catches for 37 yards and a score. Wenger caught the ball twice for 52 yards, while Landin had three catches for 29 yards and a touchdown.
“They’re young, but they don’t play like young guys because they have a lot of experience together and they work really hard at it,” Armrose continued, describing his quarterback and receivers. “What A.J. was able to do tonight with our receivers is an indication of what they’ve done in practice and how hard they work.”
The ground game wasn’t working for Northmor on Friday night. East Knox’s fast, physical defense limited the Golden Knights to just 42 rushing yards on 26 carries.
But Bower was able to make it work through the air. The sophomore led the Golden Knights down the field time and time again – using quality protection up-front, razor-sharp route running on the perimeter, and precision passing to tear the Bulldogs’ defense to shreds.
“He’s come a long way from his freshman year to sophomore year,” Armrose said of Bower. “He’s got a lot of chemistry with some of these other young guys. We had a really good JV team last year and our quarterback graduated, and we knew he would be our quarterback as a sophomore.
“He’s grown so much. We had a really good seven-on-seven season, and since then he’s grown. So we knew if we needed to, in these games, air it out – we knew we had the ability to do it.
“When you have a running game and you’re able to control the clock and move the ball and stay ahead, you don’t have to show it. You don’t have to do it. But we’re struggling to get the running game going right now, and I think the more success we have throwing the ball, the less we’re gonna see in the box and the more that run’s gonna open up for us.”
Northmor has traditionally featured a physical, run-based offense under Armrose. But the Golden Knights have had to open things up this year due to personnel, with Lower hurt and a mix of injuries and inexperience hampering the offensive line.
The Knights now appear to be finding their groove as a pass-first team. East Knox learned this the hard way on Friday night.
“You know, it’s funny because looking at film, at first everybody sees, ‘Oh, Max Lower’s out.’ It’s like, ‘Well, you know, they’re a gun team. They’re gonna run the ball 40 times a game. And oh, they’re not doing that. We’re excited.’ And then we watch their quarterback throw and we’re like, ‘OK, he’s pretty accurate. He’s good on the run,'” East Knox head coach Andy Beatty said.
“I think part of what made (Bower) so dangerous is anytime he’s rolling out, he’s still looking downfield. He’s checking, he does a great job finding that window, and the receivers run great routes. There seems to be a lot of chemistry there, which is surprising for a team that, up until a few weeks ago, really wasn’t a spread, five-wide, gun-slinging team.
“So he was really impressive. He threw the ball in some tight windows. And I mean, our coverage was not bad, his throws were just better.”
Northmor was also able to do just enough defensively to get the win. While East Knox racked up 414 yards of total offense – more than Northmor’s 373 – turnovers and penalties plagued the Bulldogs late.
The Golden Knights picked off three passes, killing potential scoring drives and leading to points on the other end.
“I think once we got a little bit further behind, they were able to change their front. They were able to change their coverage. Before they were in pretty much a straight cover-two, which we don’t mind throwing against, and then when they dropped into more of a cover-four or a cover-three look, the windows change and they get a lot smaller,” Beatty explained.
“I think they knew that we were in a spot where we didn’t have to pass, but it was much more of an urgent situation than before, and so they were able to be fundamentally sound. …
“Hats off to Northmor. Coach Armrose always has his guys fundamentally sound. They’re not blitzing a ton. They’re not doing anything real exotic. They’re just really fundamentally sound, and you saw that tonight where it’s like, they’re in it, they’re gonna make you make the throw in a tight window. And, you know, sometimes it’s hard to hit that window.”
Armrose said Northmor’s ability to pressure Lester – consistently flushing the freshman out of the pocket and making him uncomfortable – led to the interceptions.
“Defensively, we’ve been solid all year. And when you rush the passer like we did pretty well tonight – now, we didn’t have a lot of sacks, but we were in his face a lot – that makes your secondary look a lot better,” Armrose said.
“Now, our secondary, too, are the same guys that are playing receiver. So I mean, they’re the same kind of athletes and they know the passing game well. They read routes well. They’re very coachable and they’re very fundamental back there. They do a great job; they have all year.”
Beatty called Friday East Knox’s “most complete game of the year,” despite the loss.
The Bulldogs threw for 250 yards and ran for 164. Lester threw for 182 yards and Delaughder ran for 149. Five different Bulldogs caught a pass, including Steinmetz, who led the way with nine receptions for 102 yards.
But East Knox simply couldn’t outrun the Golden Knights, who made big play after big play down the stretch.
“It kind of feels like the story of this year, where just little things have not gone our way. You know, a tipped pass that flies up in the air and it’s picked off – just a lot of little stuff like that,” Beatty said.
“I think scheme-wise, we felt like we were able to attack the areas we wanted to attack and move the ball pretty effectively – (we ran) the ball probably as well as we have all year. It was just, sometimes it feels like the ball doesn’t bounce your way. And you know, there were a few penalties that kind of extended a few drives or killed a few drives.
“We’re still a very young – less inexperienced, but still an inexperienced team – and it’s hard to overcome some of that.”
WHAT’S NEXT: Northmor will return home to take on county rival Mount Gilead (4-3, 2-2) next Friday.
The Indians fell to Centerburg (6-1, 4-0), 28-14, at home this week in a key KMAC matchup.
Might Lower return to the Golden Knights – a young, resilient ball club with newfound momentum and playoff hopes – before the season’s end? Armrose wouldn’t rule it out late Friday.
“We hope (he does),” the head coach said. “He’s week-by-week.”
East Knox, meanwhile, will hit the road to take on county rival Fredericktown (4-3, 2-2). The Freddies fell to Loudonville (3-4, 1-3), 38-35, on the road this week.
Beatty said that despite Friday’s loss, he’s proud of his team’s development over the course of the season.
“It just felt like nothing was easy tonight. So it was a good lesson for all of us, that it’s not always gonna be easy. Things aren’t gonna go your way. But you just keep doing it right,” the first-year head coach said.
“That’s the biggest thing I’ve noticed from beginning to end is their improvement in, early on it seemed like little things would happen and kind of unravel us, and we’re just like, ‘Wow, that’s it. We’re done.’ And now it’s like (there’s) a minute-and-a-half left and we’re fighting. We’re bringing it. The guys still believe, ‘Hey, we can score here, get the ball back and score again.’
“So their attitude with that is in a really good spot. You know, for being 2-5, they’re playing like a team that is not hanging their head. They’re playing like a team that’s ready to get after it.”
The Bulldogs will need to “fix the little things” and remain sharp in practice, Beatty said, if they wish to finish strong and break into the playoffs for the fourth straight year.
East Knox was ranked 17th this week in Division VI Region 23, one spot away from qualification.
“I think that’s the biggie, is the effort, the mentality,” Beatty said. “Top-to-bottom, this was probably one of our best weeks of practices we’ve had. The mentality has kind of been the same.
“We have got to fix the little things. … We can’t be lax on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and then expect Friday to not do those little things that maybe we were getting away with. And so, I think for me, that’s gonna be a huge point of emphasis for everybody, top-to-bottom. Nothing is like, ‘Oh, well yeah, in a game he would make that play, or he’d do this.’
“It’s like, ‘Nope. Treat every rep like it’s a game rep.’ Because those little things, man, they turn into really big ones.”
