By RICK SPRUNGER
KENDALLVILLE — Norwell continued its recent dominance of East Noble Friday night.
Firing on all cylinders, the Knights walked away with a surprisingly easy 45-0 win over their Northeast 8 Conference counterparts.
“I was impressed,” said a matter-of-fact East Noble coach Luke Amstutz after the game. “That doesn’t happen to me very often.”
“I didn’t see much to complain about tonight,” said a quiet but proud Norwell coach Josh Gerber. “I’m sure we’ll see some things in the game film to work on.”
There wasn’t much that needed work Friday night.
Once again, Norwell’s defense and special teams were on their game, and East Noble was virtually helpless to do anything about it.
Norwell got off to a bit of a slow start, managing just a 22-yard Austin DeLeon field goal in the first quarter. But once he Knights started rolling downhill, there was no stopping them.
“I thought we got off to a good start,” said Amstutz of his East Noble team that is dominated by underclassmen.
“We got a three-and-out on [Norwell’s] first possession, and got a few first downs on ours. And then, well …”
His voice trailed off.
“They [Norwell] just wear you down.They throw better than we thought they would.They cover receivers better than we thought they would. They just wear you down with their speed, their size, and their strength until eventually something pops.”
That “pop” came midway through the second quarter with Norwell leading,10-0, after a one-yard sneak by quarterback Lleyton Bailey earlier in the period.
On a third-and-6 play from his own 45, Bailey hooked up with a streaking Cade Shelton behind the defense for a 55-yard touchdown pass and a 17-0 spread.
Then, with just over two minutes remaining in the first half, backup quarterback Drew Graft called his own number on third-and-10 and got loose for 62 yards and another touchdown for a 24-0 halftime lead.
“We’re not the kind of team that’s going to score 50 points in a half,” said Gerber later. “We’re just going to keep pounding.”
It’s not as if this first-half beatdown was a matter of East Noble shooting itself in the foot. The Knights from up north had no turnovers and just one penalty in the entire first two periods.
Norwell simply outplayed them in every facet of the game.
The second half opened with another East Noble three-and-out and a 23-yard Luke Graft run that made it 31-0.
And then the defense added two more scores to its growing list in the span of just three snaps of the football.
Stuart McCabe blocked an East Noble punt, and Trey Bodenheimer picked it up and ran it into the end zone from 14 yards out to get the clock running.
Two plays later, East Noble’s Tyson Reinbold fumbled when hit, and McCabe scooped it up and dashed 21 yards for yet another score.
The defense also shut East Noble down on four straight plays after East Noble had a first-and-goal from the 3 in the fourth quarter.
Special teams?
Well, DeLeon kicked off eight times, and East Noble never started from better than its own 21, including once from the 8.
Drew Graft was Norwell’s leading rusher with 111 yards on seven carries.
Luke Graft added 79 yards rushing on 19 carries.
It was Amstutz who offered some unexpected perspective.
“We played NorthWood, which is ranked No. 4 in Class 4A,” said the East Noble coach of an earlier 35-14 loss. “Norwell is better than NorthWood.”
The Knights, now 6-0 on the season, will return to action Friday night when they host DeKalb.
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NORWELL 45, EAST NOBLE 0
Norwell 3 21 21 0 — 45
East Nobel 0 0 0 0 — 0 –
First Quarter
NOR-FG Austin DeLeon 22, 3:28.
Second Quarter
NOR-Lleyton Bailey 1 run (DeLeon kick), 8:59.
NOR-Cade Shelton 55 pass from Bailey (DeLeon kick), 5:28.
NOR-Drew Graft 62 run (DeLeon kick), 2:14.
Third Quarter
NOR-Luke Graft 23 run (DeLeon kick).
NOR-Trey Bodenheimer 14 blocked punt return (DeLeon kick), 6:55.
NOR-Stuart McCabe 21 fumble return (DeLeon kick), 3:43.
Team Statistics NOR EN
First Downs 16 11
Rushes-Yards 32-219 37-72
Yards Passing 133 115
Passing (C-A-I) 6-9-0 9-15-0
Penalties-Yards 2-15 3-30
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 1-1
Punts-Average 1-36.0 5-26.4
Time of Possession 20:46 27:14
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Norwell-Luke Graft 19-79, Drew Graft 7-111, Lleyton Bailey 3-16, Brady Smith 2-5, Jon Colbert 1-10, Trey Bodenheimer 1-(-2). East Noble-Tyson Reinbold 17-72, Zander Brazel 8-(-33), Michael Mosely 5-21, Dylan Krehl 6-12.
Passing: Norwell-Lleyton Bailey 6-9-0 133. East Noble-Zander Brazel 9-15-0 115.
Receiving: Norwell-Cade Shelton 2-80, Trey Bodenheimer 1-21, Luke Graft 1-13, Cohen Bailey 1-12, Kline Neuenschwander 1-7.
