Ethen Knox runs wild for Oil City as Erie County is swept in the D-10 3A football playoffs
It takes a lot to keep Ethen Knox out of a football game.
For example against Conneaut, he left the game for one play to catch his breath after running for a 91-yard touchdown that was called back on a hold.
Earlier this season, an Achilles injury kept him from playing against North East, which made him antsy to get back on the field after the Oilers lost 35-0.
After going weeks without practicing and sticking to playing in just games to try and fight through his injury, Knox looked like he was nearly 100% on Friday as he finally got his chance to play the Grapepickers.
The speedy senior ran for 372 yards and five touchdowns, including 210 yards and three touchdowns in the first half, as Oil City handled North East 51-14 in a District 10 Class 3A football quarterfinal at Veterans Stadium.
“I was so excited to get back and I saw a lot of stuff that was said on social media,” Knox said. “But I just focused on what I was doing and focused on the game and wanted to play hard.”
Oil City (7-3) moves on to the D-10 semifinals next week against top-seeded Sharon. The two teams knocked out two Erie County teams as Erie County finished the night 0-for-4 in the 3A playoffs. Sharon beat Fairview 28-0, Grove City handled Fort LeBoeuf 35-0 and Hickory routed General McLane 44-12. Grove City and Hickory will play in the other semifinal as a Region 3 rematch from this season.
Knox dominated through the game on Friday as he finished the first half with 28 carries for 210 yards and three touchdowns. He finished with 36 carries as Oil City played the reserves in for most of the second half.
Knox had touchdown runs of 59, 3 and 14 in the first half before breaking a 78-yard touchdown run to start the third quarter and he finished the game with a 28-yard touchdown run as well.
“I feel great. The big key was to keep running the ball and we had some great blocks,” Knox said. “We saw a few things on practice and went through them in practice and it worked.”
The Oilers finished with more than 500 yards of offense as Sean Alexander ran for 40 yards and one touchdown, Jon Hargenrader ran for 66 yards and one touchdown and Kevin Pearsall ran for 30 yards.
The Oil City defense held North East (8-3) to 264 yards of offense and forced four turnovers, including interceptions by Cole Findlay, Brayden Buzard and Gavin Stephens and a fumble forced by Knox and recovered by Lenny Liebold.
North East scored twice on electric plays as Jamari Curlett scored on a 28-yard catch where he ran more than 50 yards side to side to break through the Oiler defense and Donnell Gamble hauled in a 46-yard TD pass from Jackson Humes to cut the Oil City lead to 22-14.
“The defense really stepped it up. We had a player break his arm and a sophomore had to step in for him,” Pearsall said. “He really played well. We applied pressure and knew we had to shut down 7 (Curlett) and we did our job. Creating four turnovers won us the game. We just need to apply pressure and play hard.”
Sharon gets another shutout
NEW WILMINGTON ― The vaunted Sharon defense was at it again Friday as the Tigers shut out Fairview 28-0 in the D-10 Class 3A quarterfinals at Wilmington High School. Sharon (7-2) moves on to the D-10 semifinals next week against Oil City, while Fairview ends the season 6-4.
Sharon shut down Fairview throughout the game while slowly building a lead. Cortez Nixon ran for a 2-yard touchdown in the first quarter before CC Harrison broke a 62-yard touchdown run in the second. Mister Ham added a touchdown run for Sharon in the third quarter before throwing a 14-yard TD pass to Harrison in the fourth. Ham ran for 80 yards on 12 carries, while Nixon had 74 yards on eight carries and Harrison ran for 57 yards on two carries.
Sharon held Fairview to 239 yards of total offense as quarterback Vinny Campoli threw for 107 yards and ran for 56 in the loss.
General McLane falls to Hickory
GREENVILLE ― Zander Telesz had a hand in three touchdowns Friday as Hickory handled General McLane 44-12 in the District 10 Class 3A football quarterfinals at Greenville High School. Hickory (8-2) heads to the D-10 semifinals against Grove City next week, while General McLane finishes the season 6-5.
Telesz started the scoring with a 63-yard touchdown pass to Tylon Cousin before running in a 15-yard touchdown. Sean Kennedy added a touchdown run and Lukas Jones hit a 32-yard field goal as Hickory led 23-6 at the half. Telesz added a 38-yard interception return for a touchdown while Keenan Scullin and Kelvin Morrison ran for touchdowns for the Hornets. Telesz ran for 78 yards on eight carries and Morrison had 10 carries for 70 yards.
Contact Tom Reisenweber at treisenweber@timesnews.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @ETNreisenweber.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie County is swept out of the D-10 Class 3A football playoffs
