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Linton Miners down North Knox in defensive battle
The 2A #6-ranked Linton-Stockton Miners made the short drive to Bicknell to take on the North Knox Warriors and picked up the 28-13 victory.
North Knox won the coin toss and chose to receive first. The Warriors came out with a game plan to attack the Linton defense and executed that plan marching down the field for the first touchdown of the game.
The Linton offense took the field for the first time already down 6-0. The Miners answered in true Linton fashion with a 5-play 65-yard drive that ended in the endzone in under a minute. Luke Lannan finished the drive with a 5 yard touchdown run, and the extra point gave Linton the 7-6 lead.
North Knox came back onto the field and answered with a quick score of their own with a 40-yard touchdown pass taking back the lead at 13-7.
This Sectional 40 heavyweight matchup was headed toward a high-scoring affair until the Linton defense made the appropriate adjustments and proceeded to shut down the Warriors offense for the remainder of the game.
The Miners took over with just under 5 minutes left in the first quarter. The Linton running game was picking up yards in chunks with a Lannan 15-yard run to start the drive and a Trey Goodman run for 18 yards later. The drive nearly stalled close to the red zone then Goodman converted a 4th and 3, but that would be the last first down the Miners would get that drive when they failed to on a 4th and 2 at the NK 10 yard line.
An 8 yard run by Holtman Doades ended the first quarter with Linton trailing by 6.North Knox started the second quarter moving the ball well, managing to get the ball into Miner territory before being forced to punt.
A good punt left Linton with a long field to go to get to the end zone. Key passes from Goodman to Lance Dyer for 9 yards and 32 yards quickly flipped the field in the Miners’ favor. Linton found the end zone for the second time on the night with a 37-yard screen pass from Goodman to Lannan giving Linton the 14-13 lead. A lead they would not relinquish again.
A quick three and out by North Knox gave Linton the ball back with just under 4 minutes left before halftime. The Miners again took over deep in their own territory, but did not stay long as Luke Lannan found a seam in the Warrior defense and rolled down the field on a 50-yard run. Completions from Goodman to Clayton Hauser and Cash Howard, as well as a Goodman scramble brought the Miners down to the 1-yard line, where a great push by the Linton offensive line allowed Trey Goodman to sneak in for the touchdown.
North Knox stalled near mid-field and punted to Linton with 26.2 seconds to go in the second quarter. Linton attempted to mount another scoring drive before half, but ran out of time going into the locker room holding a 21-13 advantage.
The game was far from over with the Miners getting the ball first in the second half looking for a scoring drive to help put the game away. Lance Dyer had an excellent kickoff return setting up the Miners with a short field. Goodman hit senior wideout Devyn Robertson for a 9 yard play, before Goodman was intercepted by Zach Boyles close to the red zone.
North Knox put together a lengthy drive that had them get into scoring position trying to erase the 8-point deficit they were facing before the Linton defense responded with an interception of their own when Cash Howard picked off the would be pass that would have set up the Warriors inside the 5 yard line.
Linton drove the ball to the 50 yard line before having to punt which rolled into the end zone for a touchback.
North Knox and Linton then traded drive that ended in turning the ball over on downs that leaked into the fourth quarter, with the score still holding at 21-13. Linton then forced the Warriors to punt giving the Miners the ball midway through the fourth quarter.
The Miners drove down the field with big runs by Dyer and Howard that set up Trey Goodman for a 25-yard run that gave him his second touchdown rush of the night, and extended the Linton lead to 28-13.
North Knox failed to get a first down and turned the ball over on downs, which allowed Linton to run out the clock and seal their sixth win of the season.
Coach Brian Oliver had this to say about the win, “It was a great battle between two teams, it was a chess match back-and-forth. We came out ready to play, they came out ready to play and both teams made plays. We made adjustments and were able to shut them down after the first quarter. The leadership that we have on our team and the guts those kids have, they kept battling for four quarters. I was a good high school football game.”
Linton will hit the road again next week when they take on Eastern Greene in the battle of Greene County next Friday.
MINERS 28, WARRIORS 13
Score by quarters
Linton 7 14 0 7 28
North Knox 13 0 0 0 13
SCORING SUMMARY
First Quarter
NK - Reece Hammelman 3 yard run (Doades kick failed), 7:53
L - Luke Lannan 5 yard run (Elmore kick), 6:52
NK - Holtman Doades 40 yard pass from Hammelman (Doades kick), 4:57
Second Quarter
L - Lannan 37 yard pass from Trey Goodman (Elmore kick), 4:30
L - Goodman 1 yard run (Elmore kick), 1:40
Fourth Quarter
L - Goodman 25 yard run (Elmore kick), 2:43
TEAM STATISTICS
L NK
First Downs 20 16
Total Yards 380 237
Rushes - yards 36 - 232 35 - 109
Passing yards 148 128
C - A - I 11 - 20 - 1 8 - 22 - 1
Punts - avg. 1 - 45 4 - 40
Fumbles - lost 0 - 0 0 - 0
Penalties - yards 16 - 151 6 - 105
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING - Linton: Luke Lannan 12-74, Trey Goodman 12-68, Lance Dyer 8-65, Cash Howard 4-25. North Knox: Reece Hammelman 8-34, Rhett Sheren 12-29, Cole Richter 5-24, Holtman Doades 9-22.
PASSING - Linton: Trey Goodman 11-20-1, 148 yards, 1 TD. North Knox: Reece Hammelman 8-22-1, 128 yards, 1 TD.
RECEIVING - Linton: Lance Dyer 3-42. Luke Lannan 1-37, Devyn Robertson 3-34, Cash Howard 2-19, Clayton Hauser 2-16. North Knox: Holtman Doades 2-58, Zach Boyles 4-44, Troy Noland 2-26.