MANOR TWP — It's hard enough as it is to keep up with a well-oiled, high-flying attack.

To do it when you keep shooting yourself in the foot, though, is downright impossible. That was the case in Knoch's visit to Kittanning Friday evening, resulting in a 49-6 loss to Armstrong.

Knoch fell to 0-2 in conference play and 1-4 overall. Armstrong improved to 1-1, 3-2.

“It's some little things (that need fixed),” Knoch coach Brandon Mowry said. “Offensively, we kind of did whatever we wanted to. We moved the ball and kind of ran it down their face. Then it's just a penalty here, a missed block there. We killed ourselves with fumbles tonight.”

In every one of their' six first-half possessions, they the Knights found themselves in River Hawk territory. Each time, Knoch found a different way not to score.

Starting the game with the ball, the Knights ground game instantly got rolling. Three carries advanced the football 33 yards, to Armstrong's 36-yard line. From there, Keagan Fraser dove on a mishandled snap and the River Hawks' Cherokee Schrecengost busted into the backfield for a sack.

The Knights ended up punting the ball away.

On their next series, Carson Kosecki bobbled another snap, but couldn't beat the hosts' Jaxon Crissman to it. Armstrong's Cadin Olsen, one of the region's premier passers, took advantage of the takeaway five plays later, hitting sophomore Isaiah Brown from four yards out to open the game's scoring.

The Knights' next two marches were halted by a Kosecki interception and a turnover on downs at the Armstrong 24. After the pick, it took only a single play for the River Hawks' Brown to launch a 52-yard score to senior Connor Cigola.

Olsen's touchdown toss to Noah Shuttleworth would open a 21-0 lead at the break.

Still trying to get on the board, Knoch kicker Brendan Tristani came up short on a 47-yard field goal attempt. As time expired in the second quarter, a botched hold thwarted Tristani's second try.

“These guys have to understand that we can do whatever we want,” Mowry said. “We've done it pretty much every game this year. We just have to execute.”

Olsen hooked up with Shuttleworth on a go-route two plays into the half, while the Knights' woes carried over. Knoch fumbled and lost the ball on three consecutive drive-opening rushes in the quarter. Olsen made the Knights pay by throwing for two more scores.

Both teams' reserve signal-callers punched the football in from a yard out in the fourth quarter. The River Hawks' Kyan Kline capped off a six-play, 32-yard drive with 8:05 to go, while Aidan Jones rumbled in for the Knights in the game's final minutes.

Mowry hopes his team can put a crisper effort together in next week's home game with Indiana.

“(Indiana's) got it rolling, putting up a pile of points and a pile of yards,” Mowry said. “We've got to shut it down and we've got to get our ground game rolling. We've shown what we can do. We've shown it week in and week out. It's just finishing and being consistent.”

Knoch 0 0 0 6 — 6

Armstrong 14 7 21 7 — 49

First Quarter

A — Isaiah Brown 4 pass from Cadin Olsen (Hunter Reed kick), 5:12

A — Connor Cigola 52 pass from Brown (Reed kick), 2:02

Second Quarter

A — Noah Shuttleworth 8 pass from Olsen (Ree kick), 8:53

Third Quarter

A — Shuttleworthb51 pass ftrom Olsden (Reed kick), 11:25

A — Shuttleworth 7 pass from Olsen (Reed kick), 9:25

A — Brown 19 pass from Olsen (Reed kick), 6:03

Fourth Quarter

A — Kyan Kline 1 run (Reed kick), 8:05

K — Aidan Jones 1 run (run failed), 3:45

Individual Statistics

Rushing: Knoch, Keagan Fraser 17-70, Exzavier Johnson 6-34, Carson Kosecki 10-23, Sam Skurka 4-17, Devin Whitacere 2-15, Aidan Jones 4-12, Chris Michaux 1-9. Armstrong, Cadin Olsen 4-54, Rex Harmon 3-28, Alex Patton 3-26, Kyan Kline 6-7, Jaxon Crissman 2-4, Owen Barton 1-1, Isaiah Greenia 1-1

Passing: Knoch, Carson Kosecki 1-1-34-0, Keagan Fraser 0-1-0-1. Armstrong, Cadin Olsen 15-22-189-1, Isaiah Brown 1-1-52-0.

Receiving: Knoch, Luke Goodlin 1-34. Armstrong, Connor Cigola 4-98, Noah Shuttleworth 6-73, Isaiah Brown 3-59, Dozick Zablocki 1-9, Jonathan Yancy 1-2.