Its 6:45 pm, as the Knights make their way to the Middletown High School football stadium. The energy emanates from the team during warm-ups, as fans anticipate what the Knights could do.
This is football time at MHS, but this game is different. The Knights have an extra bounce in their step, and they knew they couldn’t lose a second straight game.
The Knights harbored all of their effort and energy in order to take down the Winters Mill Falcons, 54-6. This blowout victory follows up a disappointing two-point loss to Westminster in the opener.
The Knights were patient and diligent in practice all week; knowing that they would have a chance to silence the critics against the Falcons.
“We came out on Monday, and we pounded each other all week,” said MHS senior running back Nick Welch. “We came out and it showed on Friday night.”
Welch spearheaded the Knights dominant win, rushing for 162 yards on 11 carries with four touchdowns. Most of Welch’s yards and three of his touchdowns came in the first half.
“If I didn’t have that offensive line in front of me I wouldn’t have scored one touchdown,” said Welch “That offensive line kicked butt.”
The Knights got off to a quick start, and after Welch scored on a 15 yard run on the Knights first drive they never looked back.
“The way we set the tone early means everything to get the win,” said senior full back Peter Heon.
Heon picked up a few key first downs early in the first quarter. This gave the Knights an opportunity to give Welch a few plays off.
The Knights also received a huge contribution from junior running back Marquis Lauer. Lauer was able to use his lighting fast speed in order to get to the outside and pick up huge chunks of yards.
On the other side of the ball the Knights had some problems slowing down the fast-paced, spread offense of the Falcons.
Falcons quarterback Liam Butler kept the knights defense off balance the whole night, but penalties always seemed to halt the drives with scoring potential.
The defense was led by seniors Nick Forbes, Alex Cartner and Nick Welch who had 15 tackles between them.
The Falcons only score of the night came on a 79 yard pass to the speedy Simeon Wright. Wright finished the game with eight receptions for 143 yards and one touchdown.
This dominant performance from the Knights builds there confidence back up after losing their opener.
“Middletown’s all about dealing with adversity,” said Welch. “That’s what I feel this team did.”
The Knights felt like they had something to prove and they proved it.
“This win says that we know how to rebound and how to finish,” said Heon. “We really worked hard this week in practice, and we came out and got the W.”
