CINCINNATI — Ross put together a late comeback but came up just short, falling to Northwest 14-12.
Northwest dominated the first half. The Knights jumped out to an early lead on their first possession. A 70-yard opening touchdown drive for Northwest ended with Elijah Sterling hauling in a Jaylen Lilly touchdown pass.
The Knights tacked on a 2-point conversion to go up 8-0 early.
The opening Northwest drive featured two crucial third-down conversions that sustained the scoring drive. Converting sometimes on third downs to sustain drives would become a trend for the Knights. Both of the Knights’ first-half scoring drives featured several.
Northwest added to its lead late in the first half with another Lilly-to-Sterling touchdown pass with just seconds before the half. The Knights’ short touchdown drive was the result of the Northwest defense. The Knights forced a Ram punt from their own end zone after pushing the Ross offense moving backwards.
“The third-down conversions in the first half were obviously big momentum things for them. It was just a lack of us being able to tackle in space,” said Ross head coach Kenyon Commins. “I’ll be honest, I’m in year 11, and that’s probably the second-best Northwest team I think I’ve seen; they were making plays, and we weren’t making them.”
The Ross offense struggled to gain ground throughout the first half. Costly penalties and miscues stifled Ram drives repeatedly.
Northwest took a comfortable 14-0 lead to halftime. When the second half got underway, a different Ross team emerged. The Rams forced a turnover on the Knights’ first possession of the half. The middle of the Rams defense punched the ball out of a Northwest ball carrier, and Ross linebacker Connor Grant pounced on the ball, giving the Rams a much-needed shot of energy.
After a Northwest personal foul set the Rams up on the Northwest 26-yard line, Ross running back Carter Gipson capitalized. Gipson took a handoff from quarterback Grayson Huff and burst through a huge hole in the Northwest defense and went untouched 26 yards to the end zone.
The extra point was blocked, but the score was enough to begin building momentum for the Rams.
“I was reading that edge; he worked out, so I cut under and saw the block for the slot receiver and cut off of it,” Ross running back Carter Gipson said. “It was great, it really moved our sideline energy up a lot, I think that’s what helped us work down and get that other score later in the game.”
The Rams defense began to take control of the game. The next Northwest drive resulted in a Charlie Armstrong interception for the Rams. A couple of costly penalties ruined any chance of Ross capitalizing on the turnover.
“Talking about penalty yardage, we got 40 yards worth of penalties on one play for us. We got a big pick that sets us up at midfield, we got a block in the back and a personal foul,” Commins said. “That’s very uncharacteristic for us, that’s undisciplined football. With 20 seniors that shouldn’t be happening, we got to get that corrected and that starts tomorrow morning.”
Ross was running out of time and opportunities. Northwest was still comfortably up 14-12 with just minutes remaining. Northwest held the Ross offense to another three-and-out deep in Ross territory. The Rams were forced to punt from their own 22-yard line.
That punt never happened.
Ross punter JJ Buehner took the Levi Smith snap, tucked it, and took off for the sideline. Buehner dodged Northwest defenders as he scampered 12 yards and was dragged down just past the first-down marker.
The Rams had a new lease on life and didn’t waste it. Behind a couple of Huff passes, the Rams marched down to the Northwest 21-yard line with just under a minute to play.
The next play, Huff threw a strike to senior Alex Galante in the back of the end zone with just 57 seconds remaining. The Rams found themselves just a 2-point conversion away from knotting things up at 14-all.
The 2-point try was stuffed as the Knights’ defensive front penetrated the Rams’ offensive line and met Huff in the backfield.
As if the late Ross touchdown and Northwest stuffing the 2-point try weren’t exciting enough, Ross was about to perfectly execute the most exciting play in football: the onside kick.
Ross lined up and kicked a bouncing kick that was exactly 10 yards downfield, where a herd of Rams converged on just a few Knights. The battle for the ball ended up with the Rams and left the game still up for grabs.
Crafty clock management and quick Huff passes moved the Rams within striking distance at the Knights’ 26-yard line with just 20 seconds to play. The excitement would end right there for the Rams. The next play, a fumbled Ross snap resulted in a Northwest recovery, and the Knights fans breathed a huge sigh of relief.
“We got to get the offense cranked back up,” Commins said. “We got to get healthy and get better against pressure.”
Northwest took a knee to run the clock out and began to celebrate the 3-0 start. The Knights will look to push their record to 4-0 next week on the road at Carroll.
Ross falls to 1-2 and will be on the road next week when they take on Wilmington.
Other Week 3 scores:
Alter 44, Taft 12
Anderson 51, Little Miami 14
Badin 31, Edgewood 7
Bellbrook 22, Valley View 0
Blanchester 36, Madison 26
Brookville 35, Northridge 8
Carlisle 20, Bethel 12
Carroll 15, Ponitz 14
Cathedral (Ind.) 30, St. Xavier 21
Chaminade Julienne 28, Hartley 0
CHCA 24, Madeira 12
Clark Montessori 39, Finneytown 0
Deer Park 48, Miami Valley Christian 6
Elder 42, East Central (Ind.) 7
Fairmont 24, La Salle 21
Fenwick 39, Franklin 14
Gamble Montessori 20, Norwood 6
Goshen 34, Aiken 12
Hamilton 31, Sycamore 21
Hughes 30, Roger Bacon 27
Indian Hill 56, New Richmond 14
Ironton 17, McNicholas 10
Kings 41, Loveland 14
Lakota East 31, Oak Hills 28
Lakota West 35, Mason 10
Lebanon 34, West Clermont 20
Middletown 27, Fairfield 20
North College Hill 53, Bethel-Tate 0
Northwest 14, Ross 12
Oakwood 42, Milton-Union 0
Preble Shawnee 52, New Miami 0
Princeton 49, Colerain 6
Purcell Marian 18, Meadowdale 6
Reading 48, Woodward 0
St. Bernard-Elmwood Place 54, Shroder 0
Talawanda 38, Eaton 6
Turpin 43, Walnut Hills 19
Waynesville 52, Hillsboro 13
Western Hills 66, Cincinnati Country Day 48
Williamsburg 27, Mariemont 14
Winton Woods 50, Milford 28
Wyoming 42, Monroe 21
