What a rush
“It was pretty tough, but we had a hard week of conditioning, so that helped us out a lot,” explained 285-lb. senior offensive lineman Tylor Grant, who helped the Knights (2-0) dominate the line of scrimmage, as senior running back Joey Gonzalez (125 yards on 13 carries) and junior fullback Garrett Mackey (157 yards on 16 carries) both eclipsed the 100-yard mark, and junior quarterback Gabe Snyder (82 yards on 2 carries) nearly reached triple digits on the ground after getting loose for a 62-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter. “I think we set some standards there tonight and some people know we’re out there now.”
The Black Bears knew senior lineman Dustin Shaffer was out there right away, as the 5-foot-10 210-pounder brought an end to River View’s opening series by sacking Black Bears junior quarterback John Brillhart for a four-yard loss, on third-and-16, forcing the home team to punt from its own 10-yard-line just three minutes into the game.
Three plays later, Shaffer was holding the ball above his head in the end zone, and the Knights were up 6-0, after he pounced on a fumble from Gonzalez, who had taken the ball 31 yards down the far sideline, all the way to the two, before getting hit from behind and coughing up the ball across the goal line.
“We knew these guys didn’t play anybody tough yet,” explained Shaffer on the sideline. “We knew we had to go out and punch them in the mouth and they wouldn’t be ready for it.”
And so after forcing another River View punt on its next possession, West Holmes went right back to smash mouth football on its second drive, getting 10 yards from Gonzalez, running to the right side on first down; picking up 15 more as Mackey barreled his way down the middle to the River View 35; adding seven more from Gonzalez; four more from Mackey; putting the ball in junior running back Grant Hay’s hands for a pickup of two, and capping the drive with… a 21-yard pass from Snyder to sophomore wide out Brady Arnold, who hauled in the arcing spiral just inside the goal line, in the right corner of the end zone.
“We’ve got a lot of backs to keep everyone fresh and that was a real key,” explained Snyder, who would run into the end zone on a keeper to the left side, tacking on two points to make up for Justin Wahl’s earlier missed PAT, and giving the Knights a 14-0 lead with 1:36 to play in the opening quarter. “It helps a lot when we have that many backs and they (River View) get tired and worn out and we just keep running on them.
“It feels good to score. You always want to keep scoring.”
But neither team would score again the rest of the first half, as the Knights defense pitched a shutout through the first 24 minutes, sending West Holmes into the break still holding a 14-0 lead.
“Our defense is focused right now and we’re playing,” explained second-year West Holmes head coach Kevin Maltarich, whose team would lead the Ohio Cardinal Conference (OCC) in scoring defense by the end of the night, having surrendered only 14 points through the first two games – compared to 24 points for second-place Mansfield Madison. “All in all our defense played well, and we’re just going to keep getting better. I think right now we’re going out with a little chip on our shoulders proving to everybody that we can play defense, trying to make believers out of people.”
But River View wasn’t quite convinced early in the second half, as the Black Bears used eight plays to move the ball from their own 41-yard-line, down to the West Holmes 21, where Brillhart struck with a pass to senior running back Shaun Wagner in the middle of the end zone, on fourth-and-nine, after nearly getting picked off by Arnold on first-and-10 from the 22, three plays earlier.
Jason Hammond split the uprights to make it 14-7, but after returning the ensuing kickoff to the West Holmes 26, Gonzalez took a handoff from Snyder on the Knights’ next play from scrimmage, bursting through the line, cutting right and heading down the near sideline for a gain of 39, with 15 additional yards tacked on to the end of the run following a whistle against the Black Bears – one of 15 penalties River View would be called for, compared to only three for West Holmes.
Two plays later, on second-and-eight from the River View 15, Snyder pitched the ball to Arnold on a reverse, as the 5-foot-9-inch speedster swept from right to left through the Knights backfield and went untouched into the far corner of the end zone, to put the Knights up 21-7, following a successful PAT from senior kicker Sloan Le.
“The thing I like to see is that when they (River View) scored, we responded both offensively and defensively,” said Maltarich afterward. “That says we’ve got a little bit of pride about ourselves.
“We preach that we’re going to win the second half and hopefully that becomes a habit for us. I like what I’ve been seeing so far.”
Maltarich would see his offense and defense step it up again in the third quarter as the D forced River View to turn the ball back over to the Knights offense on downs – following a first-down saving tackle by junior defensive back Barry Phillips, one-on-one against Hammond, after a completion on fourth-and-16 – setting up Snyder’s 62-yard gallop down the sideline, which put West Holmes in front 28-7 with 1:30 remaining in the third period.
“We did a buck keep and I just ran down the sideline and saw one man to beat,” explained Snyder. “I beat him and it felt good.”
It also felt good for Shaffer to get reacquainted with Brillhart on the final play of the third quarter as he and 6-foot-6, 210-lb. junior defensive end Brock Macaulay sacked the Black Bears signal caller on third-and-19, during River View’s next series, forcing the home team to punt from its own 18 to open the final quarter of play.
Eight straight running plays into the fourth quarter – alternating carries between Hay, Gonzalez and Mackey – the Knights pushed the ball from the West Holmes 24 to the River View nine, with the big play coming on fourth-and-one from the 29, when Mackey busted free for 20 yards right up the middle.
“We never stop. We want to punch them in the mouth every time we’re on offense,” said Mackey afterward. “They were switching gaps on us, but our fan blocks definitely stepped up. Our offensive line was executing and blocking the right guys.”
After curling around the right side of the defense and punching it into the far corner of the end zone on second-and-nine, to put the Knights up 34-7 following Mackey’s setup run, Gonzalez added, “That’s what we worked on all week, getting our guards pulling and hitting somebody. They did great. Anybody could have run the ball tonight.”
In fact, almost everybody on the Knights roster did, as Maltarich used a stable of seven different ball carriers throughout the game (Gonzalez, Mackey, Hay, Arnold, Snyder, Mason James and Keaton Leppla) to gradually wear down the River View defense in the intense heat and humidity.
“That’s so important,” said Mackey. “As tired as you are, as beat up as you are, you have to have somebody come in for you. You can’t do that the whole game.”
And the River View defense simply couldn’t keep up the whole game.
“In the third quarter our linemen started to point out, ‘those guys are gassed, look at them,’” said Gonzalez. “You’d look over and they had their hands on their knees and they were gasping for air.”
River View finally took its last gasp on offense as well, when Brillhart was picked off by Hay at the River View 10-yard-line with 3:24 remaining in the game, allowing Mackey to get in on the touchdown party with a three-yard run up the gut, capping the scoring at 41-7, following Le’s kick.
“It looks like we did a nice job controlling the line of scrimmage,” said Maltarich, after watching his team rack up over 420 yards of total offense, while holding River View to under 235. “Anytime you can get two backs over 100 yards, you put yourself in good position to win.”
And that’s exactly what the Knights did, rushing to victory at Don Rushing Stadium.
West Holmes (2-0) is scheduled to take on the Coshocton Redskins (2-0), Friday, Sept. 9, at Knights Stadium, in a battle of unbeatens. While the Knights have only surrendered a total of 14 points during its first two games, while scoring a combined 61, the Redskins come into Millersburg after outscoring their first two opponents 90-13.