Rambo, Knights Run Wild Against Pickens

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>GREENVILLE | [player_tooltip player_id='1823372' first='Mack' last='Rambo']</strong> didn't want much of the credit for St. Joseph's dominant rushing performance in a 49-41 victory over Pickens.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Oh, he deserved it. He carried 32 times for 170 yards and scored four times, putting the Knights on his back on a couple of occasions. Rambo (pictured) just wanted to make sure his teammates got some shine.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>There was plenty to go around. The Knights ran 55 times for 418 yards on the night, averaging 7.6 yards per carry, scoring six times on the ground, and dominating the line of scrimmage against the Blue Flame.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Rambo said that's all on the guys up front and out wide.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"The outside guys are really doing a great job blocking," he said. "Their blocking is really paying off and we're getting some big runs off of it."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Those guys outside included <strong>Vine Stanton</strong> at H-Back/TE and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1601913' first='Paul' last='Norman'] </strong>at WR. Both helped spring St. Joseph's runners for big gains on the night. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1820807' first='Sam' last='Patterson']</strong> had runs of 18 and 27 yards in the first half, and his first carry of the second half was a 70-yard touchdown. Rambo had a ton of chunk plays, most notably a 30-yarder on fourth-and-inches. Quarterback <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1823371' first='Jack' last='Stewart']</strong> had multiple double-digit gains, and scored a TD on the ground. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>There was enough offense to go around, too. Norman did a lot more than blocking, catching a pair of passes including a 39-yard touchdown. But the play of the St. Joseph's offensive line behind <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1820804' first='Ren' last='Scoville']</strong>, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1820802' first='Charlie' last='Sanders']</strong>, and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1820803' first='Nick' last='Passerrello']</strong>, played so well in the Knights wing-bone offense that the passing game was almost unnecessary.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"It's the nature of the offense," St. Joseph's coach Eric Nash said. "It's tough to be on the defensive side of that, to take those plays over and over. But it benefits us in the fourth quarter. Our guys have been working hard, and it's a credit to them and our coaching staff. All of our guys up front basically have to go both ways, the whole game. It's a credit to their hard work, and I'm very proud of them."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Knights had their hands full in the second half with the play of Pickens' QB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1581467' first='Brooks' last='Dow']</strong>, but in an unexpected way. The big-armed, big-bodied Dow took over with his legs for the Blue Flame. He galloped for 82 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the first half, but really turned it on in the second half. He rushed for 114 yards including a 64-yard TD as the Blue Flame rallied to make the contest close. He had plenty of help from <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1619372' first='Will' last='Stone']</strong>, who ran for 133 yards and a score. Dow also tossed a touchdown to Harrison Clark for Pickens.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the end, though, St. Joseph's did enough on defense. Two huge takeaways at two huge junctures made a difference. Norman snagged an interception on Pickens' first drive to set the stage for the Knights to forge a two-score lead early in the game. In the fourth quarter, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1823740' first='Cam' last='Wilson']</strong> scored to cut the lead to 15 points, and Pickens gambled and got an onside kick. Norman immediately responded with a sack-strip-fumble recovery that allowed the Knights to regain possession and bleed a lot of the clock. <strong>Elliott Power</strong> and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1666952' first='Josh' last='Lyons']</strong> both turned in a couple of big defensive stops for St. Joseph's, and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1824477' first='Jackson' last='Campbell']</strong> played well in the defensive backfield.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>And then there was Rambo, who seemed content to run into the teeth of the Pickens defense, breaking free and running through tackles even more frequently as the game went on.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"Sometimes it takes us a minute to wake up," Rambo said. "But we get hit in the mouth, and we hit back, and we're ready to go.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->