Knights, Lee start fast, beat Patriots 48-16

Aug. 18—Northview's Tyler Lee rushed for 166 yards and three touchdowns — in the first quarter — and visiting Northview bolted to a 34-0 halftime lead that became a 48-16 win over Terre Haute North on Friday in the high school football opener for both teams.

The Patriots had a much better second half, beginning with a 52-yard, seven-play scoring drive to open the third quarter, but then the Knights got two touchdowns in nine seconds of clock time, meaning the clock ran continuously the rest of the way.

"We were able to jump on 'em early, and that was the plan," coach Mark Raetz of Northview said after the game. "It took a little bit longer to close it out."

"We just had to get [the Patriots] woke up," North coach Michael Ghant said when asked about his team's halftime discussion.

"And that includes us coaches. None of us showed up in the first quarter."

In less than six minutes, Lee had rushed for 114 yards and two scores — that's a 912-yards-per-game pace — and he finished with 196 yards and five touchdowns on just 12 carries. "That's what we expect Tyler to do," Raetz said.

Quarterback Kyle Cottee, who also had an interception defensively, rushed for 113 yards in 15 tries, getting the other two Northview touchdowns.

Northview's inexperienced offensive line — sophomore Kale Allen, junior Brandon Brewer, senior Aiden Swearingen (another defensive standout as well), junior Kenny Smith and senior Kenny Reedy — made a stellar first-half debut and gave their backs plenty of space to run through.

"They had some mistakes in the second half," Raetz said, "but for a lot of those guys it was their first varsity game, so to start the way they did? I was very happy for them."

The Knights' first drive took five plays, Lee scoring on a 31-yard run. His 63-yard run was the second play of Northview's next drive and his 44-yard burst the third play of the visitors' third drive.

He tallied on a 10-yard run in the first minute of the second quarter and Cottee made it five touchdowns in five drives later in that period. North had two sustained drives, both ended by interceptions by Northview sophomore Avery Perry.

North took the second-half kickoff and marched to its first score behind sophomore quarterback Harry Wetzel, who was 17 for 29 for 152 yards — veteran Kam Baker and junior Asiah Menke leading the Patriot receivers — and the Patriot defensive front put up much more resistance in the second half.

But despite that new stubbornness, Northview was able to answer North's touchdown with a 10-play scoring drive of its own, Cottee scoring from 7 yards out. Then North's kickoff return was bobbled and plucked out of the air by Northview's Carter Kumpf, and Kumpf returned the fumble to the 7-yard line, from where Lee scored on the next play.

Wetzel found Menke for his second touchdown in the first minute of the fourth quarter, but the running clock shortened the rest of the game considerably.

"Defensively, we've got to tackle, and obviously we've got to block," Ghant said after the game. "But I feel a lot better [after the second-half showing]. There are a lot of things we can build on. We'll take it week by week."

Northview 21 13 14 0 — 48

TH North 0 0 8 8 — 16

Nv — Tyler Lee 15 run (Luke Whitman kick), 9:06 1st

Nv — Lee 63 run (Whitman kick), 6:35 1st

Nv — Lee 44 run (Whitman kick), 2:40 1st

Nv — Lee 10 run (Whitman kick), 11:06 2nd

Nv — Kyle Cottee 23 run (pass failed), 4:01 2nd

THN — Asiah Menke 14 pass from Harrison Wetzel (Vince Dates pass from Wetzel), 8:54 3rd

Nv — Cottee 7 run (Whitman kick), 2:59 3rd

Nv — Lee 7 run (Whitman kick), 2:50 3rd

THN — Menke 21 pass from Wetzel (Dates pass from Wetzel), 11:13 4th

Nv THN

First downs 18 14

Rushes-yards 35-333 20-67

Passing yards 30 152

Comp-Att-Int 2-6-0 17-29-3

Return yards 42 0

Punts-avg 0-0 1-40

Fumbles-lost 0-0 2-1

Penalties-yards 8-60 12-125

Individual statistics

Rushing — Nv: Lee 12-196, Cottee 15-113, DeMarius McLawyer 5-32, Trayven Buis 1-2, Colton Bath 2-minus 10. THN: Wetzel 8-63, Menke 2-7, Connor Sconce 1-1, Sam Weihert 10-minus 4.

Passing — Nv: Cottee 2-5-0, 30 yards; Bath 0-1-0. THN: Wetzel 17-29-3, 152.

Receiving — Nv: Caelen Bell 2-30. THN: Kam Baker 8-57, Menke 4-73, Weihert 3-8, Dates 1-8, Dalton Hersman 1-6.

Next — Terre Haute North (0-1) plays at Indianapolis Crispus Attucks and Northview (1-0) hosts Greencastle next Friday.