But it doesn’t have to.

Northwestern sprinkled in a handful of splash plays and Eisenhower was unable to consistently finish off drives in the Knights 31-10 home loss to the Wildcats on Friday night in their Homecoming game.

Eisenhower got the first crack on offense and punted after a three-and-out and it took Northwestern two plays – both runs by Austin Swift – to cover 51 yards and take the quick 7-0 lead.

But the Knights responded with a drive that took seven minutes off the clock and was capped off by a 20-yard Jake Venman field goal.

Eisenhower coach Jim Penley talks to his team during a timeout.

The score remained 7-3 early into the second quarter until Northwestern completed one of its three passes on the night for a nine yard touchdown – Derek Albert to Mitchell Wienczikowski to push the lead to 14-3.

Eisenhower responded again, though, with less than two minutes until halftime.

Quarterback Owen Trumbull found an open Dillon Benson in the back corner for a touchdown to cut the lead to 14-10.

Northwestern was able to salvage a field goal in the final minute to take a 17-10 lead into the break.

The Knights forced a punt on the first drive of the second half and had something going with a Caleb Robinault 18 yard catch but a holding penalty wiped that play away and a second holding penalty thwarted the drive.

Eisenhower quarterback Owen Trumbull drops back to pass as Cael Black (34) runs a pass pattern.

The Wildcats, which averaged nearly 10 yards per carry on the night, punched it in from two yards out to stretch the lead to 24-10 at the five-minute mark of the fourth.

Trumbull fired an interception on the Knights first play of the next possession and Swift put the game away from here from there with a 45-yard touchdown run to round out the scoring.

Trumbull completed 19 of 30 passes for 158 yards, 74 of which went to Benson on seven catches. Northwestern was able to really limit the Knights rushing attack, holding the Knights to 67 rushing yards, led by Zane Alexander’s 29 yards on 11 carries and Cael Black’s 23 yards on 11 totes.

The Knights fall to 1-4 with the loss and will travel to Cambridge Springs next Friday night.

– - - 

Northwestern 7 10 0 14–31

Eisenhower 3 7 0 0–10

First Quarter

N – Austin Swift 24 run (Preston Runser kick), 10:00

E – Jake Venman 20 yard field goal, 2:39

Second Quarter

N – Derek Albert 9 pass to Mitchell Wienczikowski (Runser kick), 9:22

E – Owen Trumbull 4 pass to Dillon Benson (Venman kick), 1:48

E – Runser 35 yard field goal, :34

Third Quarter

No scoring

Fourth Quarter

N – Derek Albert 2 run (Runser kick), 5:14

N – Swit 45 run (Runser kick), 4:41

——

N E

First downs 10 11

Total Net Yards 293 225

Rushes-yards 27-255 33-67

Passing 38 158

Comp-Att-Int 3-8-0 19-30-1

Fumbles-Lost 2-1 0-0

Penalties-Yards 3-15 10-68

——

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING– Northwestern, Austin Swift 8-112, 2 TD, Frankie Valletta 12-49, Derek Albert 6-83 TD, Ryan Tewell 1-11. Eisenhower, Zane Alexander 16-29, Cael Black 11-23, Owen Trumbull 4-8, Dillon Benson 2-7.

PASSING– Northwestern

, Ryan Tewell 1-4, 12 yards, Albert 2-4, 26 yards, TD. Eisenhower, Trumbull 19-30, 158 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT.

RECEIVING– Mitchell Wienczikowski 1-9 TD, Derek Albert 1-17, Tanner Sumner 1-12. Eisenhower, Benson 7-74 TD, Alexander 4-20, Jared Beers 2-6, Caleb Robinault 4-32, Black 2-26.

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