FREEPORT - The early ratings are in. The "Shoop Show" is a hit.

At least it is for the Knoch High football team.

Knights senior quarterback Jordan Shoop was cast as the clear protagonist for Knoch, running, throwing and even intercepting a pass.

His 36-yard touchdown run, in which he sprinted to his left, sidestepped a tackler and scampered down the left sideline, put the Knights ahead with 1:16 remaining in the game. His interception of Freeport quarterback Brian Zimmerman 40 seconds later sealed the 14-7 season-opening victory at Swartz Field Friday night.

"He's the make-it-happen kid," said Knoch coach Mike King.

To Freeport, Shoop was the obvious villain.

Shoop rushed for 97 yards on 19 carries and also completed 8-of-18 passes for 83 yards for the Knights.

"He's a heck of an athlete," said Freeport coach Bill Dillen. "Jordan Shoop is one of the best quarterbacks I've ever faced."

Freeport hemmed him in on several occasions, but Shoop slithered free on others for big chunks of yardage.

It didn't help the Yellowjackets that, after a scoreless first half, Shoop and the Knoch offense played keep-away to perfection.

Shoop directed a 19-play, 76-yard touchdown drive that took 8:54 off the clock to start the third quarter. Alex Whisler culminated the time-consuming drive with a 5-yard scoring run.

"That is a coach's dream drive," King said.

When Freeport finally got the ball on offense after more than an hour of not possessing it in real time, it took just seven seconds for it to score.

Zimmerman hit Josh Schreckengost on a 40-yard touchdown pass off a play-action fake to draw even with the Knights.

In the third quarter, Knoch ran 22 plays to the Yellowjackets' three.

"When you got as many young guys as we have, and you want to look at different people, that makes it tough," Dillen said.

The long drive from Knoch took longtime fans back to the good ol' days of Knoch-Freeport football that featured smash-mouth and in-your-face intensity.

"We kind of made our minds up at halftime that this was going to be like an old Knoch-Freeport kind of game," King said. "A lot of people don't remember what it used to be like, but it was like this."

A strange penalty markoff helped to set up Shoop's touchdown run.

After a disastrous possession in which Freeport lost 22 yards and was forced to punt from its own 7, Knoch was whistled for having 12 men on the field when a Knights player sprinted for the sideline but couldn't get off the field before the snap.

The punt was a poor one, but because of a rule change this off-season, the penalty was marked off from the end of the kick.

It is now considered a post-possession penalty, so there is no option to re-kick.

"It's a new rule," Dillen said. "There's nothing I can do about it. It set them up for a touchdown. I think it stinks, but we needed to execute better."

The win is only the second for Knoch in the series, which Freeport leads 11-2-1.

For King, he hopes the win provides his team with an impetus for the rest of the season.

And he hopes a new star was born in Shoop.

"He's just so dangerous," King said. "I don't think we've ever won down here. I was very happy to see them win a tough game against a good team on the road."