‘Feed me,’ Bishop Kelly senior said. Then he ran for 315 yards to beat his hometown team
Seth Knothe told Bishop Kelly to feed him. And the Knights obliged.
The 4A classification’s leading rusher ran for 315 yards and five TDs on a whopping 42 carries Friday, strapping the Knights on his back for a 51-42 win over No. 4-ranked Middleton.
The game was Bishop Kelly High’s homecoming. But it also represented a homecoming for Knothe, who grew up in Middleton before moving and transferring to Bishop Kelly as a freshman.
“There’s nothing better than playing them on our home turf, on homecoming,” Knothe said. “I was just so turned up with how good our line was doing. Our line was pushing back. Everyone was pushing back and going hard.
“That’s why I was saying, ‘Feed me.’ I just wanted it.”
Knothe pounded his hometown school’s defense over and over again Friday, imposing his will on the Vikings (4-2, 3-1 4A SIC). Wherever the Knights handed him the ball, he found plenty of green space and even more defenders incapable of bringing him down.
Bishop Kelly (4-2, 3-1) normally features several options in its power-run game to wear down opponents. But they all took a back seat to Knothe on Friday. The only other player to register a carry was quarterback Hadley Smith (10 carries, 43 yards).
Knothe points out his fullbacks are all faster than him in track season. But none could take a single carry out of Knothe’s hands Friday.
“He’s just different,” Bishop Kelly football coach Tim Brennan said. “We’ve had backs that maybe were faster. But we haven’t had backs that were as physical and just as talented as he is.
“He’s as good as we’ve had for a long time.”
Friday’s numbers — 315 yards, five touchdowns — may jump off the page. But they’ve become stunningly average for Knothe. He ran for 307 yards and five TDs in the season opener against Eagle (35-33 loss). And he ran for 276 yards and five more TDs two weeks ago against Nampa (42-21 win).
“It’s starting to be hard work paying off,” Knothe said. “I worked my butt off all summer, all last spring. And I really got my team to put in work, too, and my line. I’m glad we could all work hard. The summer is paying off for all of us.”
SHOOTOUT OF TOP OFFENSES
The rivalry game featured the top two scoring offenses in 4A. Middleton led the classification with 41.6 points per game entering Friday, and Bishop Kelly ranked second at 33 points per game.
Neither team disappointed. The shootout saw a single punt as the Knights and Vikings combined for 1,068 yards of offense.
Bishop Kelly’s defense finally got the stop it needed late in the fourth quarter. Cole Miller applied tight coverage on Tate Johansen on fourth-and-4 at midfield, forcing an incompletion. Bishop Kelly then ran out the rest of the clock.
Friday marked the third straight win for the Knights, and the third straight time they’ve scored more than 40 points. All three came after a 21-0 loss at Emmett to open conference play, Bishop Kelly’s first shutout loss since 2008.
Brennan said his young team responded to the loss and keeps gaining valuable experience each week.
“It was kind of a wakeup call,” Knothe said. “After our first couple games, we thought we were really good. And then we kind of got a little too comfortable.
“We slipped up in the Emmett game. And then after that, we just got a different motivation and really turned it around.”
MIDDLETON LEADERS
The loss obscured another productive night from Middleton quarterback Ky McClure, who finished with six total touchdowns.
He completed 32-of-48 passes for 353 yards and three TDs with one interception. He also ran for 99 yards and three more scores.
Tyler Medaris stood as his top target, hauling in 11 passes for 134 yards. Tyson Amlingmeier (8 catches, 90 yards) and Owen Graviet (4 catches, 78 yards) also caught touchdown passes.
UP NEXT
Bishop Kelly hosts Caldwell (0-6, 0-4) next week. Middleton hosts reigning 4A SIC champ and conference leader Emmett (5-1, 4-0).
This story was originally published October 1, 2021 at 11:44 PM.
