There were a few seconds Friday night when it looked as if there would be a competitive football game at Luersfield.
Bishop Luers had been stopped on its first possession and a punt was hanging in the air, but an unexpected muff turned everything in the Knights’ favor.
It was competitive no more.
Winchester junior Matt Friend was the one who muffed the punt, which was recovered by dynamic junior Quyuan Mattox. That set up a score, then another and another, and so on.
With a 68-0 Class 2A sectional championship victory, it’s on to a regional game at Lewis Cass for the Knights.
“As soon as that happened, the whole team just picked it up,” Mattox said of fumbled punt return. “We came out, got the touchdown and it just went on from there.”
Mattox’s recovery set up junior Ken Mullen III for an 11-yard touchdown run. Winchester’s ensuing possession was squashed by a Mattox interception, which he returned 37 yards to set up Mullen’s 2-yard touchdown run for a 14-0 lead.
Then it was time for Luers sophomore quarterback James Knapke to take over. He connected with freshman Michael Rogers on touchdown passes of 39 and 48 yards, and it was 28-0 with 1:35 remaining in the first quarter.
“From special teams to defense to offense, we looked good because we practiced hard all week,” said Mattox, whose 7-yard touchdown run made it 35-0.
And he had a 41-yard touchdown reception to make it 48-0 before halftime.
Not bad for a Luers team that was trounced 62-0 by its rival, Bishop Dwenger, in the regular-season finale.
The Knights have rebounded since, outscoring their opposition 148-43 and improving to 7-5.
“I think our athleticism showed tonight. Nice win. Great effort,” Knights coach Matt Lindsay said.
“I sure hope (we’re peaking). This is the time of year you want to do that. It gets tougher each week, I know that, and this is a good time to be clicking.”
Knapke made it look anything but tough Friday, completing 8 of 9 passes for 158 yards and four touchdowns.
Rogers had three catches for 91 yards.
Junior Eric Sorg had a 1-yard touchdown reception and a 50-yard interception return for a touchdown as the Knights dissolved Winchester’s passing attack.
Golden Falcons (9-3) junior quarterback Cole Lawrence completed 7 of 24 passes for 112 yards but was intercepted four times.
“Yeah, our defense has been solid throughout the tournament,” Lindsay said.
“We’ve got a lot of turnovers. We’ve pressured quarterbacks, and we’ve been opportunistic as well.
“This was a great all-around effort by everybody, and it feels great to win.”
