Knights Win Season Opener Big over Lebanon! 34-21
Game Summary: Game Stats
Coach Olds Corner: Tale of Two Halves
WKNG Radio: Game Re-Play Podcast : Post- Game Interviews – Head Coach Andy Olds – Defensive Coordinator Chad Seymour – RB/CB Nick Collado – Safety Spencer Rosekrans
Pulse Journal: Slideshow
Contributed by Bret A. Sims, WKNG Radio
On a night when there wasn’t a cloud in the sky the Kings Knights brought a combination of Thunder (Jamire Westbrook) and lightening (Nick Collado) to defeat their arch nemesis to the North, the Lebanon Warriors 34 – 21.
The Knights opened the scoring using a combination of short passes and hard running by Westbrook to march 44-yards ending on a 2-yard plunge by Westbrook, much to the delight of the Kings faithful in attendance and listening on WKNGradio.com.
Not to be outdone the Warriors would step up and answer the call behind running backs Dylan Miles (finished with 169 yards rushing and 1 TD) and Aaron Abbott. Abbott who is only a sophomore displayed his talents and clearly will be the man for the Warriors in the next couple of seasons. Dylan Miles who only stands 5-foot-9 is one of the tougher running backs the Knights’ have seen in a while. Sophomore QB Luke Morgan would end a 9 play, 83-yard drive with a TD toss to wide out Nick Esposito to tie the game at 7-7.
Though the game was tied, it appeared that the huge offensive line that the Warriors brought with them was overwhelming the Knights front line. Miles and Abbott were biting off big chunks of yardage and had it not been for Justin Crull, Nick Collado, Mason Barker and Spencer Rosekrans in the secondary making several tackles the Warriors would have found the end zone more often.
Once the Warriors seemed to get in the red zone their inexperience showed as they were hampered by penalties that took them out of scoring position a couple of times in the first half which was something the Knights’ defense used to their advantage.
Jamire Westbrook came into the season wanting to top 1,000 yards for the first time in his career. He managed to get 170 of those yards in tonight’s game to go along with 3 rushing touchdowns.
Sophomore Nick Collado brought the crowd to their feet with a 90-yard kickoff return after Lebanon had tied the score at 7. Collado virtually went untouched in route to the electrifying return and was a precursor of big plays for the Knights.
Kings coaching staff did a great job of making the necessary adjustments on both sides of the ball during halftime and it instantly showed when Jensen Gephardt hit Westbrook on a 41-yard touchdown pass that exhibited Westbrook’s natural ability to maintain his balance with Lebanon’s Nick Esposito hanging on him as he hauled in the pass.
While the Knight’s offense was clicking the difference in the game came on the defensive side of the ball where they seemed to shut down the rushing lanes that had been so open in the first half. Time and time again the defense rose to the occasion, leaving the Warriors frustrated and scoreless.
When Westbrook scored on a 21-yard run to put the Knights up 27-14 in the third quarter it looked like the young Lebanon team would bend to the will of the Knights. But Luke Morgan rallied his team with a combination of passes to all GWOC wide receiver Brody Wolf and smash mouth running by Dylan Miles. Morgan found Wolf in the corner of the end zone on a pass that should why Wolf is as valuable as he fully extended his body to make the diving catch and bring the Warriors to within six points.
Leading 37 to 21 the Knights defense went into more of a conservative mode instead of an attacking mode as they might have been content trying to run out the clock and rely on their defense that had found new life in the second half.
After turning back the Warriors and with time running out the Knights found themselves in a fourth-and-one situation on Lebanon’s 39-yard line. On a play that seemed very similar to the Super Bowl years ago between the Washington Redskins and Miami Dolphins when John Riggins of the Redskins bounced off tackle and took it to the house so did Westbrook. Westbrook’s score at the 1:21 minute mark sealed the victory for the Knights and the fans stood and applauded their efforts.
The Knights removed the 45-17 bashing they took last year at the hands of the Warriors and as the team ran off the field to the corner of the end zone to sing the fight song it was evident that this year things will be different. An early win can go a long way to build confidence in a young team.
Milford rolls into town next weekend after destroying Hughes and you can bet while the Knights were savoring the victory over Lebanon that their thoughts quickly turned to the Eagles and what would be required of them.
TV Coverage: Fox 19 Prep Rally Video : Blitz 5
Queen City High Coverage: Knights Get Revenge
Vote for Jamire Westbrook: Beacon Orthopaedics Primetime Performer of the Week (voting ends Monday at Midnight)
Fox 19 Cincinnati Bell Call of the Day – Blake Bates 1st series 4th down and 1 key stop.
Queen City High Gold Star Chili Star of the Game – Spencer Rosekrans
Putter’s WKNG Big Play of the Game: WKNG Re-play - Nick Collado 90 yard kickoff return