Kapaun QB Keaton Lewis celebrates after his team defeated Northwest 24-7 Thursday night at Northwest High. (Sept. 2, 2010) Fernando Salazar/The Wichita Eagle | Buy this photo
Kapaun tops Northwest in opener
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Kapaun Mount Carmel quarterback Keaton Lewis knew how important it would be to come out with a win Thursday night at Northwest against the Grizzlies.
Kapaun's goal this year is a City League football championship, and Lewis was confident in his team's ability. But he didn't know the Crusaders demonstrate total domination over its opponent in a 24-7 win.
The goal of winning a City League title seems a little closer now.
"It feels awesome," Lewis said. "And it's first time we beat them since I have been at Kapaun and we've started off 1-0. We are definitely going to take advantage of that and keep on rolling."
The Crusaders dominated on both sides of the ball, holding Northwest to 147 yards of offense, and putting the Grizzlies in a stranglehold with clock control in the second half.
Kapaun led 10-7 at halftime and turned up its intensity in the third quarter to put the game out of reach with two touchdowns.
Northwest only ran six plays in the third quarter and held the ball for 1:46, while Lewis used the play action to find tight ends Austin Griffith and Nick Cook for touchdowns of 14 and 24 yards to put the Crusaders up 24-7.
"We definitely used our run game to set up the pass and our pass game to set up the run," Lewis said. "So that worked pretty well for us tonight, and Skylar (Krehbiel) did a great job for us carrying out his fakes when I faked it to him. The offensive line did a great job of blocking, and I mean we had some linemen down but we had a nice little rotation to keep it going. It made the linebackers come up and when someone came open I just hit them."
Kapaun defensive end Michael Reynolds anchored the defense that kept the Grizzlies off balance all night. He recorded a sack and tackled the Northwest punter for a loss.
"That just gave us all the momentum on defense and offense," Reynolds said. "Once we got our three-touchdown lead on them they just gave up and we just kept on going with fire. We weren't given up, or take a chance on losing that game."
Kapaun7 3 14 0 — 24 Northwest0 7 0 0 — 7
K—Lewis 18 pass to Reynolds(Cantele kick)
N—Thurman 68 run(Moore Kick)
K—Cantele 42 yard field goal
K—Lewis 14 pass to Griffith (Cantele kick)
K—Lewis 24 pass to Cook (Cantele Kick)
Individual Statistics
Rushing—Kapaun, Krehbiel 25-54, Lewis 14-75. Northwest, Wallace, 15-50, Thurman, 8-81-1, Jay, 8-15, Cody 2-0.
Passing—Kapaun, Lewis 10-20-117-3-1. Northwest, Jay 0-7-0-0.
Receiving—Kapaun, Krehbiel 5-21, Reynolds, 2-41-1, Martin 2-17, Cook 1-24.