Can a turnaround happen this quickly? This suddenly?

Knoch’s varsity football team is making a pretty strong case that it can.

The Knights finished just 1-9 last season, avoiding a winless season by defeating Valley in their last game at Butler’s Art Bernardi Stadium.

At the time, it felt like a feel-good moment, nothing more. First-year head coach Tim Burchett was in tears while conducting a postgame interview with me because it was his first win as a varsity head coach, something he dreamed about since he was a child.

Quarterback Codi Mullen broke the school’s single-season passing record by having a huge game that night as a sophomore. It was all good.

But would it last?

Jake Murphy, a senior tight end on that Knoch team, predicted after that game that it would. In fact, I can still recall his words.

“This team is going to be something else next year. Just wait and see,” Murphy said after the 2022 season finale.

The 2023 season is still young, but it appears that Murphy — now at Slippery Rock University — knew what he was talking about.

Knoch opened the season last week by scoring 45 points against a Hampton program that had shut the Knights out three years in a row. Mullen threw for 395 yards and four touchdowns. Kaden Spencer, Jackson Bauman and Sam Skurka were getting loose on pass patterns and making big catches.

Hampton coach Steve Sciullo said of the Knights’ passing attack: “We coudn’t stop it. Simple as that.”

Burchett has so much confidence in his quarterback’s decision-making on RPOs that he let him throw the ball downfield on a 3rd-and-1 play. A move like that will keep defenses guessing.

Knoch has a linebacking corps that includes Ethan Alwine, Bennett Shaw, Brady Pflugh and Dylan Pinkerton. Those guys attack the ball carrier and defensive backs like Tony Nicolazzo aren’t hesitant to join the play.

The Knights have players who changed positions this season as Burchett and his staff got to know the personnel a little better.

This column was written prior to Friday night’s home game against Indiana, which also started the season 1-0. Knoch honored its athletic Hall of Fame class before the game.

Last year, the Knights were able to play only one home game while learning a new system and adjusting to a new head coach. But they didn’t go winless.

Now Knoch is playing on a new artificial turf field with revived hopes on the field and renewed enthusiasm in the stands.

Apparently, that seemingly innocent win over Valley to conclude last season marked more than just the end of a rough year.

It may have marked the beginning of something much bigger.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle