This was a great, great ball game; very impressed with both teams; understandable that both were still undefeated going into December; hated to see one have to lose...NN had ball first and went 65+ yards in three plays with a 20 yd run from RB #6 Dywhaun Mitchell, 20 yd run from QB #5 Keno Jones, 25+ yard pass from Jones (I think it was #7 Yasin Davis McKinney) to make it 1st & Goal around the 2 or 3, but the 71st defense held, aided by a 5 yard penalty against NN, and the Knights had to settle for a FG from Bryson Jenkins to take a 3-0 lead. The Falcons came back right down the field, converting three third downs to keep drives alive and get into the red zone, but they turned the ball over on downs at the NN 5 yd line, with a huge stand by the NN front seven, leaving a 10 play, 60+ yard drive netting zero points...rest of the first half was all defense....not all 3 and outs, as the Falcon offense did not put up any points but they converted a number of third downs (they must have been either 6/8 or 7/9 on third downs in the first half) to stay on the field but could never break through, while NN also moved the ball but also never had a drive as successful as their first one, it was still 3-0 at halftime
71st had the ball first in 3rd qtr and NN defense forced a 3 & out, but then after a game with little scoring, it felt like nothing but scoring and big plays for the rest of the game: After a punt, the NN offense then went right down the field to extend the lead....some runs by RB & QB, some short passes and run after the catch, maybe one play with a pass down the field, but it was Jones on a QB keeper for the score, and a Jenkins extra point to make it 10-0. Then, the Falcons went right down the field, led by RB #3 Anthony Quinn Jr....I didn't keep game stats but I would guess he had close to 150 yards on 17 or 18 carries; he made one of the toughest runs I've seen all season where he broke 3 separate tackle attempts on one play going right up the middle (and by the way, there were not many broken or missed tackles this entire game for either team; a testament to how good these defenses are and why they were both 14-0), anyway, 71st scored to get within 10-6 but missed the 2 point try....NN had the ball next and on the first play, Dywhaun Mitchell burst into the clear for what appeared to be about a 70-75 yard TD run but it was called back for offensive holding...from there, the Knight offense was behind the chains and went 3 & out and had to punt. 71st answered with another big drive to take their first lead of the game, which happened on the first play of the 4th qtr, with Quinn running to the right on what looked like a power running play with a pulling guard out in front, plus a successful 2 point conversion from Donovan Frederick (his first touch of the game), giving the Falcons a 14-10 lead. NN answered immediately, going right down the field, using mainly the QB Jones running and passing (great corps or WRs by the way for NN with Randall King and Trey Battle along with McKinney mentioned earlier, and oh, a TE that I will mention later)....but the big play to take the lead back was a breakaway run by Mitchell; probably about 25 yards, Jenkins PAT good to put NN back ahead 17-14 with about 10 minutes to play in 4th quarter. The Falcons answered again with another long drive, featuring more good QB play from #11 Deandre Nance, some tough runs from Quinn, and big 3rd down conversion from Frederick (on his second touch of the game), but after mainly running the ball and throwing short passes all night, the Falcons connected on a deep ball, from Nance to (I think) #23 Aaron Downing who had beaten his man and hauled in a TD pass. Frederick ran in another 2 point conversion to extend the 71st lead to 22-17, with somewhere around 4 or 5 minutes left in the 4th qtr....NN's offense went right back to work with Jones, Mitchell, King, Battle, McKinney, and maybe their ironman #99 Ashton Rhodes....he rarely came off of the field, playing practically every snap at DE and moving around on offense; he is listed as a TE and might line up as a TE sometimes, but he lined up as a fullback and was the lead blocker on the previous TD run by Mitchell; and often split out as a WR in a trips or quads formation...anyway, on what would be the game winning drive, he caught a huge pass from Jones on a 3rd and long play with a little over 2 minutes left to set up 1st & Goal, then four plays later, he caught a 7 yd TD pass from Jones on 4th & Goal with just under 1 minute left, then the 2 pt try was not good so the Knights led 23-22, Falcons would have less than a minute, and no timeouts to work with, they picked up 2 first downs and drove the ball out close to midfield, but on their final play, there was a flag for an illegal shift, which would have nullified anything miraculous but the desperation heave was batted down by the NN defense around the 10 yard line
I was impressed when I saw NN beat Bunn two months ago in a regular season game, but in that game, Bunn was just overmatched by a more dominant team.....71st & NN was a great matchup of two teams who do things differently on offense but both play tough hard-nosed defense with good size up front and they execute; they rarely miss tackles, both of these teams, great ball game to have witnessed
71st had the ball first in 3rd qtr and NN defense forced a 3 & out, but then after a game with little scoring, it felt like nothing but scoring and big plays for the rest of the game: After a punt, the NN offense then went right down the field to extend the lead....some runs by RB & QB, some short passes and run after the catch, maybe one play with a pass down the field, but it was Jones on a QB keeper for the score, and a Jenkins extra point to make it 10-0. Then, the Falcons went right down the field, led by RB #3 Anthony Quinn Jr....I didn't keep game stats but I would guess he had close to 150 yards on 17 or 18 carries; he made one of the toughest runs I've seen all season where he broke 3 separate tackle attempts on one play going right up the middle (and by the way, there were not many broken or missed tackles this entire game for either team; a testament to how good these defenses are and why they were both 14-0), anyway, 71st scored to get within 10-6 but missed the 2 point try....NN had the ball next and on the first play, Dywhaun Mitchell burst into the clear for what appeared to be about a 70-75 yard TD run but it was called back for offensive holding...from there, the Knight offense was behind the chains and went 3 & out and had to punt. 71st answered with another big drive to take their first lead of the game, which happened on the first play of the 4th qtr, with Quinn running to the right on what looked like a power running play with a pulling guard out in front, plus a successful 2 point conversion from Donovan Frederick (his first touch of the game), giving the Falcons a 14-10 lead. NN answered immediately, going right down the field, using mainly the QB Jones running and passing (great corps or WRs by the way for NN with Randall King and Trey Battle along with McKinney mentioned earlier, and oh, a TE that I will mention later)....but the big play to take the lead back was a breakaway run by Mitchell; probably about 25 yards, Jenkins PAT good to put NN back ahead 17-14 with about 10 minutes to play in 4th quarter. The Falcons answered again with another long drive, featuring more good QB play from #11 Deandre Nance, some tough runs from Quinn, and big 3rd down conversion from Frederick (on his second touch of the game), but after mainly running the ball and throwing short passes all night, the Falcons connected on a deep ball, from Nance to (I think) #23 Aaron Downing who had beaten his man and hauled in a TD pass. Frederick ran in another 2 point conversion to extend the 71st lead to 22-17, with somewhere around 4 or 5 minutes left in the 4th qtr....NN's offense went right back to work with Jones, Mitchell, King, Battle, McKinney, and maybe their ironman #99 Ashton Rhodes....he rarely came off of the field, playing practically every snap at DE and moving around on offense; he is listed as a TE and might line up as a TE sometimes, but he lined up as a fullback and was the lead blocker on the previous TD run by Mitchell; and often split out as a WR in a trips or quads formation...anyway, on what would be the game winning drive, he caught a huge pass from Jones on a 3rd and long play with a little over 2 minutes left to set up 1st & Goal, then four plays later, he caught a 7 yd TD pass from Jones on 4th & Goal with just under 1 minute left, then the 2 pt try was not good so the Knights led 23-22, Falcons would have less than a minute, and no timeouts to work with, they picked up 2 first downs and drove the ball out close to midfield, but on their final play, there was a flag for an illegal shift, which would have nullified anything miraculous but the desperation heave was batted down by the NN defense around the 10 yard line
I was impressed when I saw NN beat Bunn two months ago in a regular season game, but in that game, Bunn was just overmatched by a more dominant team.....71st & NN was a great matchup of two teams who do things differently on offense but both play tough hard-nosed defense with good size up front and they execute; they rarely miss tackles, both of these teams, great ball game to have witnessed
