Northmor suffered its first loss of the season in football on Friday at home against conference rival Centerburg.

The Golden Knights fell into an early deficit and couldn’t bounce back in falling by a 14-12 margin. Currently, Northmor and Highland both have 5-1 league records going into their Friday match-up with the Scots, while East Knox is 4-1 and Centerburg is 4-2.

The Trojans led 14-0 early in the second quarter after getting a scoring pass from Jack Gregory to Caylan LeMaster in the first period and a long scoring run from Tyler Johnson in the opening minute of the second. Northmor scored late in the half when Marcus Cortez ran the ball in from the three-yard line. A missed extra point put them in a 14-6 hole going into the intermission, though.

Northmor struck again in the third period on a one-yard run by Cortez. The Golden Knights couldn’t convert on a two-point try, though, and they would not be able to score again.

Cortez ran for 137 yards and passed for 49 in the game, while Lower added 118 on the ground. Both Lower and Griffin Workman had two catches, while Trenton Ramos picked up three receptions.

Highland Scots

A furious fourth quarter rally by East Knox pushed them past Highland 27-20, giving the Scots their first KMAC loss this season.

Highland led 20-7 with 12 minutes to play, but the Bulldogs reached the end zone three times during that time to stun the Scots.

Highland jumped out to a lead in the second quarter with a pair of touchdowns. Dane Nauman ran for a 65-yard score and Cooper Merckling followed with a scoring pass of 15 yards to Jay Melchiori, as the Scots held a 13-0 lead going into the half.

A touchdown pass from Peyton Lester to Carson Steinmetz trimmed that lead to a 13-7 margin, but Highland had their lead back up to 13 by the end of the period after Nauman scored again — this time on a 20-yard run.

However, East Knox would open the fourth quarter with a short scoring run by Shane Knepp and then got touchdown runs from Cole Delaughder and Knepp in the final 3:03 of the game to finish on top.

Nauman tallied 178 yards on the ground, while Cody Matthews finished with 43. Merckling finished with 92 yards through the air on eight completions, with Melchiori tallying six catches for 83 yards.

By Rob Hamilton

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Rob Hamilton can be reached at 419-946-3010, ext. 1807. Connect with him on Twitter at @SportsMCS