By RYAN WALKER
The undefeated, ranked No. 4 Norwell Knights took down the visiting DeKalb Barons 62-14 on its own homecoming night.
The final score did not indicate how the beginning of the game went and even ended in the second half. The Barons entered Friday night with a 2-4 record but came off of an offensive slugfest 56-48 against Huntington North.
After the first half, Norwell had a 27-14 lead. Those 14 points allowed matched the season total combined, as they’ve outscored opposing teams 243-14.
After punts on each of the opening possessions, the Barons took a 12-play, 65-yard drive in for a short rushing touchdown from Caiden Hinkle. DeKalb converted on three third down and long scenarios.
The ensuing drive for the Knights lasted just two plays, one of which was a 69-yard touchdown bomb from senior Lleyton Bailey to junior Trey Bodenheimer.
The next three times out the Barons were stuffed by the Knights’ defense. After a third punt, Bailey connected to Bodenheimer again for 33 yards on the first play, then scored on the next with a 35-yard pass to Kline Neuenschwander.
Another defensive stop for Norwell allowed for kicker Austin DeLeon to make a 22-yard field goal to go up 17-7, appearing to finally take the game away as the No. 4 team in 3A should.
However, DeKalb forced a three and out and got the ball in enemy territory. Quarterback Tegan Irk completed two passes for 40 yards, connecting with receiver Caden Pettis to make it an interesting 17-14 with under three minutes left in the half.
“We knew they had a really good quarterback, and he was capable of making some plays,” head coach Josh Gerber admitted. “We didn’t know how 21 (Donnie Wiley) was going to be, and we didn’t get film on it, and he had been out a little while, and he played really, really well.”
Wiley had six catches for just under 100 yards for the game, helping DeKalb’s Irk throw for 190 yards in the game.
The three-point contest was too close for comfort. Well, for a few minutes at least.
On the first play, after Norwell allowed the touchdown drive, Bailey tossed a deep 61-yard pass from Bailey to Luke Graft.
DeLeon cashed in on another field goal as time expired in the half to make the score 27-14.
Bailey at the half had 263 yards through the air with three touchdowns in a performance that was drawn up by Gerber, saying that the Knights went into the game with the intention to throw the ball more.
“Lleyton played well, probably his best at quarterback, and I was really pleased with how he played,” he said. “We were going to be more intentional about throwing the ball a little bit more, and they were just kind of giving us that. They were daring us to throw it, and we were going to take it.”
The second half was a completely different story, as the Knights put up seven points on each of its four drives in the third quarter, including an 87-yard kick return by Aydan Rusu, who was crowned homecoming king at halftime.
On the other scores, Bailey threw a dot again to Bodenheimer for 61 yards, a Drew Graft 80-yard run, and Brody Bolyn carried one in at the goal-line.
Yes, six-foot, three-inch, 270-pound offensive and defensive lineman Brody Bolyn.
“Well, we wanted to get him one,” Gerber said. “I told him if we get in that goal-to-go situation, we were going to run it, and we ended up getting him into the end zone. Sometimes its just a fun thing to do in practice and keep things lively, but also it is fun seeing these kids get into the end zone.”
The three-star Bowling Green State University commit also led the defense with six and a half tackles and averaged 33 yards per punt on the night.
With the running clock, the fourth quarter ended quickly, with the lone score coming from Drew Ringger for six yards on the ground.
Gerber’s defense allowed no points in the second half, making a clear adjustment to the air strike attack from the Barons switching from zone coverage to a man-coverage.
“They (DeKalb) had a good plan, they executed well, but our kids weathered that storm, adjusted, and we figsured some things out,” he said. “We were able to get a nice win on homecoming night.”
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DeKalb 14, Norwell 62
At Norwell
Score By Quarters
DeKalb 7 7 0 0 – 14
Norwell 7 20 28 7 – 62
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
D—Caiden Hinkle 3-yard run (Neumann kick), 5:36.
N—Lleyton Bailey pass to Trey Bodenheimer for 69 yards, (DeLeon kick) 4:38
Second Quarter
N—Lleyton Bailey pass to Kline Neuenschwander for 35 yards (DeLeon kick) 10:47.
N—Austin DeLeon 22-yard field goal, 5:35.
D—Tegan Irk pass to Caden Pettis for 17 yards (Neumann kick), 2:57.
N—Lleyton Bailey pass to Luke Graft for 61 yards (DeLeon kick) 2:48.
N—Austin DeLeon 31-yard field goal, 0:00.
Third Quarter
N—Aydan Rusu 87-yard kick return (DeLeon kick) 11:48.
N—Lleyton Bailey pass to Trey Bodenheimer for 61 yards (DeLeon kick) 7:31.
N—Brody Bolyn 1-yard run (DeLeon kick) 5:16.
N—Drew Graft 80-yard run (DeLeon kick) 0:00.
Fourth Quarter
N—Drew Ringger 6-yard run (DeLeon kick) 3:30.
Team Statistics
DEK NOR
First Downs 19 16
Rushes-Yards 31-3 25-173
Yards Passing 190 322
Passing (C-A-I) 17-41-1 9-19-0
Penalties-Yards 5-35 8-90
Fumbles-Lost 1-1 1-0
Punts-Average 8-32 2-33
Time of Possession 27:56 19:55
Individual Statistics
Rushing: DeKalb, Caiden Hinkle 22-41, Brady Culler 2-6, Blayde King 1-1, Xavier Bell 1- (minus 4), Tegan Irk 5- (minus 41), Norwell, Drew Graft 4-100, Luke Graft 11-46, Drew Ringger 3-13, Lleyton Bailey 4-8, Jon Colbert 1-3, Stuart McCabe 1-2, Brody Bolyn 1-1.
Passing: DeKalb, Tegan Irk 17-40-1 190, Will Weber 0-1-0 0, Norwell, Lleyton Bailey 9-18-0 322, Drew Graft 0-1-0 0.
Receiving: DeKalb, Donnie Wiley 6-98, Caden Pettis 4-40, Derek Overbay 5-40, Xavier Bell 1-9, Don Mahoney 1-3. Norwell, Trey Bodenheimer 3-163, Luke Graft 4-81, Cade Shelton 1-43, Kline Neuenschwander 1-35.
