Central Valley's Landon Alexander (#23) celebrates after scoring the first regular season touchdown for the Warriors in 2021 as the defending state champs routed the Knights 62-0 in Saxonburg.
By Jake DeLuca
From the opening kickoff, the Warriors of Central Valley showed just why they are the defending PIAA Class 3A Champions.
Knoch was the recipient of the opening kickoff, a pooch kick that deflected off a Knight player before going out of bounds and while the Knights recovered the ball, that would set the tone for Friday night's game.
The Warriors then held the Knights' offense in check until the final drive of the the first half where Keagan Fraser scampered for a pair of first downs, but were still held off the scoreboard as Central Valley took a 49-0.
In the first half the Warriors scored early and often, starting with a 13-yard scamper by senior running back Landon Alexander. Alexa
nder later added a receiving touchdown to his tally, giving him a pair of TD's on the day to go along with his 90 yards of offense.
The Warriors and Knights both subbed in the backups for the entirety of the second half, not wanting to risk injury with the game already decided.
Central Valley out-gained Knoch by over 300 yards as the Warriors finished with 264 yards on the ground along with 171 yards through the air.
After the game, Knoch Head Coach Brandon Mowry reflected on his team's performance.
"There were a lot of times tonight where we were there to make plays and there were plays to be had out there, and we didn't finish on those certain plays," Coach Mowry said.
"My hats off to Coach Lyons, because that team's going to be at Heinz Field and we're going to see them making some noise this year, but we just have to stay together, fight, and battle."
The Knights will be in-store for another tough opponent this week as the Freeport Yellowjackets come to Saxonburg for a little cross-town rivalry game between the two neighboring schools.
You can catch that game live here on hightopsportsnetwork.com with our pre-game starting at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, September 3rd with opening kickoff slated for 7:00 p.m.