Times Observer photo by Steve Younger Eisenhower’s Logan Penley follows the block of fullback Tucker Lindell during Friday’s game in Russell.

RUSSELL — The Eisenhower football team closed out its regular season with a 21-14 win against Girard.

It was a tale of two halves for the Knights, who scored all of their points before intermission, which was enough to hold on for the win.

Eisenhower kicked off to the Yellow Jackets and forced them into a fourth-and-4, but a sack by the Knights’ Tucker Lindell turned the ball over on downs.

Eisenhower’s defense was stout all night and played with a bend-but-don’t-break mentality forced the Yellow Jackets into a third-and-8, but another sack, this time by defensive tackle Colin Sobkowski forced Girard to punt and left the Knights in great field position on Girard’s 39-yard line

Four plays later, senior Cole Kellogg took a handoff and ran 18 yards for the score. Kellogg would add the first of his three successful extra points to put the Knights up 7-0 with 33 seconds left in the first quarter.

Another sack by Eisenhower, this time by junior Aiden Huebach forced a quick punt. The Knights would use the next five minutes by pounding the ball inside by Lindell and outside by Logan Penley, and a 25-yard completion to senior Derek Childs to drive down to the 5-yard line, when Lindell would score the first of his two touchdowns to put the Knights in front 14-0.

The Yellow Jackets took over and would use only 34 seconds of the clock after three straight incompletions and were forced to punt. Eisenhower got a 30-yard punt return from Pascuzzi to put the ball on the Girard 43-yard line.

The Knights would continue to run the ball and, when combined with completions to Childs and sophomore Gavin Lindemuth, it set the Knights up with a first and goal from the 9-yard line. Lindell would score on the next play and Kellogg’s kick put the Knights up 21-0 at the half.

The Yellow Jackets came out on fire in the second half and would force a fumble on Eisenhower’s first possession of the second half and would need only two plays to score on a Jeremiah Colin 5-yard touchdown run to close the gap to 21-7 after Tyler Gilmore’s successful PAT kick.

Girard forced a punt and was deep in its own end of the field when Childs would intercept a Girard pass and return it to the Yellow Jackets 18-yard line.

The Yellow Jackets’ defense was aided by Eisenhower penalties and Pascuzzi’s pass fell short on fourth down to end the drive.

Girarad took advantage of a Knights’ fumble and after a 27-yard run by Colon and a 20-yard pass reception by James Kibbe, Colon would score on a 3-yard run. Gilmore’s kick was good to make it 21-14 just one minute into the fourth quarter.

The Yellow Jackets recovered their onside kick and took over on the Eisenhower 39-yard line. After a 24-yard run by quarterback Carson Stevens and back-to-back incompletions, Lindemuth batted down Stevens pass. Steven then had his fourth-down pass, which fell incomplete with 5:59 remaining.

With Girard out of timeouts, the Knights were able to run out the clock to finish the regular season 7-3. They will now await a call from the District 10 playoff selection committee over the weekend to determine their next opponent.

“We played as good as we have all year in the first half and it was a good thing we were able to put 21 points on the board as Girard came out on fire,” Eisenhower head coach Jim Penley said. “We had a couple guys out with injuries, which forced us to make some adjustments and moved a couple guys around, but we played 10-man football in the second half. We have to avoid the mental mistakes as we head into the playoffs next week.”