Knoch’s Codi Mullen powers toward the end zone during the Knights’ loss to New Castle last month at New Castle High School. Eddie Clancy/Special to the Eagle

KEEGAN BEARD

JEFFERSON TWP — In a TV commercial for NFL Blitz, a 1997 arcade-style video game, then-Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Kordell Stewart enters a cavernous room — dreary, damp and cement-walled.

Seconds later, milk splashes into a metal bowl filled with rusty nuts and bolts, which Stewart shovels into his mouth. Another rugged football player slurps a corroded steel chain like spaghetti, while others bite into circular saw blades and a broken glass bottle.

“Blitz players don’t pump iron,” the gruff narrator says. “They have it for breakfast.”

Knoch’s Codi Mullen would fit right in at such a brute banquet.

Buoying the battered Knights (2-3, 1-0 in Greater Allegheny Conference), the senior do-everything player has shown commendable grit while dealing with bumps and bruises himself.

In place of injured starter Colt Sprankle, Mullen has stepped in at quarterback for Knoch the past two weeks. Mullen accounted for nine touchdowns in that span while also carrying the football 46 times for 249 yards.

After his first contest operating the Knights’ offense this season — a disappointing road loss to New Castle on Sept. 20 — Mullen walked off the field with splotches of sweat and grime on his white uniform. He was so sore the next morning that getting out of bed was a tall task. Basically everything hurt, he said.

“I was like, ‘Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me,’” Mullen said during a break from his team’s practice Monday. “I came into film and I had ice on my ankle, ice on (my) left knee and then ice on my right thigh. I was walking around like a zombie. I couldn’t move.”

“He had more ice than skin, I think,” Knoch coach Tim Burchett said. “I think it was easier to list what wasn’t hurting him than what he had ice on.”

Even then, the film reminded Burchett that Mullen’s 34 totes weren’t enough against the Red Hurricanes, who erased a 12-point deficit with less than four minutes to play.

“Hindsight being 20/20, he probably should’ve ran it 50 times,” Burchett said. “He’s the kid that wants the ball. ... We even tried to get him out a little bit on defense. He would not come out. Everybody has physical toughness if you play football, but it’s just a mental want that very few in this game, anymore in this society have — and Codi has it.”

Mullen punched the ball in three times in the Knights’ conference-opening 42-13 win last week against Indiana. He was still stiff the night before despite stretching consistently throughout the week.

“Senior year, you’ve got to give it your all,” Mullen said. “Every week, you’ve got to give it all because you never know when it’s going to be gone. ... If we want to make the playoffs and (continue) after Halloween, this is where it starts. That’s just what made me push through that first conference game.”

The second comes at home against Mars (2-4, 1-0) Friday night, a matchup that figures to be big in terms of the postseason race. The Planets won 42-14 at West Mifflin last week, snapping a losing streak nearly a month long.

“This game is huge,” Mullen said. “Crosstown rival. ... They call us their little brother.”

Mullen is willing to do whatever it takes to be on top when the final whistle blows — even if it means running the ball another 34 times.

“Definitely,” he said. “This is one of the games (where) I’m definitely willing to do it.”