By RYAN WALKER
FORT WAYNE— The Norwell Knights put up its seventh shutout of the season in a 37-0 victory over host Concordia out of the Summit Conference in the sectional semi-final Friday night.
The Knights got things going quickly on its first drive, scoring on a one-yard quarterback sneak by Lleyton Bailey to cap off a 73-yard drive. There were nine plays on the drive, all of which were on the ground with the majority of the carries going senior Luke Graft’s way, who had himself a night.
The Cadets gave the ball right back to the Knights thanks to four penalties resulting in 40 yards and a punt. Norwell would take advantage and score on a 10-yard rushing touchdown from Jon Colbert, who had six of the seven plays alone on the second drive for 44 yards.
Concordia’s third possession ended before it even could begin, losing the ball on its own 26-yard line, setting up for a four-yard score from running back Luke Graft.
The first quarter ended with the ultra fancy jumbotron reading 21-0, already seven more points than the first half against Heritage last week. Head coach Josh Gerber said that his team had a much better week of practice, making the difference against the Cadets compared to the first round of the playoffs.
“I think that we prepared better, and we practiced much better, and I think that makes all the difference in the world,” Gerber said. “We didn’t practice well going into the Heritage week, and it showed, and it took us a little while to get going.”
Norwell had possession of the ball to start the second quarter and was stopped on a third-and-16 play at the Concordia 23-yard line. Austin DeLeon, the soccer and football star for the Knights, came out to leg out a 41-yard kick.
Initially, the kick was tipped by a Cadet defender, but the leg strength of DeLeon still had the ball sailing toward the goalposts and cleared the crossbar with room to spare.
The Cadets, on the ensuing possession, showed a quick sign of life down by 24, completing its second first down of the evening. But on the next play, senior quarterback Eli Mattox lifted a deep 50-50 ball down the right side of the field and into the hands of Cade Shelton for the interception.
Norwell would take the ball down the field on the ground again and finish the drive with a five-yard keeper for Lleyton Bailey, his second of the night.
The fumble and the interception at that point gave a 13-point swing to Norwell, but the defense wasn’t done yet.
On third and nine from the Concordia 21-yard line, the Cadets completed a first-down pass to Maddux Wright, but Stuart McCabe punched the ball free right before Wright could get down. Luke Graft, who had a rushing touchdown earlier in the game, scooped the ball up and took it to the house for 33-yards.
Norwell has won the turnover battle the entire season and has been its opponents’ worst nightmare, but for Gerber it’s a thing of beauty.
“It’s amazing what a turnover can do, and for us to be opportunistic and pick that one up and score with it, and to get one close to our endzone, those things matter, and they add up really fast. They can be demoralizing to a team,” he said.
At halftime, Norwell had a 37-0 lead almost solely based on rushing yards and defense. The three turnovers combined with the 178 rushing yards was exactly what they wanted to do.
“It was definitely our gameplan coming in,” Gerber said. “We saw the film, and we saw the people that they played, and the people they played ran the ball pretty effectively, and that was going to be our goal. The kids embraced the gameplan, we got after it pretty good, and we executed it really, really well.”
With the 37-point deficit, the second half began with a running clock. The Knights traded punts for field position and stalled every Cadet drive for the rest of the game, holding the halftime score to a final score.
Norwell will advance to the sectional championship next week, and since they were on the road for the first two playoff rounds, the Knights get this one at home.
“It’ll be fun,” Gerber said. “It’ll be nice to host one finally. But it doesn’t matter if we don’t prepare well and don’t play well. Either way, that’s got to be our focus. We’ve got to practice well and come out and play well.
Gerber’s squad won the sectional last season and defeating Peru 24-13. This year, they will have to face Yorktown (8-3), wich just went on the road to beat Garrett 22-13.
Gerber admitted that he hasn’t coached against Yorktown, so it’ll be a good film study this week to learn about the unfamiliar opponent.
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NORWELL 37,
CONCORDIA 0
At Concordia
Score By Quarters
Norwell 21 16 0 0 – 37
Concordia 0 0 0 0 – 0
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
N—Lleyton Bailey 1-yard run (Austin DeLeon kick), 8:49
N—Jon Colbert 10-yard run (DeLeon kick), 3:08
N—Luke Graft 10-yard run (DeLeon kick), 2:26
Second Quarter
N—41-yard field goal by DeLeon, 10:53
N—Lleyton Bailey 5-yard run (2-pt attempt no good), 4:59
N—Luke Graft 33-yard fumble recovery (DeLeon kick), 3:53
Third Quarter
No scoring.
Fourth Quarter
No scoring.
Team Statistics
NOR CON
First Downs 17 11
Rushes-Yards 35-204 12-19
Yards Passing 28 172
Passing (C-A-I) 4-5-0 18-36-0
Penalties-Yards 5-55 7-60
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 2-2
Punts-Average 2-41 2-44
Time of Possession 22:40 25:14
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Norwell Luke Graft 13-90, Jon Colbert 8-64, Timothy Bonjour 7-21, Lleyton Bailey 4-19, Trey Bodenheimer 2-6, Drew Graft 1-4. Concordia, Landon Kaschinske 11-14, Eli Mattox 1-5.
Passing: Norwell Lleyton Bailey 4-5-0 28, Concordia Eli Mattox 18-36-1 172.
Receiving: Norwell Cade Shelton 3-29, Luke Graft 1-(minus 1), Concordia Ajani Washington 3-61, Maddux Wright 5-50, Landon Kaschinske 4-30, Wyatt Raney 2-14, Avery Cook 1-5, Henry Scruggs 1-5, Noah Trent 1-4, Khalyn Williams-Thomas 1-3.
