KINGS MILLS, Ohio – It was a battle for Eastern Cincinnati Conference supremacy Friday night, as the unbeaten #3 Anderson Raptors and undefeated #7 Kings Knights faced off in Kings Mills. At the end of the night, one would remain unbeaten and alone at the top of the ECC.
That ended up being Anderson, who after a slow start, imposed their will on the rival Knights and cruised to a 49-24 victory in the heated rivalry.
The Raptors had won the last three games in the series, including a 41-0 shellacking of the Knights last season, and came into the game averaging 46.75 points per game while only allowing 8.5 points per game defensively.
Kings, meanwhile, came into Friday night with impressive statistics of their own, allowing only 8.75 points per game on defense, while averaging 28 points a game offensively.
So it was evident that Friday night would boil down to which team’s defense could maintain the same effort as it had previously, and which offense could make the big plays.
Anderson won the coin toss before the start of the game, and deferred to the second half. Kings promptly took the kickoff to their own 45-yard line, and QB Grant Nurre drove the Knights the remaining way to the end zone on their first possession of the game, capping the drive with a 26-yard touchdown pass to Jaxon Frisk. The extra point was good, and for only the second time so far this season, Anderson found itself trailing in a game.
But just as quickly as Kings took the lead, Anderson knotted it right back up, as it only took 2 minutes for the Raptors to dent the end zone, as QB Owen Scalf hit wideout Tysin Weaver with a 12-yard touchdown strike, and it was 7-7 with roughly 7 minutes left in the first half.
The first quarter would end with the rivals tied, but then the Kings offense mounted a threat to open the second quarter, driving down to the Raptor goal line. A fourth-down touchdown dive by Nurre was replayed due to an Anderson offsides penalty, then the Knights shot themselves in the foot with a false start penalty on the ensuing play, resulting in Kings settling for a 23-yard field goal by Noah Magrino for a 10-7 lead.
It would be the last lead the Knights would own in the game, as the floodgates opened and Anderson began imposing their will.
Scalf would, on the next three Anderson possessions, toss touchdown passes of 43 and 60 yards to Weaver, and 25 yards to wideout Tegan Jallick, to send the Raptors into halftime with a 28-10 lead that they would not relinquish the rest of the way.
The Raptors would open the second half receiving the kickoff, and pick up right where they left off in the first half, as Scalf would toss a 54-yard touchdown to Jallick to make it 35-10. But Kings still had some fight left, as Nurre and crew drove right back down the field on the next possession, with Nurre taking it in from 9 yards out to make it 35-17.
But Anderson responded in kind, as Scalf tossed his sixth touchdown of the night, this one a 43-yarder to wideout Brayden Moore, and it was 42-17 Raptors going into the fourth quarter.
Anderson would tack on one more score in the final quarter, as Weaver would gather in his fourth touchdown on the night — and Scalf’s seventh TD pass – to make it 49-17.
Kings would score on a fumble recovery late in the fourth quarter to make it 49-24, but it was too little, too late.
Four of Scalf’s touchdown passes on the night were for 40 yards or more, keeping with the Raptor’s penchant for big plays – the team came into Friday night with nine players who had gained at least 33 yards in a single play on the ground or the air – and the defense, though giving up the most points it had so far this season, rose to the challenge when needed.
“We can throw it deep and throw it short,” Scalf said. “We can run the ball. We can do a lot of stuff, a lot of different stuff, with Coach (Evan) Dreyer’s offense.”
Overall, Scalf went 21-37 for 441 yards and seven touchdowns, bringing his season total to 18 only five games in.
Scalf said postgame that even though they got down early, Anderson kept their composure.
“The defense made some plays,” he said. “I could get the ball to my receivers and they could go make plays. Being down really doesn’t faze us that much. We just go out and score again.”
There was one part of the Raptor offense Scalf feels they need to work on, however.
“We’ve got to work on our third and longs,” he concluded. “We had a few misses on those. Maybe a little bit of the run game. But other than that, I think we’re good.”
With the victory, Anderson wins its fourth in a row in the rivalry series and moves to 5-0 on the season, 4-0 in the ECC. Kings drops to 4-1, 3-1 in the ECC.
POSTGAME INTERVIEW
BOX SCORE
Anderson 7-21-14-7 49
Kings 7-3-7-7 24
SCORING PLAYS
K: Jaxon Frisk 26-yard pass from Grant Nurre (Noah Magrino kick)
A: Tysin Weaver 12-yard pass from Owen Scalf (Maddux Snider kick)
K: Magrino 26-yard field goal
A: Weaver 43-yard pass from Scalf (kick failed)
A: Weaver 60-yard pass from Scalf (conversion successful)
A: Tegan Jallick 25-yard pass from Scalf (Snider kick)
A: Jallick 54-yard pass from Scalf (Snider kick)
A: Brayden Moore 43-yard pass from Scalf (Snider kick)
A: Weaver pass from Scalf (Snider kick)
RECORDS: Anderson 5-0 (4-0 ECC); Kings 4-1 (3-1 ECC)
UP NEXT: Anderson vs. Milford; Kings at Lebanon
