Another Friday, another game. The Knights have walked away from their Friday night opponent, Berea-Midpark High School with a score of 21-30. With the student section cheering the Knights on, marching band, and cheerleaders; the Knights were able to overcome the Titans. With key players like Israel Petite, Asher Wilson, Ben Chessar, Vince Natali, and Connell Rafferty, the Knights were able to make it out of the game feeling confident for their traditional rivalry against Mayfield High School next week.
The Titans got ahead within the first quarter of the game with a score of 8-0. But, the Knights weren’t going to let that one slide. With 15 seconds left in the first quarter, the Knights came back with a touchdown to end the first quarter. It seemed as if Berea had made some attempt to score; the Knights came right back.
The second quarter was filled with a lot of excitement. The Knights and Titans were both very good defensively and offensively; making both student sections on their tippy-toes. At 7 minutes and 7 seconds remaining in the second quarter, the Knights had gotten a touchdown and had silenced the Titans for a little while. But, the boys weren’t giving up just then. Michael Ebert had rushed 30 years in order to get the Knights their 2nd touchdown of the quarter, the 3rd overall. The second quarter ended with a score of 19-7; which absolutely surprised most fans.
It was time for the most anticipated quarter of a football game, the third quarter. It seems like the most excitement happens after halftime; sometimes momentum has changed for the teams and it keeps fans on their toes. Both the Titans and Knights were quiet for a large majority of the third quarter, with 6 minutes and 4 minutes remaining, Israel Petite completed a pass for the Knights 4th touchdown overall making the game a 15-point deficit, 30-15.
Starting off the fourth quarter, Nordonia was easily blocking and defending with determination to walk out of the game with another win. With a successful punt by Connell Rafferty, the Knights were easily able to see the finish line to walk out of their second game of the regular-season with a win. Within the last 5 minutes and 39 seconds of the game, the Knights had worked to get a touchdown to officially silence the Titans for the night. Within the last 58 seconds of the game, the field goal that the Knights had made had officially ended the game with a final score of 30-21.
I had the privilege to talk to Varsity Coach Jeffrey Fox on the game and what he’s looking forward to going into next week’s game. “I’m just really proud of our effort tonight. It’s a great team win; offense and defense specialty. The way that our offense had come out and ran the football to start the game with some guys leading the way up front. For Rocco DeLorenzo to do that and start the game that way was very great to get the game started,” Fox told NHN. “Our defensive backs did a great job, they have a really good quality receiver that they held in check. Israel Petite, Ryan Atha, Blake Allen, and Vince Natali are the main defensive-backs that really took away their strength. Asher Wilson, Brendan Hermensky, and Vince Hack are being really productive on the defensive front.”
Fox went on to say, “I was very proud of our effort, it wasn’t clean and we could’ve pulled away that game. We are going to continue to get better and we have to hurry. With Mayfield, a traditional rivalry, so we’re going to get back to winning on Monday through Thursday practices.”
The Knights will take on the Mayfield Wildcats at Mayfield High School in Mayfield, OH at 7:00 pm on Friday, September 1st, 2023. This will be the first away game for the regular season.
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