Knight time arrived Thursday night in Okotoks.
The Holy Trinity Academy Knights rode a 36-point second quarter to a 60-7 win over the Foothills Falcons in the high school football Battle of Okotoks in front of a packed house at Knights field on Sept. 19.
"The energy from the guys was the highest I've ever seen it with them," said Knights Grade 12 runningback Seth Poelzer. "It just means the most, the crosstown rivalry senior year and definitely just a huge game."
The Knights took the early edge with Declan Lyth connecting with receiver Ben Gutek in the end-zone for a 28-yard touchdown with a back-and-forth opening quarter then playing out.
HTA wrestled control of the game in the second quarter with Poelzer, Gutek and Cayden McCullough adding running touchdowns and defensive back Ryan Maloney adding another major on a blocked punt and recovery in the end zone.
Foothills got on the board late in the half on a gritty goalline third down run from quarterback Emerson Liepert.
In the second half, runninbacks Lincoln Stewart and Daniel Bowers found the end zone and Ryan Chirzinski added a field goal.
"I'm glad we played at our level," said Knights head coach Matt Hassett. "I thought we played at the level we wanted to and just kept going.
"And then some of the younger guys, they had some good drives and got some touchdowns in the second half. It was good to get a lot of those guys in and get them some time in what's kind of an intense rivalry and just the atmosphere is great."
HTA, the top-ranked team at the 4A level, improved to 5-0 on the season. In each game, the team has scored 40 or more points.
"We played great as a whole team, offence, defence, special teams, everyone was playing fantastic together," Poelzer said.
"This is maybe the most talented team we've ever had, and not just that, but we've worked hard since Grade 10 with the morning workouts and everything and it's all showing up now. It goes to show how good the program is and how good they are at developing."
Foothills is back on the gridiron next week at home versus the Medicine Hat High Hawks on Sept. 27 while across town, the Knights host the Chinook Coyotes the same evening.
