Knights rally in final minutes to defeat East Mills, 24-22

MALVERN - All night, Fremont-Mills’ Parker Powers had been bottled up by bracket coverage, double teams and an aggressive East Mills defense.

None of that mattered on perhaps the biggest play of the game.

Following Sam Phillips’ game tying two-yard touchdown run, Powers’ leapt over a Wolverine defender and snagged a Phillips’ pass to give his team the lead for good with just 1:39 to go in the No. 1 ranked Knights’ 24-22 victory on Homecoming Night in Malvern Friday night.

“We were kind of lost on the sideline on what to call because we were dropping passes we hadn’t all year,” said Fremont-Mills coach Jeremy Christiansen on his team’s second half offensive play calling. “You name it, it didn’t go our way. But this is the type of games you have to win to keep on track.”

The first half it was the Wolverines, with their physical and aggressive game plan that had them looking like he top ranked team Eight-Man football and the Knights the unranked upstarts. East Mills needed just five plays on its opening drive, capped by Josh Hopkins’ 41-yard touchdown scamper, to take an early 6-0 lead.

The Knights would respond on their ensuing drive when Phillips raced 41 yards to paydirt around the right side on a QB keeper. Following the extra-point, the Knights’ led 8-0.
The lead wouldn’t stand for long.

The Wolverines responded with a touchdown drive of their own. After taking the ball at their own 19, East Mills marched 61 yards in 14 plays to take a 12-8 lead on Ben Christensen’s 1 yard dive. Following the two-point conversion, the Wolverines led 14-8. The drive ate up more than seven minutes of clock and set the tone head coach Kevin Schafer has been preaching to his team all season: be physical.

“We wanted low scoring and physical and everything was set up for that,” said East Mills co-head coach Kevin Schafer. “We didn’t get the turnovers we needed with some opportunities we had. We were a little passive I think in some of pass coverage.”

Christiansen admits his team’s first half was not one its best this season.

“We were not in synch tonight, and a lot of that goes to East Mills,” Christiansen said. “We didn’t do a good job tackling in open space, which we hadn’t had a problem with up until this point. I thought we were resilient.”

Trailing at the halftime for the first time all season, the Knights came out after halftime determined to flip the momentum. Utilizing Powers – who was limited to 18 yards from scrimmage in the first two quarters – largely as a decoy in the jet sweep, Phillips carried three straight times, his last going for a 42 yard touchdown to put the Knights back in front 16-14 with just 90 seconds gone in the third quarter.

The Knight defense forced a punt on the ensuing drive but after driving 31 yards in 10 plays, the drive stalled inside the Wolverines 33 yard line. The Wolverines held on a fourth down and got the ball back. They needed just one play to take the lead back when Hopkins popped u a draw outside and raced down 43-yards down the sideline for the score. The two-point conversion put the Wolverines’ back in front 22-16 with 3:52 to go in the third quarter.

The score would remain that way for more than 12 minutes.

After forcing a Wolverine punt, a Parker powers punt return set up the Knights at their own 36 with 4:40 to go in the game. Back-to-back runs by Phillips and a Wolverine penalty pushed the Knights to the Wolverine 20. Three runs by Phillips and an eight-yard toss to Nathen Hardisty gave Fremont-Mills third and goal at the two-yard line. Phillips muscled his way in the next play to knot the score at 22-22 and set up Powers’ game-winning grab with 1:39 to go

The Knights actually had to score the two-point conversion twice. A block in the back nullified Phillips’ hook up with Carter Jennings forcing a second attempt from the 14-yard line. Powers’ grab on the crossing route in the end zone was just his second catch of the second half. Powers, who entered averaging 19.9 yards per reception this season, caught five for 20 yards and ran for 28 yards on eight carriers against the Wolverines.

Phillips was a workhorse for the Knights. The 6-foot-1, 200-pound junior quarterback struggled in the passing game at times (10-for-22, 63 yards, one interception) but more than made up for it with his legs, carrying 24 times for a career-high 176 yards and all three Knight touchdowns.

“For anyone to say we aren’t a power football team, we maybe proved them wrong in the second half,” Christiansen said. “We struggled mightily up front in the first half and changed the tide in the second half. Sam obviously had a heck of a game.”

Hopkins paced the East Mills offense with 151 yards rushing and two touchdowns.

The Wolverines won’t get to lick their wounds for long. They head to undefeated Lenox for another key District 8 battle Friday. Kick off is set for 7 p.m.

“We had a great opportunity, we just didn’t get it done,” said Schafer. “The kid played hard and we’re proud of them. We had a chance at the end of the game, which was what we wanted. We’re playing better every week. I just hope we can get over this loss. We need to let this burn over the weekend but then Monday we have to move on.”

The Knights host 4-1 Stanton Friday in Tabor. Kick off is at 7 p.m.

Scoring Summary
EM  14  00  08  00 – 22
FM  08  00  08  08 – 24

Game Summary
EM – Josh Hopkins, 41 run (conversion failed).
FM – Sam Phillips, 41 run (two-point conversion good).
EM – Ben Christensen, 1 run (two-point conversion good).
FM – Sam Phillips, 42 run (two-point conversion good).
EM – Hopkins, 43 run (two-point conversion good).
FM – Phillips, 2 run (two-point conversion good).