JEFFERSON TWP — Forget about football.

This was all about Alex.

Ky Kenyon threw three touchdown passes and scored on a 3-yard run Friday night as Knoch (10-0) used big plays to post a 28-7 first-round WPIAL Class AAA playoff victory over West Allegheny at Knoch Stadium.

All of that was quickly shoved to the background in lieu of a stirring postgame gathering to honor the memory of Knights senior cheerleader Alex Summers, who died in an automobile accident Tuesday night.

Her funeral was Friday morning. Her school played a football game hours later.

“This is just raw emotion,” Knoch coach Mike King said of the postgame activities.

The band played Amazing Grace on the field. Knoch football players and cheerleaders released blue balloons into the air. For minutes afterward, the packed stadium stood silent as the players and cheerleaders held their fingers in the air, pointed skyward.

Andrew Rumburg-Goodlin, Summers' boyfriend, rushed for 110 yards and was presented the game ball. He continually held it in the air well after the balloons disappeared from view.

“I don't know what I'm going to do with this ball yet,” Rumburg-Goodlin said. “But I know I'm keeping it for the rest of my life.

“Alex told me she wanted to cheer at Heinz Field. Now we're trying to get her there. We're playing for someone now. ... We're going to be tough.

“This scene just shows something I already knew ... she touched so many people. She had an influence on all of us. Alex was incredible,” he added.

Rumburg-Goodlin led his team onto the field before the game, raising his hands and pointing upward before crashing through the school-spirit sign made by the cheerleaders.

Knoch will face Thomas Jefferson — a 34-28 overtime winner against Greensburg Salem Friday night — in the second round.

“These playoffs are everything to us right now, as a community,” King said. “But the Knoch family supports the Summers family right now, first and foremost.”

Kenyon's touchdown run was Knoch's final score of the night. Rumburg-Goodlin gained 2 yards to the Indians' 3-yard line the play before.

“I wanted Rummy to score. I went over to the sideline and called that play for him,” Kenyon said. “But it didn't matter who scored the touchdowns. We're a team. They belong to everybody.”

West Allegheny (5-5) scored on the game's first possession as as a 51-yard run by Tony Delmonico set up Dylan Bongiorni's 1-yard plunge less than 2 minutes into the contest.

The Indians struggled to gain field position the rest of the night. Knoch punter Dakota Bruggeman pinned the ball at the West Allegheny 1-yard line and the Indians had the only two turnovers of the night.

“One word I've used to describe these kids all year is resolve,” King said. “They never, ever panic. They know how to persevere.

“That's what they did all of this week: Persevere. I've never been prouder of a group of young men and I've been around here a long, long time.”

A Luke Kroneberg hit forced a fumble that was recovered by Andy Tuzikow at the Indians' 12-yard line late in the first quarter. Knoch appeared to settle for a 33-yard Kory Wood field goal, but West Allegheny roughed the kicker on the play.

Mac Megahan caught an 8-yard TD pass three plays later and the game was tied.

Bruggeman caught a 36-yard touchdown pass with 3:30 left in the half, giving the Knights the lead they never lost.

“They had single coverage on me and Ky threw it up there,”Bruggeman said. “All I knew was I had to come down with it.”

Ben Tackett caught a 33-yard touchdown pass with 7:52 left in the game, two plays after Jason Abel and Rumburg-Goodlin combined to stop a fake punt attempt short of the first down.

Tackett returned an interception 66 yards to set up Kenyon's score with 3:48 remaining.

“Rummy's been like a big brother to me since I've been here,” Tackett said. “When we saw him hurting, we were all hurting. We all love him and he loves all of us.

“Losing wasn't an option tonight. It just wasn't.”

Rumburg-Goodlin sprained an ankle last week and original plans were to hold him out of this game. Then the accident happened.

“Andrew is a warrior,” King said. “That kid has been through so much this week, emotionally and physically.”

But he wasn't going to be kept off the field on this night.

“I had to play. I know Alex wanted me to play football tonight,” Rumburg-Goodlin said. “I told Coach King. He looked at me and said, ‘You're in.'”

West Allegheny High School sent a bouquet of flowers to the Summers family and the team's cheerleaders presented single flowers to each Knoch cheerleader at halftime.

“We had to pay our respects,” West Allegheny coach Bob Palko said. “This wasn't about football tonight. We all went out on the field and did what we had to do.

“A family lost a daughter. A school lost a child. This community is hurting and to see it come together like this tonight ... if we can't appreciate and admire this, then we just don't get it.”

The game's statistics were virtually even — except on the scoreboard.

“We couldn't get field position and we turned the ball over,” Palko said. “Those two things will beat you.

“If the worst thing that happens in our kids' lives is losing a football game, I think we'll be OK. What those (Knoch) kids went through and the way they responded tonight, I salute them.”

He's not alone.

“Our kids have been coached well at home,” King said. “They're willing to follow leadership, they're resilient and they're carrying on. That's what you saw tonight.”