Wellsville - The Knights traveled 70+ miles to do battle with the host Wellsville Lions on Friday evening, October 10th. The Lions were victims of some lopsided contests at the start of the season, but have since rebounded to field a physical squad that was able to execute well on offense, keeping the ball away from Brian Moran's Knights. In fact, there were but 3 total possessions in the 2nd half of the contest (2 by LeRoy) as the Lions took 12 minutes off the clock on a 71-yard drive that led to no points. The Knights' Andrew Fox was a mainstay on both sides of the ball with 60 yards rushing (2 TDs) and 8 tackles on defense. The defense surrendered 2 scores, one after an inadvertent whistle gave the Lions possession at the LeRoy 30. Junior LB Mike Pacer played great defense down the stretch for the Knights as he helped negate a final quarter drive by the Lions with some big tackles for negative yardage. The game marked the return of senior Tim Judge who returned to the lineup 6 weeks after suffering a shoulder injury in the Victor preseason scrimmage.

Wellsville took possession at the start of the contest but went 3-and-out after stellar defensive play by the Knights' Tim Dieffenbacher and Jason Spencer. The Knights were equally sluggish on their first drive of the contest and were forced to punt after 3 plays from the LeRoy 40 failed to earn a first down. Punter Slade Fitch and coverage man Jake Whiting pinned the locals at their 22. Wellsville managed to double their field position to the 44 before QB Brad Joyce's passes failed to connect with a teammate.

The Knights garnered possession at their 33 and wasted no time in putting a score on the board. LeRoy QB Brandon Klinkbeil, who turned in yet another fine performance on offense and defense, rolled right and hit flanker Jake Whiting in stride with a beautiful pass. Jake turned on the speed and motored down the sideline in front of the Wellsville bench for a 67-yard score. The kick failed and Knights had the lead 6-0 with just under 6 minutes left in the 1st quarter.

Wellsville started their next offensive series at their 31 and were met with a precarious 4th-and-1 at their 40. The Lions chose to go for it and were stuffed by the interior of the LeRoy defense - Ian Christiansen, Steve Angora, Tim Dieffenbacher, and Andrew Fox. The Knights were not able to take advantage of this stellar field position as a 4th-and-2 at the Wellsville 33 was stopped a yard shy of a first down after some excellent defense by the Lions.

Wellsville RB Don Joyce (16 carries-77 yards) started to run well through the LeRoy defense picking up runs of 13 and 11 yards. QB brother Brad Joyce passed well with some safe short gainers and Lions were on the move. Wellsville marched to the LeRoy 14 where Don Joyce found a perfect seam in the LeRoy defense and jetted into the end zone for a score. Brian Kania, all alone in the end zone, pulled in a PAT pass from QB Brad Joyce and the Lions had taken the lead at 8-6 with 9:53 showing on the clock before intermission.

The Knights needed to answer the score by the pumped up Lions. Wellsville tried a short kickoff which led to some excellent starting field position for the Knights, the LR 43. Running backs Andrew Fox and Mike Farabella rose to the occasion and rushed for tough yards against the fiery Wellsville defense. Fox received some excellent blocking on a 3rd-and-short from the Wellsville 27 and made his way to paydirt to put the Knights on top 12-8 at the 6:19 mark of the 2nd quarter. The PAT kick was no good.

Wellsville took possession and was not able to earn a first down against the LeRoy defense. A punt from their 45 earned unlikely dividends as the LeRoy returner muffed the punt and an official blew his whistle before possession could be gained by either squad. The ball was awarded to Wellsville at the LeRoy 30. A first down run by the shifty Don Joyce covered that distance and the Lions were ecstatic with a 14-12 lead. QB Brad Joyce ran for the PAT conversion to tack on 2 more points and push the Wellsville lead to 16-12.

The Knights were again rewarded with excellent field position at their 41 as again the Lions pooched a short kick toward the visitors. The Knights came up with some big plays to move toward a go ahead score - an 11-yard dash by Tim Judge, a nice pass from Klinkbeil to Dan Panek, and another 11-yard dash, this time by Andrew Fox. The Knights were faced with a 4th-and-7 at the Wellsville 30. Offensive coordinator Chris Cappotelli called for a pass and Klinkbeil tossed a beautifully lobbed ball to Panek for a 26-yard gain to the Wellsville 4. Fox bulled into the end zone for the go ahead score with just 35 seconds left in the first half. The PAT kick again was not successful and the Knights clung to an 18-16 lead at the half.

The Knights started the 2nd half with the ball and promptly moved the ball as QB Klinkbeil scrambled for nice yardage and also completed a beautiful screen in the flats to RB Mike Farabella who took off for a nice 29-yard pickup to the Wellsville 24. The Knights would move the pigskin to the Wellsville 9-yard line before the Wellsville defense and a false start penalty ended the scoring chance for the Knights.

Wellsville proceeded to hold onto the ball for an incredible 12 minutes. Scrambles, tough up the gut running, passes to the outside and over the middle, misdirection running, you name it, the Lions were successful in executing it as they penetrated to the LeRoy 15-yard line. LeRoy LB Mike Pacer took matters into his own tackling hands and dropped the Lions for -3 yards on the next 2 plays from scrimmage. Two passes fell incomplete and the Lions had nothing to show for their excellent ball control drive that stalled at the 19 yard line with just 7:11 remaining in the contest.

The Knights were able to convert two 4th down calls in the waning moments to keep possession of the ball. A Klinkbeil QB sneak at the 3:22 mark and a 3-yard pickup on 4th down with 1:44 left in the game by Mike Farabella proved to be huge in earning the victory over the fearless Lions. Farabella's run was made possible by some excellent blocking by Andrew Fox, Jake Whiting, and Slade Fitch. The Knights were able to take a knee to end the contest and earn the 18-16 win against the disappointed locals.