South Fayette rolls over Knoch, 35-14
JEFFERSON TWP — Knoch dominated the first quarter, possessing the ball for 10:38 of the first 12 minutes, but South Fayette responded with 28 points in the second quarter to cruise to a 35-14 Northwest Eight Conference win Friday night.
The Knights (2-4, 2-5) opened the game with a 17-play, 59-yard drive, converting three third down conversions and a fourth down conversion, but the drive stalled at the Lions 21-yard line and ended with a missed field goal.
After the Lions (4-0, 6-1) went three-and-out on their first possession, Knoch drove to the Lions 17-yard line before another missed field goal ended the possession.
Those missed opportunities would prove costly, as South Fayette poured it on in the second quarter.
“I'm extremely proud of the way we ran the ball tonight,” Knoch coach Frank Whalen said. “It's tough when you do all that work and don't come away with anything.”
After an interception set the Lions up at the Knights 16-yard line, South Fayette quarterback Jamie Diven hit Joey Audia on the first play of the drive to give the Lions the lead, 7-0.
Diven was 12 of 18 passing the ball for 240 yards and five touchdowns in the game.
“He's a tremendous quarterback,” Whalen said of Diven. “He's got some weapons. Their offensive line is really good, too. They have no weaknesses.”
South Fayette scored its second touchdown of the night just three minutes later as Diven hit Mike Timbur on a wide receiver screen and Timbur outran the Knights defense to the end zone to make the score 14-0.
Timbur caught eight passes for 178 yards.
Diven added two more touchdown passes late in the first half to give the Lions an insurmountable 28-0 halftime lead. The South Fayette defense stepped up in the second quarter as well, holding Knoch to just five yards of offense in the quarter and one first down, which came on a South Fayette penalty.
Knoch ran more than twice as many plays as South Fayette (35-16) in the first half, but the Lions quick-strike ability was too much for the Knights.
The Lions had their longest drive of the day, a 9-play, 68-yard march, to open up the second half, which ended in Diven's fifth touchdown of the game, and third to Timbur, to give South Fayette a 35-0 lead, invoking the mercy rule for the remainder of the game.
The Knights got on the board early in the fourth quarter as Matt Goodlin, who led Knoch with 96 yards rushing, scored on a nine-yard run.
Quarterback Chase Mullen added a touchdown run of his own with a minute left in the game to close the scoring.
Mullen ended the game with 99 yards passing and 29 yards on the ground.
“I'm proud of the way our kids fought in the second half,” Whalen said. “I don't think we punted at all in the second half. They fought to the end.”
The Knights will travel to New Castle next week to close out their conference schedule.
South Fayette 0 28 7 0 — 35Knoch 0 0 0 14 — 14Second QuarterSF — Joey Audia 16 pass from Jamie Diven (Ryan Coe kick), 8:59SF — Mike Trimbur 49 pass from Diven (Coe kick), 5:59SF — Charley Rossi 21 pass from Diven (Coe kick), 2:39SF — Trimbur 74 pass from Diven (Coe kick), :55Third QuarterSF — Trimbur 9 pass from Diven (Coe), 7:47Fourth QuarterK — Matt Goodlin 9 run (Josh Goldscheitter kick), 11:41K — Chase Mullen 11 run (Goldscheitter kick), 1:00Individual StatisticsRushing:South Fayette, Andrew Franklin 7-16, Jamie Diven 3-12. Knoch, Matt Goodlin 24-96, Chase Mullen 14-29, Noah Cetnar 1-(-3), Karn Grassi 1-3.Passing:South Fayette, Jamie Diven 12-18-240-0. Knoch, Chase Mullen 5-13-99-2.Receiving:South Fayette, Mike Trimbur 8-178, Charley Rossi 2-29, Joey Audia 1-16, Andrew Franklin 1-17. Knoch, Noah Cetnar 2-11, Jared Schrecengost 3-88.
