NEW KENSINGTON — Knoch football coach Mike King hadn't thought about the size advantage his squad had against Valley on Friday.

He was more concerned with his game plan and his squad executed it to near perfection.

Ky Kenyon rushed for 156 yards and one touchdown and threw for 97 yards and three more scores as the visiting Knights rolled to a 44-7 Allegheny Conference- opening victory.

The defense was equally up to the task, limiting the Vikings to just 113 total yards, 78 coming on Valley's final drive to avoid the shutout.

“I'm really happy with the way we executed in throwing the ball,” said King. “You have to do that to be successful against some people.

“Ky, for a third-year player, sees the game well. He doesn't panic,” King added.

Kenyon needed only eight carries for his 156 yards, the final tote a 59-yard sprint after breaking free past the line of scrimmage to give the Knights (3-0, 1-0) a 44-0 lead with 58 seconds left in the third quarter.

“Knoch is such a good offensive football team. They have speed and power,” said first-year Valley coach Mark Kaczanowicz, a former coach at Freeport. “We'd get them at second-and-long, but then we'd have a breakdown. We'd have a mental breakdown, not a physical breakdown.

“The effort was there and I was very pleased with that,” Kaczanowicz added.

Andrew Rumburg-Goodlin used a 17-yard run and Kenyon hooked up with Andy Tuzikow on a 45-yarder to give the Knights a 14-0 lead after their first two possessions.

Kenyon would be intercepted in the end zone on Knoch's next possession, but the defense would pick up a safety in the final minute of the first quarter.

Bill Gebhart's 1-yard scoring pass and a Tuzikow 4-yard run, the latter with 5:39 before halftime, opened up a 30-0 halftime advantage.

At the break, the Knights had outgained the Vikings (0-2, 0-1) by a 232-28 margin.

Still, King was impressed with the heart the Vikings showed.

“I thought they packed a punch for the size they had,” King said. “They defended us well. There's a football team over there and I hope they're confident the rest of the year.

“They're a much better team than we faced last year. ... We couldn't do some of the things I thought we could do. They toughened up and we needed that. We needed a team to test our mettle,” King added.

Ben Tackett's 24-yard scoring reception from Kenyon plus Kenyon's long run accounted for the Knights' final touchdowns.

Valley broke through on a five-play, 78-yard drive inside the final minute, highlighted by a 43-yard pass play from Ty Matthews to Von McMillan on a third-and 6. The duo teamed up two plays later for a 32-yard score with 30 seconds to play.

They also combined for 103 of the team's total yards.

Rumburg-Goodlin also churned out 91 yards on 20 carries, working hard for every one of them.

“Andrew has to have a bit of heart this year,” King said. “He had a fullback blocking for him last year. This year, he doesn't. Ky's got that explosiveness. That's why we put in those plays for him.”