JEFFERSON TWP — Knoch coach Mike King heard it all week and he had just about enough of it.

The Knoch football team was in over its head. Knoch was underachieving. Knoch was in for a long year.

All that came after a drubbing at the hands of Montour. The Knoch coach and his players wanted to prove everyone wrong.

"I couldn't really stand to listen to any more naysayers or pessimists all week long," King said. "As a coach, you just chomp and bite the bullet and you come back and practice hard."

It worked. The Knights punted only once, held Ringgold to 99 yards of offense and no first downs in the second half as they rolled to a 34-0 win in their home opener Friday night.

Suddenly the pundits who already had shoveled dirt over the Knights are silent.

"I'm real happy for the kids," King said.

Alex Whisler set the tone early for Knoch, intercepting a pass by Ringgold quarterback Jordan Fowler on the game's second play and returned it to the Rams' 9. Two plays later, fullback JustinMcGowan powered in from the 5 to give Knoch a 6-0 lead.

Whisler then took over, scoring on touchdown runs of 2 and 7 yards to give the Knights a 20-0 lead at the half.

"I'm not going to lie to you. Last week was embarrassing," Whisler said. "People were saying stuff about us all week. Coach came back on Monday and worked us and worked us hard, and we came out tonight and showed everyone what we are all about."

Whisler added his third touchdown run, this one from 4 yards out in the third quarter, and quarterback ZachGross capped the scoring with a 1-yard sneak to finish off the rout.

Whisler finished with 125 yards on 17 carries. McGowan added 82 yards on just 12 attempts as Knoch rolled up 328 yards on the ground against Ringgold.

As good as the offense was against the Rams, the defense might have been even better.

Ringgold's short passing game, well, came up way short. Fowler completed 9-of-18 passes, but for just 34 yards.

The ground game wasn't much better for the Rams, who gained only 65 rushing yards. Kyle Fisher-Law led Ringgold with 35 yards on 15 carries.

Knoch's defense was particularly stifling in the second half, holdingRinggold to a mere 10 offensive plays for eight yards.

"I don't know when the last time Knoch had a shutout," King said.

Ringgold coach Steve Campos had little to say about the loss.

"We got our (butt) kicked," he said. "We haven't played with emotion and we can't overcome adversity. Until we can do that, we'll come out on the short end of the stick."

At the end of the game, King stood in the middle of a sea of Knoch players and bellowed, "Soak up the night. It's your night, not mine."

King also hopes his team can look back at this night as a turning point in the season.

"What it does is it builds confidence in young football players," King said. "It lets them look around the field and say, 'You know, I can play this game.'"