By RICK SPRUNGER
DECATUR — It was a happy bunch of Norwell Knights that came off the field with their first victory of the season Friday night.
The Knights made the short trip to Decatur and cruised to a 55-0 walk in the park over a hapless and beleaguered Bellmont outfit.
Norwell blitzed the Braves for a 49-0 halftime lead and finished out with a running clock in the second half.
“We’ll never apologize for a win,” said Josh Gerber after the game even though the victory was over a Bellmont team that was losing for the 26th straight time over portions of four seasons and for the 53rd time in 54 games.
The Knights got the job done with two big-play touchdown passes on consecutive snaps of the football, a blocked punt at the Bellmont 12-yard line that set up a third score, and two defensive scores in four plays late in the first half.
“We took what they gave us,” said Gerber of the two big pass plays. “We didn’t think their athletes could cover ours on the edge, so we decided to throw the ball vertically until they changed their defense.”
The first one came late in the first quarter with Norwell already leading, 6-0.
Following a 14-yard touchdown run by Adam Mahnensmith and a Bellmont three-and-out, Norwell took over at its own 49. Quarterback Cayden Cassel immediately went to the air and found Garry Riley for 51 yards.
Riley had to come back to get the football and then zipped right past his defender, who had fallen down.
Then, after four plays and another Bellmont punt, Cassel went right back up top from his own 25 and went to a wide-open Max Babcock, who caught the ball just past midfield and then turned on the jets to pull away from his defender.
Counting Mahnensmith’s run, that made it three Norwell touchdowns in three successive snaps and gave the Knights a 21-0 lead after one quarter.
The Knights were just getting warmed up. But in the second quarter, it was the defense that came up big.
On the third play of the period, Trey Privett raced through the Bellmont line untouched, blocked a punt, and smothered the ball at the 12. Two Mahnensmith runs later, and Norwell was up, 28-0.
The defense shone again on two plays late in the first half.
Brady Smith picked off a Cole Easton pass at the Bellmont 17 and ran it in for one touchdown.
Then, just three plays later, Privett scooped up a fumble at the Bellmont 35 and chugged down the right sideline for the score that made it 49-0.
The fumble in question was the subject of some controversy, as the drop came almost immediately after Bellmont receiver Jason Lykins was hit.
“Actually, we thought it was an incomplete pass,” said Gerber of the play that happened almost immediately in front of him. “Both of the officials on our side of the field, though, said they thought it was a catch and fumble. But in that kind of a game situation (with the score already 42-0), I probably would have called it an incomplete pass.”
There was no whistle, however, and Privett played it through to the end and scored six more Norwell points.
In between the blocked punt and the two defensive scores, there was a more conventional Norwell touchdown.
Ben Peterson’s one-yard push broke the plane and capped an eight-play, 51-yard drive that saw one fourth-down conversion and consecutive carries by Drew Graft for 19 yards and Peterson for 14 that put the ball at the 1.
Norwell’s statistical advantage of a mere 241 yards to Bellmont’s 116 in total first-half offense belied the Knights’ dominance on the scoreboard.
But much of that was due to the extremely short field after the blocked punt and the two defensive scores.
Norwell added 48 more yards in total offense to Bellmont’s 13 in the second half, which was played entirely with a running clock.
The Knights will return to action next week when they play host to New Haven.
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NORWELL 55, BELLMONT 0
at Bellmont
Norwell 21 28 0 6 — 55
Bellmont 0 0 0 0 — 0
First Quarter
N—Adam Mahnensmith 14 run (kick failed), 5:18.
N—Garry Riley 51 pass from Cayden Cassel (Drew Graft kick), 2:59.
N—Max Babcock 75 pass from Cassel (Babcock run), 0:47.
Second Quarter
N—Mahnensmith 3 run (Graft kick), 10:55.
N-—Ben Peterson 1 run (Graft kick), 3:42.
N—Brady Smith 17 interception return (Graft kick), 3:15.
N—Trey Privett 35 fumble return (Graft kick), 2:04.
Third Quarter
No scoring.
Fourth Quarter
N—Kaidyn Inostroza 4 run (kick failed), 8:22.
Team Statistics
NOR BELL
First Downs 15 5
Rushes-Yards 34-148 26-62
Passing Yards 141 67
Passing (C-A-I) 3-4-0 7-17-1
Punts-Average 3-47.0 7-29.0
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 1-1
Penalties-Yards 4-30 3-20
Time of Possession 23:30 24:30
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Norwell: Kaidyn Inostroza 8-19, Ben Peterson 7-34, Adam Mahnensmith 4-26, E.J. Morgan 4-7, Lincoln Moyer 3-18, Drew Graft 2-48, Garry Riley 2-10, Cayden Cassel 2-(-11), Cooper Bunn 1-(-3); Bellmont: Jason Lykins 10-41, Trenton Jackson 7-21, Logan Resendez 3-(-1), Easton Curtis 3-(-7), Oliver Werling 2-0, Daniel Selking 1-8.
Passing: Norwell-Cayden Cassel 3-4-0 141; Bellmont-Easton Curtis 6-14-1 31, Daniel Selking 1-3-0 36.
Receiving: Norwell-Max Babcock 1-75, Garry Riley 1-51, Drew Graft 1-15; Bellmont-Will Franze 4-51, Jason Lykins 2-13, Oliver Werling 1-3.
