The Nordonia Knights were supposed to be the Bulldogs biggest competition that they had to play thus far. Well, it was up until the final six minutes of the fourth quarter where the Bulldogs pulled away to win the game 65-37 Friday night.

It was a crazy game, and at point the Knights cut the lead to 38-30 in the fourth quarter, but at the end of the night the Bulldogs took better care of the football and leaned on their running attack to move the ball.

The Bulldogs improved to 5-0 while the Knights dropped to 2-3 on the season.

Senior running back Jayson Gobble had a huge night. Rushing for 253 yards on 34 carries, Gobble also added five rushing touchdowns and one receiving touchdown.

The receiving touchdown was on a trick play where junior Logan Lindsay ended up throwing it to Jayson for a 43-yard score. Gobble took a handoff and pitched it back to Lindsay for the easy touchdown; this gave Stow huge momentum very early in the game.

“I was indifferent when the trick play was called,” Gobble said. “I just saw it as a chance to get yards and we took advantage of the opportunity.”

At halftime the score was 24-7 but it felt all but over. The average fan would know the Knights would not fold over. On their first possession in the second half the Knights were driving. This was until the Bulldogs forced one of the three turnovers they created when senior Monte Board recovered a fumble on the Bulldog 27 yard line, ending the Knights momentum.

Junior quarterback Kyle Vantrease had a solid game himself. Vantrease rushed for two touchdowns, including a savvy 18-yard rush that really deflated to the Knights.

On the following drive sophomore Joe Gobble put the final bite in the game with a 63- yard pick-six.

Stow’s next game is on Oct. 2, when the Twinsburg Tigers come into town.

“We knew from the Wadsworth game and one it would only get tougher,” Senior Owen Fankhauser said, “We will get everyone’s best shot, and we wouldn’t want it any other way.”