Knights finish strong in 39-21 win

TABOR - A week after jumping out to a 20-0 lead only to see it evaporate in a 45-27 loss in the season opener, Fremont-Mills football coach Jeremy Christiansen was a understandably a little nervous when his team built a 20-0 lead against Audubon Friday night in Tabor.

“I looked at the coaches and said, ‘The number 20 again.’ That didn’t work out too well for us last week,” Christiansen said after the game.

But there would be no repeat of last week’s collapse as the Knights scored three fourth quarter touchdowns and dominated defensively in a 39-21 victory.

“We stuck with the game plan,” Christiansen said of his team’s strong finish. “Our game plan was to try and keep the ball on the ground as much  as possible. We wanted to wear on them a bit. Their defense and our penalties got us away from that the second and third quarter and we had to throw the ball morethan we had hoped but we stuck it out.”

The Knights opened their week two game much the same way they did week one: with an early long touchdown by Jaeger Powers. Against the Wheelers, Powers took a handoff from Mason Vanatta on the game’s opening snap and raced 65 yards right up the middle for a touchdown just 11 seconds into the game.

Touchdowns by Vanatta and another by Powers gave F-M its 20-0 lead with just over six minutes to go in the half.
But Audubon would begin to chip away late in the half – thanks to a Ethan Klocke catch and run – and then take the lead in the third quarter.

With starting quarterback Skyler Schultes out following a first quarter injury, the Wheelers’ offense got creative to open the second half. Utilizing a steady mix of passes from backup QB Gavin Smith and power running from Kaiden Smith out of the “wildcat,” they came out after halftime on a 10 play, 55 yard drive to cut the lead to 20-14 on Smith’s five-yard keeper.

After forcing a Knight punt on the ensuing possession, the Wheelers got the ball back and used a Smith 43 yards scamper  to set up his own game –tying TD two plays later. The point-after gave the Audubon their first lead of the game at 21-20 with 4:33 to go in the third quarter.

As much as the Knights struggled in the third quarter – 21 total yards, two punts – the fourth quarter was the polar opposite.

A Wheeler fumble at their own 27 set up the first of the Knights’ three fourth quarter touchdowns when Vanatta raced in from 10 yards out. Fremont-Mills would miss the two-point conversion but lead 26-21 with 10:35 to go.

The lead seemed to energize the Knights defense. They would block a punt on the ensuing possession to set up their offense at the Wheeler one-yard line where Powers would dive in for his third TD of the night.

Trailing 32-21 with just over seven minutes to go forced the short-handed Wheelers to go to their passing game and the Knight defense stiffened. They would hold on a fourth-and seven at the 15 to set up another short TD drive. Seth Malcom’s 17-yard TD run and the point-after put Fremont-Mills safely in the drivers’ season with a 39-21 lead and 5:13 remaining on the clock.

Defensively, the Knights were much sharper in the fourth quarter. After giving up 134 yards and 14 points in the third frame, F-M held Audubon to just 15 total yards on 16 snaps in the fourth.

Christiansen didn’t credit that fourth quarter success to any scheme or alignment adjustments, rather it was a result of just playing harder.

“They took advantage of our zone, no doubt about that and in the third quarter, we were looked a little tired and we’re getting to our gap responsibilities very well,” he said.

The Knights finished with 347 yards of total offense. Vanatta completed 10-of-16 passes for 138 yards and added 55 yards on the ground and two TDs. Powers topped 100 yards to go with his three TDs.

“We clicked tonight,” Christiansen said. “Hopefully we’re back on track.”

The Wheelers finished with 252 total yards of offense.

Scoring Summary
FM  14  06  00  19   39
A    00  07  14  00   21

Game Summary
FM – Jaeger Powers, 65 run (kick good).
FM – Mason Vanatta, 10 run (kick good).
FM – Powers, 5 run (kick good).
A – Gavin Smith to Ethan Klocke, 33 pass (kick good).
A – Kaiden Smith, 5 run (kick good).
A – Kaiden Smith, 7 run (kick good).
FM – Vanatta, 10 run (conversion failed).
FM – Powers, 3 run (conversion failed).
FM  - Seth Malcom, 17 run (kick good).