By RICK SPRUNGER
East Noble took out three years’ worth of frustration on Norwell Friday night and did it to the tune of 49-15.
It was East Noble’s first win over Norwell since 2019.
“Norwell has been a little bit of a bug for us,” said East Noble coach Luke Amstutz amid a grinning, happy bunch of northerners in the center of the field. “We were a little stung last year with what they did to us (45-7) on our field.
His team didn’t hold anything back Friday night.
Just the halftime statistics alone show the extent of this beatdown.
East Noble was in command, 35-7, and had outgained Norwell, 345-31, in total yards while amassing 20 first downs to Norwell’s one.
Of Norwell’s 31 total first-half yards, 25 came on one play and accounted for the Knights’ only first down.
“Embarrassing and awful,” said a somber Norwell coach, Josh Gerber, in clipped tones. “Everything went wrong. We came out flat, we weren’t focused, we weren’t ready to play. And that’s entirely on me. I didn’t have the team ready to play.”
East Noble was all over Norwell right from the get-go.
The Knights scored on their first four possessions while zipping up and down the field on offense and giving the home team nothing on defense.
Three of those touchdowns came in the first quarter, the latter two on a combined total of 11 plays, eight of them for more than 10 yards.
Norwell’s one bright moment in the first half came on an 85-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Garry Riley.
A briefly rejuvenated Norwell team rose up and forced a three-and-out on the previously unstoppable East Noble offense. But whatever momentum the Knights had seemingly grabbed disappeared when three Norwell plays lost two yards, and East Noble turned the ensuing Norwell punt into a 71-yard, 13-play drive and another touchdown on a one-yard run by Dylan Krehl on fourth down with 0:02 left in the half.
Krehl finished with 126 yards on 19 carries and two touchdowns, all but one carry for seven yards coming in that first half.
Up until Friday night, Krehl had only gained 232 yards in five games combined.
“We struggled to run the ball last week against Leo (a 14-7 loss),” said Amstutz later. “We really made the running game a point of emphasis this week, and we wanted to spread it around a little. We played Krehl at running back a little more tonight. He usually just plays linebacker.”
East Noble scored the touchdown that started a running clock late in the third quarter on a one-yard run by Michael Mosley that capped a 54-yard, 12-play drive.
Then, to add insult to injury, the Knights’ Logan Hatton picked off a pass on Norwell’s first play after that and dashed 40 yards into the end zone.
Norwell tacked on one more score midway through the fourth quarter on a 12-yard run by Timothy Bonjour.
Norwell fell to 1-6 on the season and will travel to DeKalb next week.
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EAST NOBLE 49, NORWELL 15
at Norwell High School
East Noble 21 14 14 0 — 49
Norwell 0 7 0 8 —15
FIRST QUARTER
EN—Tyson Reinbold 1 run (Alexander Sprague kick), 9:20.
EN—Landon Swogger 12 pass from Zander Brazel (Sprague kick), 6:27.
EN—Dylan Krehl 11 run (Sprague kick), 3:14.
SECOND QUARTER
EN—Reinbold 3 run (Sprague kick), 6:08.
NOR—Garry Riley 85 kickoff return (Austin DeLeon kick), 5:57.
EN—Krehl 1 run (Sprague kick), 0:02.
THIRD QUARTER
EN—Michael Mosley 1 run (Sprague kick), 4:14.
EN—Logan Hatton 40 interception return (Sprague kick), 2:19.
FOURTH QUARTER
NOR—Timothy Bonjour 11 run (Max Babcock run), 5:00.
TEAM STATISTICS
EN NOR
First Downs 28 6
Rushes-Yards 51-245 17-27
Passing Yards 157 62
Passing (C-A-I) 13-19-0 6-15-2
Penalties-Yards 7-92 2-14
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 1-0
Punts-Average 1-25.0 5-21.0
Time of Possession 30:11 17:49
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing: East Noble-Dylan Krehl 19-126, Tyson Reinbold 17-81, Michael Mosley 7-31, Dallas Plattner 2-10, Zander Brazel 2-10, Riley Biddle 2-(-7), Ian Ramey 1-(-1); Norwell-Timothy Bonjour 10-22, Trey Bodenheimer 5-10, Drew Graft 1-(-5).
Passing: East Noble-Zander Brazel 12-17-0 134, Riley Biddle 1-2-0 23; Norwell-Drew Graft 4-12-2 45, Cayden Cassel 2-3-0 17.
Receiving: East Noble-Landon Swogger 6-56, Keegan Corbin 2-31, Jordan Borders 2-25, Mason Treesh 2-22, Parker Kerr 1-23; Norwell-Cohen Bailey 2-18, Trey Bodenheimer 1-25, Garry Riley 1-15, Timothy Bonjour 1-2, Max Babcock 1-2.
