Post Messenger Recorder -

Friday, August 17, was a rain-filled day which gave way to a beautiful evening for football as the NGM Knights traveled to Dodgeville to open the 2018 season. First games are always full of questions as the teams know little about each other. Mistakes are to be expected in first games as well. None of this seemed to bother the Knights as they left Dodgeville with a very solid, almost mistake free, 43-0 victory.

Connor Siegenthaler announced his arrival as a quarterback to be contended with, rushing for two touchdowns and passing for three more. (He also had eight tackles on defense). Every player that dressed saw Varsity action, including three very wide-eyed freshmen. It was a complete victory on both sides of the ball. Besides Siegenthaler's eight tackles, Patrick Craker, Holden Latsch, and Nathan Streiff had eight, seven, and five tackles, respectively. This was a team victory from top to bottom in every sense of the word.

Early in the first quarter, Josh Wieser hauled in a 26-yard strike from Siegenthaler for the first touchdown of the season. Connor Siegenthaler then rushed two yards for his first touchdown and a 13-0 lead after one quarter of play.

The second quarter was all NGM with three unanswered touchdowns. Siegenthaler rushed for another and then connected with Darris Schuett for two more through the air, as Schuett made two very athletic catches of 27 and 20 yards, respectively. The rout was on as NGM went to the locker room with a 33-0 halftime lead.

Photo courtesy of Tina Murray

#10 Connor Siegenthaler gets ready to pass for the Knights in the first quarter on Friday evening against Dodgeville.

Dodgeville tightened their defense in the second half but it was too little, too late. Robert Chenoweth, who stepped in at halfback, scored his first touchdown of the season by romping five yards through a gaping hole created by the NGM offensive line. It was the NGM line on both sides of the ball that controlled the line of scrimmage all evening. Defensive coordinator Coach Mark Stateler urged his boys to pitch a shutout, and this refusal to let up continued with all the reserves who saw action as well.

Senior kicker Trent Sigafus closed out the scoring with a crisp 31-yard field goal in the fourth quarter.

QB Connor Siegenthaler ended the night with a total of 226 passing yards, three touchdowns and was 11-15 on passing.

Siegenthaler also led the team in rushing yards, with 74. Robert Chenoweth had 33 rushing yards, and Zach Feller rushed for 16 yards on five attempts.

Darris Schuett led the team in receiving yards with 127, while Josh Wieser had 53 receiving yards and Nathan Streiff ended the game with 43.

The NGM Knights return home this coming Friday night as they host a very good team from Lake Mills. Game time is 7:00 p.m.