Knights get defensive in 41-6 win

TABOR - Woodbine won the opening coin toss in Tabor Friday.

And that was the end of the first half bright spots for the visitors as Fremont-Mills recorded five quarterback sacks and held the Tigers to six yards rushing while getting out to a 38-0 halftime lead en route to a 41-6 victory.

“Defensively, we played extremely well all around,” said Fremont-Mills coach Jeremy Christiansen after the game. “They had a little pick play that allowed them to get their score but other than that, we played really well and had a lot of guys step up and make plays.”

After forcing a Tigers’ punt on the opening possession, the Knights marched 67 yards in 10 plays to get the game’s first score on a one-yard Mason Vanatta TD plunge. The Knights would miss the extra-point attempt but take the early 6-0 lead.

Another Vanatta TD run and a Jaeger Powers five yard TD run, sandwiched around a Tiger turnover, put the Knights out in front 18-0 and the rout was on with 11:57 to go in the half.

On the ensuing possession, the Tigers would go for it on a fourth-and-three on their own 23 and the Knights would sack quarterback  Wyatt Pryor for a five yards loss. Six plays later, Vanatta connected with Tristan Vanatta for a two-yard TD toss and a 24-0 lead.

A “pick six” interception by the Knights’ Colton Hauschild and a Vanatta scoring toss to Powers extended the lead to 38-0 with less than two minutes to go in the half.

In eight first half possessions, Woodbine, who entered averaging 400 yards and 48 points per game this season, was held to just 60 total yards, including six yards rushing on 16 carries. For the Knights the Tigers finished with 185 total yards, nine of them rushing on 24 carries.

Blake Hurley and Austin Gartner each recorded two sacks apiece for the Knights. Andrew Hontz led the defense  with seven tackles and a sack.

It wasn’t all pretty for Christiansen, especially on offense where his team finished with 359 yards, 219 of it coming on the ground – behind Powers’ 158 yards on 19 carries – but never seemed to get in a rhythm on that side of the ball.

“We struggled offensively, which I know is weird to say when you win by 30 some points but we didn’t only got that field goal in the second half and we played like we just wanted to get out of here,” Christiansen said. “We challenged the guys up front because we need to be able do what we want to in some of those situations.”
Since a Sept. 15 district loss to Sidney, the Knights have out-scored their opponents 192-20 in a four game winning streak.

Christiansen isn’t sure what to attribute his team’s success in their streak to, he just hopes it continues.

“We told the boys when you lose that first district game, you’re in the playoffs the rest of the way because you can’t lose a second one. So they’ve taken that to heart,” he said.

Fremont-Mills could have sewn up the second playoff spots in District 7 with an Exira-EHK victory over C-A-M Friday but the Cougars pulled out a 58-47 victory meaning the Knights will need to win Friday  against C-A-M in Tabor to assure themselves a playoff spot. Kick off is set for 7 p.m.

Scoring Summary
FM 12  26  03  00  41
W   00  00  06  00    6

Game Summary
FM – Mason Vanatta, 1 run (kick no good).
FM – Vanatta, 3 run (kick no good).
FM – Jaeger Powers, 2 run (kick no good).
FM – Vantta to Tristan Vanatta, 2 pass (kick no good).
FM – Colton Hauschild, 60 interception (kick good).
FM – Vanatta to Powers, 27 pass (kick good).
FM – Connor Alley, 28 field goal.