Big plays in passing game carry Montour past Knoch

By: Antonio Rossetti
Friday, September 13, 2024 | 10:50 PM

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Montour used its explosive offense to defeat Knoch, 44-14, in a nonconference game Friday at Thomas J. Birko Memorial Stadium.

Montour (3-0) piled up 636 yards of total offense. Trey Hopper led the charge, completing 12 of 22 passes for 428 yards in two touchdowns. Seven of those completions went to AJ Alston for 187 yards.

Daniel Batch also had a big game, catching two passes for 129 yards and a touchdown. He also scored on a 19-yard touchdown run.

“He knows what I can do and what he can do,” Alston said about his connection with Hopper. “He trusts himself, and he trusts all of us. He puts the ball out there. We’re going to get the job done for him.”

Caden Halajcio spearheaded the rushing attack with 105 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries.

“Coming off Trinity game, we knew we had to turn it on,” Batch said. “Trey was throwing good. He’s throwing to everyone today, to be honest. I think most of us were getting over 50 yards. Then Caden was just doing his thing again today.”

Added Hopper: “We knew they were going to play man coverage all week. Our guys are just better, so I have to trust our guys.”

The defense held the Knights running game in check, keeping Sam Skurka to minus-2 yards on seven carries.

“We played pretty good,” Batch said. “Our D-line played good. We knew that if they were going to throw, we were going to stop it, so we just had to stop the run. We’re pretty much going to do that every single game, so we did pretty good on that today.”

Montour faced a third-and-22, on its second possession, but Hopper converted, finding Batch for a 70-yard touchdown pass. The extra point was blocked, giving Montour a 6-0 lead late in the first quarter.

The Knights (1-2) responded quickly. After a big hitter from Colt Sprankle to Codi Mullen, Knoch was in Montour territory.

On a 50/50 ball in the end zone, Knoch’s Kaden Spencer and Alston came crashing down, but Spencer pinned the ball to Alston and made the catch in the end zone for a 7-6 after the extra point.

Batch then had a 40-yard kick return into Knoch territory. Batch capped the short drive with a 19-yard touchdown run. Brayden Davin hit the extra point, making it 13-7 early in the second.

After a Knoch turnover on downs, on fourth-and-9 at the Knoch 25, Hopper found Alston in the back of the end zone to extend the lead to 20-7.

Knoch misfired on a chance to cut into the lead. Mullen, filling in at quarterback for an injured Sprankle, found Spencer in the back of the end zone, but the ball went incomplete. The Knights turned it over on downs on the next play.

Before the end of the half, Hopper connected with Batch for 59 yards to the Knoch 25-yard line. The Spartans settled for a Davin 27-yard field goal, sending them into halftime with a 23-7 lead.

Montour struck first in the second half when James Bundridge ran a go route, and Hopper threw a dime to him in stride for a 74-yard touchdown.

The Knights responded with a 74-yard touchdown pass from Mullen to Ethan Rouleau. Kannon Trofimuk hit the PAT to make it 30-14 Montour.

After a timeout for an injury to Montour’s Cody Lagaila, Hopper threw a screen pass to Alston, who broke it for 66 yards and a score, making it 37-14.

Marcus Battles gave Montour the ball back on an interception, and Halajcio finished the drive with a 3-yard touchdown run to make it 44-14.

“We were up 7-6 near the end of the first quarter on a top-five team in the state,” Knoch coach Tim Burchett. “I just told them, if that’s the measuring stick, that’s what you got to do. You can’t let the ball go over your head, and you got to make tackles in space against, really, Division-I type talent.”

Tags: Knoch, Montour