DARLINGTON — The Blackhawk football team showed it could grind out a drive with the best of them.

But it was the Cougars' big-play ability that brought any Knoch momentum to a grinding halt Friday night.

Touchdown runs of 70 yards by Jake Delmonico and 53 yards by Bryan Stefanik highlighted a 20-point second quarter that helped the Cougars to a 37-13 nonconference victory over the Knights at Northwestern Stadium.

Blackhawk (2-0) took the opening kickoff and churned out a 16-play drive that stalled on the Knoch 7-yard line.

Matt Greiner finished off the drive with a 25-yard field goal.

"You've got to be able to (have long drives)," said Blackhawk coach Joe Hamilton. "If you look for just the big plays, you can't count on it. ... We try to be as versatile as we can be.

The Delmonico-Stefanik combo accounted for all five of the Cougars' touchdowns, with Stefanik rolling up 163 yards on 14 carries and scoring twice on the ground. Both caught a scoring pass from quarterback Zack Hayward.

"Both are very good athletes," said Hamilton, who added that both are getting serious looks from colleges. "Bryan's a very strong running back."

Knoch moved the ball from its own 10 to the 49-yard line before Tim McNerney fumbled and Zach Thayer recovered for the Cougars at the Knoch 46.

Five players later, Delmonico pulled in a 7-yard scoring pass from Hayward with 10:44 left in the second quarter.

The Cougars made it 17-0 on their next possession when Delmonico went on his 70-yard romp.

"We missed tackles. That's the name of the game," said Knoch coach Mike King. "I was really disappointed in the tackling in the first half. The second half, it seemed to get better."

The Knights took advantage of the Cougars' first miscue of the game when Stefanik fumbled and Knoch recovered at the Blackhawk 32.

Kevin Brodeur bulled his way up the middle for a 15-yard scoring run to cap the four-play drive and to give the Knights their first points of the season.

Blackhawk's Chuckie Lipp took back the momentum when he ripped off a 22-yard run before Stefanik followed with a 53-yard touchdown run down the right side with 2:20 left before halftime to give the Cougars a 23-6 advantage.

Knoch trimmed the deficit to 10 points in the third quarter after Shane Donnelly recovered another Stefanik fumble at the Blackhawk 33.

McNerney slipped around the right side and scored to make it a 23-13 game

The Knights dodged a huge bullet when Delmonico appeared to take the ensuing kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown.

An illegal use of hands penalty brought the ball back to the Blackhawk 20, but the Cougars went back to their grind-it-out mode.

The squad embarked on an eight-play, 80-yard drive, with the clincher being a 43-yard touchdown pass to Stefanik on a third-and-22 play.

Stefanik caught the pass about 20 yards downfield, shook off a tackle by Mitchell Shaw and raced into the end zone.

Stefanik closed out the scoring with a 29-yard run with 5:47 left in the game.

Despite the loss, King saw plenty of good things in this gamel.

"This is exactly how you get better," said King about his team's tough nonconference schedule. "I have all the respect for Joe and his kids. (Blackhawk's) a great program. It'll be a little tougher for us this year.

"I saw more positives in this loss than other ones we've had,"King added.

Notes: McNerney finished with 84 yards on 19 carries and Brodeur 46 yards on seven attempts to lead the Knights. ... Delmonico added 78 yards on two carries as the Cougars finished with 343 yards rushing.