JEFFERSON TWP — Missed opportunities and Indiana freshman quarterback Luke Thomas coming of age resulted in a tough night for the Knoch football team.

The Knights turned the ball over on downs threetimes in the red zone during a 21-12 Greater Allegheny Conference loss to the Little Indians Friday at Knoch Stadium.

Thomas passed for 163 yards and three touchdowns to knock the Knights out of the playoff race.

Knoch coach Mike King didn’t think execution was the problem.

“I thought our guys did a good job,” King said. “We got some in there and we didn’t get some other ones. We have to be able to ‘D’ them up and not give them easy points early on and take what we can get when we get down there. ”

Indiana (2-6, 2-5) lost starting quarterback Jacob Zilinskas during a 35-20 Sept. 18 to Armstrong.

Thomas found success from the first drive. Five plays into the game Thomas found Dylan Stapleton for a 4-yard touchdown with 9 minutes, 25 seconds left in the first quarter.

Following a punt by Knoch, Indiana marched down the field again, moving 80 yards in 12 plays.

Stapleton — who finished with a game-high 93 yards receiving — again capped the drive with a 13-yard touchdown catch, this time on fourth-and-4 to put Indiana ahead 12-0.

Little Indians coach Mark Zilinskas said this is the best game Thomas has played.

“Luke has a great arm for a young kid,” Zilinskas said. “He’s well beyond his years. He’s had a couple of rough weeks to start off with and he’s been getting better every week, but he stepped it up tonight.”

Knoch cut the deficit to 14-6 with 9:23 left before halftime on a 7-yard pass from Jake Herrit to Brennan McTighe.

Indiana scored the most seismic momentum shift after halftime. An onside kick was recovered by Jacob Kovalchick.

“We were looking at it the first couple times and decided to go for it in the second half if they had all their linemen up,” Zilinskas said. “And they did.”

On the next play, Thomas put Indiana ahead 21-6 when he found Ben Snyder on a 48-yard touchdown pass.

Snyder also finished with a game-high 118 yards rushing. King expected the onside kick after halftime.

“I was calling for it,” King said. “I felt like that was the thing to do. They just got in on us. I don’t care if they get the onside kick, you have to ‘d’ them up. ... We gave up too many big plays.”

Ben Lowery, who finished with 93 yards rushing, cut the lead to 21-12 on a 10-yard touchdown run with 4:31 left in the third. After that, Knoch (3-5, 2-5) had drives that advanced to the Indiana 10, 12 and 17 yard lines.

All three ended with turnovers on downs. The last one was inside of 2 minutes remaining.

A halfback pass from Mac Christy to Dylan Plutyk was batted away by Indiana Brayden Lorelli.

Christy led Knoch with 109 yards rushing. The Knights offense and defense weren’t able to convert in big spots. Indiana and its young quarterback took advantage.

“It’s about blocking and tackling,” King said. “It’s as simple as that. We didn’t do it in critical situations and we lost the ball game.”