BEVERLY — On Friday night, the Northmor Golden Knights football team would experience two things for the first time in the fall 2017 sports season. The trip to Beverly to clash with the Fort Frye Cadets would mark the first ever playoff appearance for the Knights.
Northmor made the roughly three hour bus trip as the number five seed in the Division VI, Region XXIII playoff bracket and met with the Cadets, the number four seed. Unfortunately, the other first that the Golden Knights would experience would be a shutout as they fell to Fort Frye; 6-0. Northmor finishes their season at 8-3 overall and were third in the Knox-Morrow Athletic Conference at 5-2. Note: before this contest, the Knights had not scored less than 21 points in a game (week one against Crestview, a 21-14 victory).
For the evening, the Knights finished with 224 yards of total offense on 49 plays. Fort Frye got off 62 plays for the game, amassing 269 yards of total offense (96 rushing, 173 passing).
Meechie Johnson played his final game in the black and gold and was held to just 106 rushing yards on 26 carries. Through the air, Johnson finished at a 4/14 clip, passing for 68 yards and two interceptions.
Conan Becker was the other workhorse for the Knights’ ground attack, carrying the ball nine times for 50 yards. Conor Becker caught three of Meechie’s passes for 49 yards while Ryan Moore rounded out the offensive stats with one catch for 19 yards.
Defensively, the two teams battled back and forth and would commit a total of seven turnovers combined; Northmor with two and Fort Frye with five.
All five of the Cadets’ turnovers came via the interception. Johnson combated his two passing interceptions with two picks on defense. Conor Becker, Gavin Ramos and Austin Wheeler all had one pick off the Fort Frye passing attempts.
The game remained gridlocked at 0-0 until the Cadets put their only six points on the board.
Special season note for the Northmor squad: The Knights only lost by a total of 17 points in their three losses in 2017.
Other KMAC teams in playoff action on Friday night were: Division IV, Region XIV #6 Highland Fighting Scots- 7 and #3 St. Mary’s Memorial Roughriders- 48; Highland (8-3) and St. Mary’s Memorial (10-1).
Division VII, Region XXVII #1 Danville Blue Devils- 35 and #8 Bishop Rosencrans Bishops- 14; Danville (10-1) and Bishop Rosencrans (8-3); Danville will now face the #5 Glouster Trimble Tomcats (9-2). Trimble defeated the #4 seed Lucas Cubs; 20-19.
While Northmor’s season comes to an end, the Fort Frye Cadets will advance to the regional semifinals to face the #1 seed and undefeated (11-0) Nelsonville-York Buckeyes. The Buckeyes cruised past their eighth seeded opponent, Shadyside (8-3); 34-0.
