GALION — The Northmor Golden Knights welcomed Knox-Morrow Athletic Conference foe, the Centerburg Trojans, to their home field on Friday night for some inner-conference gridiron action.
Northmor would have no issues with the visiting Centerburg squad and would earn the victory; 49-0. The Golden Knights improve their overall record on the season to 7-2 and sit at 4-2 within their league. The Trojans drop to 2-7 on the year and 1-5 in KMAC play.
Meechie Johnson once again fueld the high octane Northmor offense on Friday. Johnson managed just 3/6 on his pass attempts for 55 yards but one of those completions was a 42-yard touchdown strike to Conan Becker. Johnson, per the norm, did most of his damage against the Centerburg defense on the ground, carrying the ball 22 times for 225 yards and five touchdowns.
So far in the nine games played in 2017, Johnson has carried for over 200 yards in all but one game (week eight against Mount Gilead) and has twice cracked the 300-yard mark. Meechie has amassed 2,303 yards on the ground this season and will have next week’s game against Highland to crack 2,500 for the regular season.
Becker would also be active in the backfield, adding 44 yards on 10 carries in the Northmor victory. Wyatt Reeder rounded out the running game for the Knights with eight yards on three carries. Gavin Ramos would catch two of the Johnson passes for a total of 13 yards.
Hunter Mariotti tacked on the seventh and final touchdown of the night for Northmor on a three-yard touchdown scurry in the fourth. Mariotti would gain 10 yards on three attempts during his fourth quarter performance at quarterback. Kyle Kegley finished the evening a perfect 7/7 on his extra-point attempts.
In total, the home team racked up 342 yards of offense on 45 plays from scrimmage. The visiting Trojans also managed 45 plays on the night but the Northmor defense only gave up a total of 94 yards to the visitors and preserved the shutout with a goal line stand as time expired in the game.
Interesting facts from Friday’s action: Meechie had almost as many yards on one touchdown run (85) than Centerburg put together throughout the game. Also, on each team’s first three drives, Northmor managed two touchdowns and a botched punt, while the Trojans gained just eight total yards from scrimmage.
Other scores from KMAC action on Friday were: Danville (8-1, 5-1) 56 and Mount Gilead (0-9, 0-6) 14; Fredericktown (4-5, 3-3) 32 and Cardington (2-7, 1-5) 14; Highland (8-1, 6-0) 28 and East Knox (7-2, 4-2) 7.
Northmor will host the KMAC-leading Highland Fighting Scots in the regular season finale. The Scots have scored 322 points on the season while allowing just 131. The Golden Knights have tallied 324 points on the season while allowing 150.
