By ANDREW FEEBACK
WATERLOO — If the box score told the whole story, Friday night’s game between the Norwell Knights and DeKalb Barons would have likely gone down to the wire.
But mistakes, tough breaks, and turnovers haunted the visiting Knights throughout, and they came out on the losing end of a 49-27 decision.
“It felt like we had some opportunities, but we couldn’t get off the field when we needed to, couldn’t convert when we needed to,” coach Josh Gerber said. “That penalty near the end was pretty costly because we were down two scores at the time.”
Norwell (1-6) could have pointed to a handful of plays that were just indicative of how this game went.
The Knights punted on their first two series without picking up a first down.
The Barons (4-3) scored touchdowns on their first two possessions, with quarterback Aaden Lytle and running back Caiden Hinkle each scoring from one yard out.
Norwell reached the one-yard-line as the first quarter ended, then had a touchdown run called back on a holding penalty. The drive ended with a missed field goal.
Six plays later for the Barons, Lytle threw a dart over the middle to Caden Pettis for a 60-yard strike to make it 21-0.
Drew Graft’s 10-yard scramble got the Knights on the board midway through the second, only to have the PAT hit the upright.
Although Norwell rarely had momentum in this game, the Knights got a huge boost when Trace Moser intercepted a deep pass from Lytle and returned it about 55 yards. Three straight plays resulted in double-digit gains, and suddenly, the Knights had a first and goal with the half winding down.
They got to the one-yard-line again before fumbling a snap into the end zone.
“Not everyone was on the same page,” Gerber said. “That probably should have been seven more (points) for us.”
Lytle got loose for a 34-yard touchdown run to put the Barons up 28-6 in the third.
Norwell quickly answered with a touchdown run from Timothy Bonjour.
DeKalb widened its lead to 35-13 when Lytle threw deep on third and 11, and Xavier Bell managed to get under it for a 72-yard score.
Bonjour’s second touchdown run brought Norwell within 35-19. The Knights faked an extra-point try, but the conversion pass was short of the goal line.
Lytle threw another touchdown pass to Bell from 17 yards out to push the lead back to three scores.
A third touchdown run from Bonjour and a successful two-point pass ended the scoring for the visitors.
The penalty Gerber referenced earlier came with Norwell trailing 42-27 but with the ball and just under five minutes left. Graft completed a pass to Moser for a gain of about 60 yards that was called back on a holding penalty.
The Knights fumbled it back to the Barons on the next play.
DeKalb got one more touchdown from Lytle from 27 yards for the game’s final points.
Norwell had three more first downs, a slight edge in time of possession, only nine fewer passing yards, and one less completion. Each team ran the ball 39 times, punted three times, and had one interception.
But despite the box score appearing to be relatively even, it never really felt like the Knights were in the game.
“We felt like we got better this week. It just wasn’t enough tonight,” Gerber said.
Norwell will host Huntington North on Friday night.
sports@news-banner.com
DEKALB 49, NORWELL 27
At DeKalb
Score By Quarters
Norwell 0 6 7 14 – 27
DeKalb 14 7 14 14 – 49
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
D—Aaden Lytle 1 run (Carter Neumann kick), 7:58.
D—Caiden Hinkle 1 run (Neumann kick), 3:23.
Second Quarter
D—Caden Pettis 60 pass from Lytle (Neumann kick), 8:48.
N—Drew Graft 1 run (kick failed), 6:28.
Third Quarter
D—Lytle 34 run (Neumann kick), 10:02.
N—Timothy Bonjour 4 run (Austin DeLeon kick), 7:54.
D—Xavier Bell 72 pass from Lytle (Neumann kick), 0:05.
Fourth Quarter
N—Bonjour 2 run (pass failed), 10:10.
D—Bell 17 pass from Lytle (Neumann kick), 8:25.
N—Bonjour 1 run (2-point pass good), 6:16.
D—Lytle 27 run (Neumann kick), 2:14.
Team Statistics
NOR DEK
First Downs 19 16
Rushes-Yards 39-133 39-217
Yards Passing 232 243
Passing (Comp-Att-Int) 12-20-1 13-25-1
Penalties-Yards 6-50 4-45
Fumbles-Lost 3-2 0-0
Punts-Average 3-30 3-33
Time of Possession 24:41 23:19
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Norwell, Drew Graft 9-17, Cayden Cassel 1-10, Trey Bodenheimer 8-33, Quentauris Jones 4-14, Drew Jolley 3-0, Cohen Bailey 1-16, Timothy Bonjour 13-42. DeKalb, Aaden Lytle 20-153, Caiden Hinkle 17-63, Blayde King 1-0, Xavier Bell 1-1.
Passing: Norwell, Graft 12-20-1-232. DeKalb, Lytle 13-25-1-243.
Receiving: Norwell, Jones 1-0, Bodenheimer 3-23, Bailey 7-168, Trace Moser 1-41. DeKalb, Bell 7-115, 3-104, King 1-16, Caiden Schmidt 1-9.
