Eisenhower’s Logan Penley finds room to run Friday against Cochranton. Times Observer photo by Steve Younger

COCHRANTON — Eisenhower used a ball-control offense and an opportunistic defense to defeat Cochranton 33-8 in nonregion football Friday night.

After a scoreless first quarter that saw each team unable to move the football and each team punt twice, it was Eisenhower senior tailback Logan Penley who got the first touchdown at 9:45 of the second quarter on a 5-yard run, Bryceton Wilkins connected on the first of his three point-after kicks in the game to give the Knights a 7-0 lead.

Cochranton drove the ball down to the field only to see its drive end when Knights linebacker Nolan Gesing intercepted Noah Carrol’s pass at the 4-yard line.

After an Eisenhower fumble, the Cardinals saw their next drive end when Gesing recovered a fumble at midfield with 1:55 left in the half.

The Knights needed one minute to score when quarterback Caleb Jakubczak found Oliver Boozer for a catch and run for a 42-yard touchdown. The PAT kick was no good to make it 13-0 at the half.

The Knights received the second-half kickoff and used an eight-play drive consisting of all runs to take a 20-0 lead after Penley’s 11-yard touchdown run and another Wilkins PAT.

Eisenhower kept its composure as the Cardinals lost theirs. On a second-and-55, Carrol’s pass was intercepted by Hudson Haight on the Knights’ 16-yard line to end a Cochranton drive.

“I am extremely proud of our guys tonight,” Eisenhower head coach Jim Penley said. “We played smart football and never lost our heads.”

The Knights would score just two minutes later when Jakubczak would race around the left side and go 75 yards for a touchdown. He finished the game with 161 yards on just 14 carries.

Eisenhower closed the scoring when Gesing ran through the middle for a 21-yard score and Wilkins added the kick.

“It was a great win, our first complete game in that we played all four quarters,” Coach Penley said. “I thought Nolan Gesing had a great game on both sides of the ball. Our offensive line opened up some big holes for both Jakubczak and Logan (Penley). I thought both of those guys ran really hard tonight.”

Penley ran for 106 yards on 16 carries and Gesing added 44 yards on seven carries.

The Knights are back in action next Friday when they travel to Union City for a Region 3 game.