Plum uses rushing and air attacks to Knight the Knoch Knights 39-00 @PlumFootball @KnochFootball

Tagged under: District 7, Game Photos, Gameday Hub, News

David Burnworth | October 17, 2021

For the record, I am using the Knoch roster from a program a nice fan from Knoch let me take a pic of and the plum roster comes from Digital Scout.

My five-game weekend was planned around my first ever trip to Plum High School to watch a team I have had on my must-see list for way too long. Long ago we had a TV Station that gave our area here in Buckeye Lake, Ohio a game of the week from Pennsylvania and Plum was the game of the week enough to make me want to drive there and see them. I highly recommend going there for a game. The crowd on both sides was big, loud, and very much into the game. Due to reserved seating at so many high school stadiums on the home side, I elected to forgo that unneeded problem and elected to grab a fifty-yard-line seat on the Knoch side. Those fans were awesome and so into the game and not once during what became a beatdown did I hear anyone around me bad-mouthing their players or coaching staff, very classy.

Kock would go for it on a fourth and two with 8:13 showing on the first-quarter clock and the Mustangs defense was up to the task, with Shandon Walsh and Domenic Beyer teaming up to stuff Jake Murphy for a short loss. This brought the vocal Plum crowd to their feet and before they could set down Eryck Moore took of like Bo Jackson as he made his way seventy-four-yards to the end zone giving plum the 6-0 lead, with Angelo Baleno making good on his point-after attempt to make this a 7-0 game, with 8:02 left in the opening act.

Knoch would get a find throw by Codi Mullen to Jake Murphy, who made a powerful run after making the catch. The drive ended when Plum squashed another fourth and short attempt. Ten seconds later Moore went forty-one yards showing he was ready to put the team on his back and carry them to the promised land. Moore showed off his receiving skills with a nice catch that moved the ball to the Knights five-yard line. Moore eased in the end zone from there to make this a 13-0 game.

In the second quarter, Moore went off for a thirty-seven-yard run but the Knights defense stiffened from there and held the Mustangs short on a fourth and two call. The Knoch defense was making some big hits in this one but speed especially from Moore would make their night very long.

Sean Franzi would find Darin Nelson, who made a nice run after making the catch to pick up nineteen yards. Franzi throws a very nice ball and on this night all of his receivers ran hard even though they paid for it with the hard hits delivered by the Knights defense. This became a 20-0 game after Moore broke a tackle then went forty-five yards for the score. Moore was injured a short time later and would not return. I watched him running around on the sidelines trying to get loose and he looked good and was smiling on the sidelines. I am 99,9% sure he was held out with the game in hand just as a precaution.

Mullen would get dropped for a five-yard loss by Darian Slaughter as the teams traded tackle for losses, with Nicholas Davis and Gavin McGowan getting to Franzi. The Mustangs used a twenty-four-yard screen pass from Franzi to Darin Nelson to set up a seventeen-yard touchdown pass to Samo Pitts to make this a 26-0 game at the half.

Franzi to Pitts struck again with 10:16 left in the third quarter for a forty-yard with fifteen additional yards added on for roughing the passer pass to set up a three-yard score from Nicholas Odom, who acted like former New England great Sam (Bam) Cunningham as he bullied his way into the end zone.

The plum offense was able to overcome the loss of Morre and use the arm of Franzi to keep control of this one along with a suffocating defense.

Logan Brooks picked off a Mullen pass to set up the last score of the game that came on a sixty-one-yard pass from Franzi to Brooks that gave us a 39-0 score, with 2:17 left in the quarter.

The final saga in this one was all defense with a crushing hit by Exzavier Johnson on Nicolas Sheffo. Then

Logan O’Donnell registered a sack on Mullins caused mainly by a bad snap. The final big play in this one came when Michael Leone laid the wood to Keaton Oprosky resulting in a short loss.

Unofficial Stats

Knights

48 plays

115 Yards

Passing 2-7 1 INT

Mustangs

44 Plays

489 Yards

passing 9-18 2 TD’S