Thursday night, Sep. 1st, saw Francis Howell North’s (1-0) first home game as they hosted the St. Charles West Warriors (0-1). This non-conference game started off on a good note for the Knights, as the defense blanked the Warrior’s offense and put points on the board, with Ian Kelly scoring the first of the team’s three pick 6’s. The second quarter ended with the two teams knotted up as Ian Kelly secured another pick 6 and West’s Jacob Kirt ran in two touchdowns for the Warriors. Knights’ Runningback Jordan Allen gave his thoughts on the team’s defensive performance going into the half.

“Big positive from last game definitely our defense creating turnovers with interceptions and being able to score them themselves with making those pick 6’s.” Allen said.

This was North’s second game of the season and their second game with a packed student section as students showed up in numbers for the team’s first home game of the 2022 season. North’s students, still awaiting a home field of their own, packed the Francis Howell Central stands as the Knights enter their second year of playing home games there. This year’s full student sections have been a far cry from previous years as students usually only showed up in full for a couple of games a year. Left Tackle Jackson Cutlan was very happy with the support so far this season.

“The crowd was amazing, I’m super happy with the student section this year, It’s been really amazing to see that our school is actually getting some school spirit finally after years of student sections not showing up or not being supportive,” Cutlan said. “It’s insane.”

The 3rd quarter began with the Knights scoring their final points of the game with DJ Dillon scoring the team’s third pick 6, but the defense was unable to contain the Warriors rush as the teams ended the quarter knotted at 21. The Knights were unable to score in the final frame as West rushed their way through the 4th quarter to a 35-21 victory. The Knights’ offense left the defense out to dry, scoring no points throughout the entirety of the game, with Jordan Allen detailing the improvements they plan to make.