In a game that was mostly played between the tackles, it was West Middlesex that spoiled the Knights’ first Saturday afternoon home game since 1993 with a 32-0 victory.

“They’re a hell of a program, a Mercer County power, and we only have two seniors playing on the field,” said Eisenhower coach Jim Penley. “I was concerned about how this game was going to go. When you take away what’s basically four big plays, we punched them in the mouth today. With all respect to them. That’s a good team.”

The Big Reds ran 20 offensive plays in the first half, going for 143 yards. A total of 119 of those yards came on two plays – a 38-yard pass play from quarterback Ty Tate to Zeb Rubaker that set up their first score late in the first quarter, and an 81-yard touchdown run from Jason Davis in the second quarter that made it 13-0, which was the score at halftime.

The Tate to Rubaker connection set up a first-and-goal from the 4-yard line. The Knights stuffed three consecutive running plays before the duo connected across the middle on fourth-and-goal.

Eisenhower’s Trevor Welker drags down West Middlesex’s Alex Rea in the open field during Saturday’s game at the Pasture of Pain.

Davis’ run came at the 5:39 mark of the second quarter and was at a point when the Eisenhower defense had settled in. The Big Reds nearly scored on their final drive of the half, but a sack from freshman Connor Younger helped prevent that.

“This is one of the best teams in District 10,” Penley said of the Big Reds, who fell to eventual state champ Farrell in the D-10 1A title game last season. “You start out with GM and Harbor Creek (scrimmage) and then West Middlesex … we know who we are right now. We know our deficiencies, we just need to be able to fix them. We went toe-to-toe, it was just those big plays we gave up.”

Conversely, the Big Reds defense kept the Knights in check. Of the 44 yards of offense they had in the first half, 34 of them came from sophomore fullback Cael Black on six carries. Middlesex was able to keep the speedy Zane Alexander in check.

“Cael Black ran phenomenally,” Penley said. “We couldn’t get Zane going, but they were trying to take away his speed, take away the toss. We were a little banged up on the offensive line after the second quarter, but I felt like the offensive line did a good job of getting off the ball. Again, being a younger group, we weren’t picking up some of those guys that were filling from linebacker. And again, having this film is another great thing for them to see so they can continue to improve.”

The second half played out much like the first, although perhaps a bit more methodical, as the Big Reds chewed up over half the third-quarter clock before Tate’s 10-yard touchdown run.

Black broke off runs of 15 and 9 for the Knights and finished with a team-high 55 yards on 13 carries. That was pretty much it for the Knights’ offense, however.

Ian Smith capped another long drive with a 3-yard plunge early in the fourth and Smith broke free for his second long touchdown run of the game, this one a 66-yarder to close it out. He finished with 155 yards on the ground.

“It’s a great group. I’m excited about where they can go,” Penley said of his team. “The only negative is we have to wait until Monday to get to work again. If you take out the big plays, this is a 1-score game with just two teams punching each other in the mouth; old-school, defensive football. The difference was they broke some of those plays and we didn’t.”

The Knights travel to Union City on Friday, while West Middlesex also hits the road against Lakeview.

– – –

W.est Middlesex 7 6 7 13–32

Eisenhower 0 0 0 0–0

First Quarter

W – Zeb Rubaker 4 pass from Ty Tate (Ian Smith PAT)

Second Quarter

W – Jason Davis 81 run (PAT failed)

Third Quarter

W – Tate 10 run (2-point conversion failed)

Fourth Quarter

W – Smith 3 run (PAT blocked)

W – Davis 66 run (Smith PAT)

——

W E

First downs 9 6

Total Net Yards 338 93

Rushes-yards 30-281 36-85

Passing 57 8

Comp-Att-Int 3-7-0 4-7-1

Punts 1-0.0 5-23.8

Fumbles-Lost 1-0 0-0

Penalties-Yards 2-10 3-25

——

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING–West Middlesex. Jason Davis 8-155, Ty Tate 8-67, Ian Smith 12-59, Zeb Rubaker 2-0; Eisenhower, Cael Black 13-55, Owen Trumbull 3-19, Zane Alexander 18-10, Dillon Benson 2-1.

PASSING–West Middlesex, Ty Tate 4-of-7, 57 yards, 1 TD. Eisenhower, Owen Trumbull 4-of-7, 8 yards, 1 INT

RECEIVING–West Middlesex. Zeb Rubaker 2-40, Alex Rea 1-17 Los Angeles, Zane Alexander 2-6, Dillon Benson 2-2

INTERCEPTIONS BY – West Middlesex, Alex Rea

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