The Alter Knights suffered their first loss of the 2016 season as they fell to the Bishop Hartley Hawks in an Ohio Division IV state semi-final matchup at London High School, 14-7.
Bishop Hartley (11-3), the defending DIV state champions, dominated the time of possession by moving the chains. The Hawks had 17 first downs compared to the Knights’ four first downs.
Alter (13-1) had no answer for Hartley’s Marquette Dixon, 252 yards on 41 carries and scored both of the team’s first-half touchdowns to give the Hawks a 14-0 first half lead.
The Knights cut the deficit just before half during the third quarter when quarterback Ryan Markoff ran in a score from 15 yards out to make it 14-7 at the break.
Markoff would lead Alter on an epic third-quarter drive which took the Knights to the Hartley’s 1-yard line, but on a 4th-and-goal situation Markoff was stopped inches shy of game-tying touchdown and that would be as close as Alter would get the rest of the night.
The Hawks will face Steubenville (13-1) at 3 p.m. Friday in a rematch of last year’s championship game, which Hartley won.
