By RYAN WALKER
LEO-CEDARVILLE — It was the third week in a row that the Norwell Knights faced a ranked opponent and the third straight week with a loss.
The Knights (0-3) traveled to No. 7 Leo and fell 55-13 Friday night in what has had a rough start to the 2024 campaign.
Similar to the first two games, the Knights allowed 49 points in the first half and were down 49-13 at the break. The first two halves of football were 35-point deficits.
The Lions (3-0) got rolling after quarterback Greyson Esguerra connected with 4-star tight end recruit and Miami Hurricanes commit Brock Schott for a 54-yard strike. What followed were three straight drives ending with 24 or more yards worth of scores for Leo.
Running back Nathan Foster took a 25-yard carry to the house, and on the ensuing drive, Norwell quarterback Cayden Cassel found the wrong man, Landin Hoeppner, for a 35-yard pick-six.
Then, it was Paul Wood’s turn, thundering a 24-yard rush for a score and poured into a 28-0 lead in the first quarter.
“They’re a good team,” Norwell head coach Josh Gerber said. “They have some explosiveness, and we tried to do some things and take some gambles, and it burned us a little bit.”
Amid Leo’s offensive onslaught, Norwell dropped some bombs.
Cassel read the Lions’ defense and made the perfect throw in the middle of the field to a wide-open Drew Graft, who would not be caught on his way for a 73-yard touchdown catch. It was the first score of the season for the Knights.
“We hit them on a play-action,” Gerber said. “We felt like we could get Drew with (Leo) playing a cover three look. We thought we could get Drew by that alley player, and we could hit him before the safety got over to him. And that’s what we did … Cayden made a nice throw, Drew made a nice route. That’s the stuff we’re capable of doing.”
A few drives into the second quarter later, and Cassel was making yet another correct decision, holding the ball on a read option play and taking it himself for a 44-yard touchdown run.
Unfortunately for Norwell, that was after yet another interception return for a touchdown and a fumble recovery by Leo at the one-yard line. Cassel’s second touchdown narrowed the large margin to a 49-13 lead.
The running clock barred for any more ordinary box score numbers, as the first quarter posted 34 points and the second quarter 28 points.
Gerber admitted that parts of his offense and defense were banged up during the game. With Alex Fojtik out with an injury, he wanted to use Drew Jolley at fullback But Jolley went down with an injury in the middle of the first half, down two players at the position and playing without Garry Riley as well.
“That was tough. That changes your offensive gameplan,” Gerber said. “And then we’re putting some guys in game situations that didn’t get a ton of practice reps. So that’s really hard, and I thought they responded well, I thought they played pretty hard and pretty well.”
Regardless, the Knights saw the most improvement of the season on their offense in the first three weeks. The scores have been lopsided, but the first points were scored and the Knights executed twice on big plays.
Norwell’s opponents have a combined record of 9-0 on the season, and next week, the Knights will play their first opponent with a loss, Bellmont, who is 0-3. The Braves have also lost by nearly 40 points or more in each of their three games.
Gerber is anxious to start preparing for the week in hopes of getting his team on track.
“For what it was, I thought our kids played fairly well,” Gerber said. “I mean, it doesn’t show on the scoreboard, so it’s hard to say that, but we saw growth. We saw guys get better. We saw some things that we don’t like, but we also saw some things that we do. We’ll come back Monday, work hard, and come out. The guys have continued to work hard, they’ve put in the work, and we’ll just continue to keep asking to do that.”
ryan@news-banner.com
LEO 55, NORWELL 13
At Leo
Score By Quarters
Nor. 6 7 0 0 — 13
Leo 28 21 6 0 — 55
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
L—Grayson Esguerra 54-yard pass to Brock Schott (Elijah Lorenc kick), 9:09.
L—Nathan Foster 25-yard run (Lorenc kick), 7:13.
L—Landin Hoeppner 35-yard interception return (Lorenc kick), 6:18.
L—Paul Woods 24-yard run (Lorenc kick), 2:04.
N—Cayden Cassel 73-yard pass to Drew Graft (kick failed), 1:07.
Second Quarter
L—Esguerra 73-yard pass to to Hoeppner (Lorenc kick), 11:49.
L—Bret Sauder 30-yard interception return (Lorenc kick), 11:36.
L—Rashaad Martin 3-yard run (Lorenc kick), 10:32.
N—Cassel 47-yard run (Drew Graft kick), 2:35.
Third Quarter
L—Foster 44-yard run (kick failed), 3:50.
Fourth Quarter
No scoring.
Team Statistics
LEO NOR
First Downs 14 9
Rushes-Yards 31-191 30-122
Yards Passing 164 84
Passing (C-A-I) 5-8-1 3-14-2
Penalties-Yards 7-44 3-12
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 4-2
Punts-Average 3-32 5-33
Time of Possession 15:32 18:21
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Norwell: Adam Mahnensmith 12-38, Cayden Cassel 9-34, E.J. Morgan 3-32, Ben Peterson 2-16, Drew Graft 1-6, Trey Privett 1-3, Drew Jolley 1-0, Max Babcock 1-(-7). Leo: Nathan Foster 4-84, Paul Woods 4-29, Kellan Hulburt 2-24, Landin Hoeppner 2-16, Zealand Zehr 3-14, Kaden Doll 2-10, Alijeh Lindsey 1-9, Rashaad Martin 4-7, Haiyre Sampton 1-4, Titus Stoller 5-2, Foster Swaney 1-0, Grayson Esguerra 2-(-8).
Passing: Norwell: Cayden Cassel 3-14-2 84. Leo: Grayson Esguerra 3-5-0 146. Titus Stoller 2-3-1 18.
Receiving: Norwell: Drew Graft 2-78, Cooper Bunn 1-6. Leo: Brock Schott 2-73, Landin Hoeppner 1-73, Alijeh Lindsey 1-12, Luke Tackwell 1-6.
