HOWARD – Let it be known: if anyone is going to beat East Knox this season, they will have to come out swinging. They’ll have to be aggressive from the opening kickoff, willing to match the Bulldogs’ physicality and speed immediately. They’ll have to be ready.
So far, no one has come close.
East Knox claimed its third victim of the 2018 season on Friday night, defeating Strasburg-Franklin 68-6 in the Bulldogs’ home opener at Chet Looney Stadium.
Like the first two games of the season, East Knox (3-0) made sure the kill was quick – although maybe not painless. The Bulldogs scored on all six of their offensive possessions in the first half, going up 40-6 at intermission.
In a second half that was accelerated by a running clock, a comeback was simply not realistic for the Tigers (1-2).
Fast starts have been a theme so far this season for East Knox. Through the first three weeks, the Bulldogs have outscored their foes 122-16 in the first half.
“Our motto this year is ‘Focus and Finish,’” junior lineman Dawson David said. “We’re going to over-prepare for every team, like it’s a championship game, so we can come out and have a game like this.”
East Knox junior quarterback Kadden Lester threw for 325 yards and three touchdowns on 10-of-14 passing; 248 of those yards came in the first half. Senior running back Kasson Krownapple ran the ball just six times in the first half, although he mustered 46 yards and three touchdowns. He finished with 76 rushing yards and four scores.
Meanwhile, the hard-nosed Bulldog defense held Strasburg-Franklin to just 68 total yards of offense, as the Tigers struggled to move the chains all night long. Of their 30 rushing attempts on Friday night, only 16 went for positive yardage. The Tigers completed just one pass in the second half and it went for a five-yard loss.
It was the second straight 60-plus point loss for the Tigers, who fell to Rootstown 61-0 in Week 2.
“When I talked to you earlier it was, ‘How will we respond to adversity?’ We didn’t respond tonight,” Strasburg-Franklin coach Curtis Metzger said. “And until we respond to some adversity, you know, we’re going to have the same outcomes.
“It’s not good to say, but it’s not about X’s and O’s with us. It’s about, when something goes bad, do we keep going bad or do we come together as a group and grow from it? Right now, with a young group of guys that, you know, we had some injuries this week… that’s a tough one to swallow.”
While East Knox had all but sealed the deal after one half of play on Friday night, it should be noted that Strasburg-Franklin actually threw the first punch.
The Tigers marched down the field on the game’s opening possession, going 88 yards and capping the drive with a 22-yard touchdown strike from sophomore quarterback Kape Schupbach to sophomore wideout Wade Hostetler over the middle. After a missed point-after attempt, the Tigers went up 6-0 midway through the first quarter.
“They came out and they punched us right in the mouth. So we talked to the boys, ‘How are we going to respond?’” East Knox head coach Cody Reese said. “They did exactly what we thought they were going to do and they just ran it down our throats. We were getting there, we just weren’t making the plays, so we had to finish.”
At that point, the Bulldogs flipped a switch. They scored twice on their next two plays from scrimmage – first on a 10-yard touchdown pass from Lester to junior receiver Caleb Gallwitz, then on a 25-yard touchdown carry up the middle from Krownapple, where the senior reached paydirt untouched (East Knox began the possession on the Tiger 25-yard line due to a shanked punt).
Within two snaps, East Knox led 13-6. Metzger believes that after an optimistic first drive, that swing killed his team’s mojo.
“They came and in two plays, they scored,” Metzger said. “And that’s what we said – they’re going to score. I mean, this is a great team. They’re a good ball club. And they scored quickly, and I told them, ‘They’re going to score, but we’ve got to respond.’ And we didn’t. We didn’t respond.”
Two more Krownapple touchdown carries – one of two yards and one of 14 – put the Bulldogs up three scores with 7:40 left until halftime. Two Lester touchdown passes to senior Dawson Moreland – one of 16 yards and one of 30 – made it a 34-point East Knox lead at the half.
But Reese wasn’t satisfied heading into the locker room. He felt his team could have ran the ball more efficiently in the first half, and they made corrections accordingly.
“At halftime, we felt like we weren’t running the ball the way we should have ran the football. Hats off to Strasburg, the gameplan and what they were doing,” Reese said. “So we had a couple adjustments at halftime and had them fired up coming into the second half, and did a much better job in the second half with that. So I’m very pleased with the offensive line’s play in the second half.”
The Bulldogs worked on their ground offense in the second half and rushed for 148 yards, as opposed to just 57 in the first half.
Gallwitz and Krownapple both scored quickly on touchdown carries in the third quarter, putting the game well out of reach for Strasburg-Franklin. The Bulldogs’ second-stringers played the majority of the second half, as sophomore Chase Darr broke free for a 53-yard touchdown haul and sophomore Sam Printz plunged into the end zone from one yard out to set the final score.
David, who also plays linebacker for the Bulldogs, believes the team’s physicality has been its calling card during its 3-0 start. That notion certainly rang true on Friday night, when East Knox seemed often to be the hammer, not the nail.
“We base our team off of physicality,” David said. “We emphasize that every week, we go out and play with our hands. We’ve gotta play fast and we’ve gotta play strong, and that’s really worked out for us this past three weeks.”
Metzger commended East Knox for its toughness and experience, something he said his team lacks.
“I mean, the Krownapple boy, he’ll hit you up in the middle, and then they’ll open it up with Gallwitz. They showed No. 5 can do something special for them too,” Metzger said. “These guys… it’s a good team. From when we started playing them to now, they’ve really grown. Hats off to their coaching staff and those guys, they took it to us tonight.”
Behind a physical offensive line, the East Knox offense was able to operate freely and efficiently on Friday night. Lester had ample time in the pocket to make decisions and Krownapple often ran through gaping holes towards the end zone.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Bulldogs dominated the line of scrimmage, forcing the run-heavy Tigers into congested backfields that stymied their attack.
“The boys came out and played hard and were able to execute,” Reese said. “We talked about executing at a high level and wanting to be above mediocrity – to not settle for less. We want to play at a high level all the time. So the boys have really bought into that mentality and (have been) working hard together, and it carried over into tonight’s play.”
Before Friday night’s matchup, the first three meetings between East Knox and Strasburg-Franklin had all been decided by a touchdown. Last year, it took East Knox overtime to beat the feisty Tigers.
This year was a different story.
The Bulldogs have their sights set on a KMAC title and a playoff berth, which they came short of achieving last year due to late-season woes. They started off 7-0 last year before dropping their final three games. Because of this, David and the Bulldogs seemed rather cautionary in celebrating their 3-0 start on Friday night.
“We’ve still got a lot left to prove,” David said. “We’ve still got a lot of work to do and we’ve got to keep getting better every week, and maybe we’ll see what happens.”
East Knox will begin KMAC play next Friday night when it hosts Mount Gilead (0-3). Strasburg-Franklin will return home to host Tuscarawas Valley (1-2) in its Inter-Valley Conference opener.
