Dread it, run from it, Bo Swanson’s ability to teleport into the offensive backfield arrives all the same. Grace Baptist continued their epic run through the eight-man football circuit with a 44-0 laugher against Zion Christian Academy. The Golden Eagles’ junior tackle had two sacks and three tackles for loss as the visiting team from Columbia failed to get anything going on offense.
Cooper Knecht picked off a pass, but his greatest contributions came on the offensive side of the ball.
He threw for three first half touchdowns as the efficient signal-caller for the best eight-man offense in the south. He picked out Cole Mason for a nine yard pass to end the first quarter, and then blew the game open with a 20 point second quarter.
Knecht hit halfback Tyler Parrott for 12 yards with 8:14 left in the second, and then six minutes later he connected with Mason Long for a 34 yard scoring strike. The dual-threat then showed off his wheels on a 10 yard touchdown run. Long did more than just catch touchdowns too. The receiver took back Zion’s second-half kickoff 80 yards to the house to put Grace Baptist up by over 30.
The backups (if there even is such a thing on Grace Baptist’s 17 man roster) played for much of the fourth quarter. Reserve quarterback Wesley Thompson made the most of his opportunity in the redzone when he threw a three yard score to Avery Ivarson. Grace Baptist is now 7-0 on the season, and travels to Franklin for a showdown with Franklin Christian Academy.
GAME SUMMARY/STATISTICS
ZION CHRISTIAN: 00 00 00 00 - 00
GRACE BAPTIST: 08 20 08 08 - 44
SCORING SUMMARY:
First Quarter:
GB 00:45 Cooper Knecht 9yd pass to Cole Mason (Knecht run)
Second Quarter:
GB 8:14 Cooper Knecht 12yd pass to Tyler Parrott (pass failed)
GB 2:29 Cooper Knecht 34yd pass to Mason Long (Mason pass from Knecht)
GB 1:37 Cooper Knecht 10yd run (pass failed)
Third Quarter:
GB 11:48 Mason Long 80yd kickoff return (Caleb Adams run)
Fourth Quarter:
GB 5:44 Wesley Thompson 3yd pass to Avery Ivarson (Thompson run)
STATISTICS:
Zion Grace
FIRST DOWNS: 7 20
RUSHING YARDS: 62 169
PASSING YARDS: 50 135
PASSING: 9-21-2 13-16-0
TOTAL YARDS: 112 304
INDIVIDUAL STATS:
RUSHING:
ZION RUSHING: Seth King 6-44, Jaron Leyser 8-18, Logan Abbott 5-7, Jack Williams 1-(-1), Caleb Keys 4-(-6)
GRACE RUSHING: Caleb Adams 5-77, Wesley Thompson 6-45, Cooper Knecht 7-43-1td, Tyler Parrott 2-6, Jacob Mock 1-0, Carson Knecht 2-(-2)
PASSING:
ZION PASSING: Jaron Leyser 9-21-50yds-0td-2ints
GRACE PASSING: Cooper Knecht 10-12-127yds-3tds, Wesley Thompson 3-4-8yds-1td
RECEIVING:
ZION RECEIVING: Brandon Porter 3-43, Max Brown 5-6, Caleb Keys 1-1
GRACE RECEIVING: Tyler Parrott 2-49-1td, Cole Mason 7-39-1td, Mason Long 1-34-1td, Caleb Adams 1-9, Avery Ivarson 1-3-1td, Carson Knecht 1-1