Knights tame Eagles early in 50-20 win

WOODBINE - A lot of good, a little bit of bad.

That’s how Fremont-Mills coach Jeremy Christiansen would describe his team’s 50-20 season-opening victory over Woodbine Friday in Eight-Man football.

Christiansen saw “lots of good” from his starters, who played just a quarter and a half as the Knights mounted a 43-0 lead, before giving way to the reserves.

“I can’t pinpoint a bad thing that really happened and we put up a lot of points in a short amount of time,” Christiansen said of his starters after the game. “And then when we subbed, things got sketchy at best and we knew that with the young guys coming in there’d be some rough times but our varsity, our top two squads did a very good job tonight.”

With a  steady rain falling at kickoff, the Knights took their opening drive and marched 50 yards in five plays, capped by Spencer Phillips’ rumbling 35 yard touchdown scamper.

Following a Tigers’ three-and-out, Phillips found the end zone again, this time from 40 yards out to give the Knights a 12-0 lead a little over three minutes into the game.

Woodbine would go the air on their ensuing possession and the Knights’ defense would make them pay. Parker Powers picked off a Kevin Lee pass and returned into the Tiger 1-yard line. On the very next play Phillips burst through the line for his third touchdown in four carries.

The Knights blocked a punt for a safety, ground out a five-play, 55-yard scoring drive capped by a Jason Rusten to Sam Phillips touchdown toss and blocked a punt recovered by Spencer Phillips in the end zone to go up 33-0 with 2:14 to go in the opening frame.

Another Knight interception set up its final score of the quarter when Powers raced 67 yards through the Eagle defense for a 40-0 lead with :23 to go in the first quarter.

From there, Christiansen substituted freely and eventually pulled most of his first team midway through the second quarter.

In all,  the  Knights  top  offensive unit scored on plays of 35, 40, 30, 67 and 60 yards. Christiansen credits the play of his offensive line for the quick scoring plays.

“Our offensive line did a great job and I told them at halftime, that maybe the best we’ve blocked as a group in a long time,” he said. “I don’t think our tailbacks were touched until five yards. The offensive line did a great job and we ran the ball really well.”

The Knights’ top defensive unit forced three turnovers, blocked two punts, one for a safety and one for a touchdown, and allowed just  two first downs – both by penalty –  in less than two quarters of work.

“The defense played well,” Christiansen said. “We had a few tweaks we put in this year with personnel packages and such and I think everything worked to our favor.”

The Knights finished the night with 302 yards on just 32 offensive snaps. Spencer Phillips carried four times for 98 yards and scored three touchdowns while leading the Knight defense with nine tackles. Quarterback Jason Rusten threw a touchdown pass and ran for another.