MCCANDLESS TWP — North Catholic made a serious case for being considered the top football team in Butler County with a 69-10 demolition of Knoch on Friday.

The Trojans took control of the Week 2 game early, with touchdowns on their opening two offensive possessions, and never looked back, opening up a 42-10 lead at halftime and scoring three more touchdowns in the third quarter.

All that prevented the Trojans from hitting the magic number of 70 was a blocked extra point on their final touchdown.

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“We’re just happy with the result that we got, but it’s a week-in, week-out basis,” Trojans head coach Chris Rizzo said. “We’re trying to improve our standard, and when we play to our standard, stuff like this can happen.”

After Knoch opened the game with a three-and-out, North Catholic struck first with a quick four-play, 37-yard drive which ended in a 1-yard touchdown run by Logan Schade. On the Trojans’ next drive, the Knights very nearly pulled off a goal-line stand inside the 5-yard line, but North Catholic’s offense averted disaster when quarterback Joe Felitsky threw a 3-yard touchdown strike to Titus Minarik.

For a brief period in the first quarter, it looked like the Knights were capable of keeping up with North Catholic, as quarterback Max Wiley led the offense on a 13-play touchdown drive which turned out to be their only one of the game. Wiley finished the drive by taking the ball into the end zone himself from 4 yards out.

Whatever momentum the Knights had from that drive was snuffed out immediately. On the Trojans’ next offensive play, Schade scampered for a 57-yard touchdown to put them back up by 14, and they never looked back.

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“There were flashes where we proved we could play with them,” Knoch head coach T.J. Wiley said. “On the defensive side of the ball, we’ve just got to limit the big plays.”

Schade finished the game with 90 yards and two touchdowns on eight carries, while Felitsky was 12 of 18 for 208 yards and five touchdowns.

Even North’s defense got into the act of scoring, with linebacker Nick Franco returning an interception off a Wiley pass for a touchdown in the third quarter.

The Knights’ offense drove frantically for a consolation touchdown in the dying seconds, but a goal-line stand from the North Catholic defense stopped Knoch short.

Altogether, the Trojans were forced to punt only once in the entire game. Only two of their drives failed to end in touchdowns: a punt in the second quarter, and when they ran out the clock to end the game.

Despite the final score, Rizzo believes there are still some aspects the Trojans can improve upon.

“We didn’t tackle as well as we would’ve liked to on special teams and defense,” Rizzo said. “That’s a big point for us, because the teams that go the farthest tackle and block the best, so there’s a lot of things on film that we can get cleaned up.”

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Knoch 7 3 0 0 — 10

North Catholic 21 21 21 6 — 69

First quarter

NC — Logan Schade 1 run (Dylan Shantz kick) 9:35

NC — Titus Minarik 3 pass from Joe Felitsky (Dylan Shantz kick) 5:02

K — Max Wiley 2 run (Austin Friedline kick) 0:31

NC — Logan Schade 57 run (Dylan Shantz kick) 0:09

Second quarter

NC — Logan Schade 11 pass from Joe Felitsky (Dylan Shantz kick), 11:14

NC — Tom Arth 10 pass from Joe Felitsky (Dylan Shantz kick), 8:14

K — Austin Friedline 27 field goal 4:18

NC — Preston Simko 12 pass from Joe Felitsky (Dylan Shantz kick) 0:43

Third quarter

NC — Will Waskiewicz 63 pass from Joe Felitsky (Dylan Shantz kick) 11:07

NC — Nick Franco 60 interception return (Dylan Shantz kick) 8:41

NC — Anthony Greene 43 run (Dylan Shantz kick) 3:35

Fourth quarter

NC — Nate Swisher 60 run (kick blocked) 11:48

Individual statistics

Rushing: Knoch, Carter Beres 8-16, Ethan Rouleau 5-10, Max Wiley 8-3, Roman DiFelice 3-20, Cameron Lang 6-22, Kade Sundle 6-10; North Catholic, Logan Schade 8-90, Nate Swisher 5-82, Anthony Greene 1-43, Preston Simko 1-13, Joe Felitsky 1-10, Evan Giuliani 1-0.

Passing: Knoch, Max Wiley 4-16-100-0, Kade Sundle 0-2-0-0. North Catholic, Joe Felitsky 12-16-208, William Toprani 0-1-0-0.

Receiving: Knoch, Carter Beres 2-71, Roman DiFelice 2-29; North Catholic, Will Waskiewicz 2-70, Tom Arth 4-51, Nate Swisher 1-33, Preston Simko 2-26, Logan Schade 2-15, Reid Rinker 1-13.