It was a position Montgomery isn’t all that used to. So coming out of the break, Montgomery knew it had to buckle down and couldn’t let Cowanesque Valley shift momentum in the Red Raiders’ regular-season finale.

Montgomery came out in the third quarter and executed how they knew how, driving down field right away for a touchdown.

It helped give Montgomery momentum and the defense did the rest en route to a 21-6 win to give Montgomery its ninth win of the season as playoffs are set to begin.

“We didn’t really change anything, we told the kids at halftime ‘look, we just have to execute. That’s it.’ They were susceptible tackle-to-tackle and that’s what we came out and all we ran in the second half,” Montgomery coach Joel Knoebel said. “They executed and we got our points. It was a good gut-check for us. We faced a little adversity — we really haven’t yet this season — and it was nice to see the gut-check there at halftime and how we came out in the second half.”

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Josh Knoebel runs the ball for Montgomery during a high school football game against Cowanesque Valley at Montgomery on Friday.

Cowanesque Valley scored a touchdown with 28 seconds until halftime when Kegan Lane caught a 2-yard touchdown from Dave Hess a play after he reeled in a 15-yard catch for a first down inside the red zone. It cut the deficit to 14-6 as the teams went into the half.

“We prepared this week, we knew they were a good, tough football team,” Cowanesque Valley coach Jacob Lane said. “They have a lot of upper classmen and seniors, and a lot of leadership. So we knew coming in it would be a dog fight and from Week 1 to now, I’m happy to see how our young men have taken strides forward.”

Montgomery responded to coach Knoebel and the staff’s halftime talk and opened the third quarter with an eight-play, 47-yard drive which ate up roughly four minutes as Josh Knoebel punched in a 3-yard touchdown to give the Red Raiders a 21-6 lead. Knoebel ended the day with two touchdowns as he also had a 31-yard run with 10:40 to play in the second quarter for a 14-0 lead.

Montgomery’s first score came when Trace Furman broke a 28-yard run up the middle with 3:31 to play in the first quarter. The Red Raiders ran the ball for 244 yards, 106 of which came from Knoebel while Persing ran for 70.

“We came in tonight with a plan to rotate a wing and that disrupts continuity a bit and makes things tough. We wanted to get some other kids some ball handling tonight and carries,” coach Knoebel said. “We did that early, but then we just went back to our bread-and-butter with Trace and Josh and moved the ball at will in the second half.”

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Austin Luckenbill runs the ball for Montgomery during a high school football game against Cowanesque Valley at Montgomery on Friday.

The Red Raiders forced three interceptions defensively by Cowanesque Valley quarterback Dave Hess as Logan Joy picked off two passes and Seth McClintock had one.

Following its touchdown run, the Indians’ offense struggled to gain momentum.

After recovering a Montgomery fumble, Cowanesque Valley fumbled the ball away on its first play. That was followed with turning the ball over on downs on four plays on its next possession, a punt that hit off a Cowanesque Valley player and gave Montgomery good field position and an interception on their final possession with under three minutes to play.

The Indians were held to 191 yards of total offense, 145 of which was on the ground.

Hess did a solid job scrambling and keeping plays alive with his feet as he ran for 99 yards on 17 carries.

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Montgomery's Lincoln Miller (43) is brought down by Cowanesque Valley's Dave Hess (4) during a high school football game at Montgomery on Friday.

“He’s a good athlete, just moved to quarterback he was traditionally a tailback. I think he’s done a good job the last few weeks kind of switching roles and gears and figuring out what he’s got to do,” Lane said. “He’s a good athlete and can throw and run. That’s why we decided to put him where he is.”

Defensively, Montgomery forced Cowanesque Valley to turn the ball over on downs three times and forced four turnovers.

Cowanesque Valley did well in limiting Montgomery’s offense, however. While the Red Raiders gained 305 yards, Cowanesque Valley only allowed three touchdown drives and forced Montgomery to turn the ball over on downs four times, three of which were redzone stops to prevent Montgomery from pulling away. However, Cowanesque Valley’s offense couldn’t capitalize off the stops and put together drives to score.

“All we’re going to do this week is just prepare, button up some things and keep moving forward,” Lane said. “The exciting thing is that I get back all but four of our players, which is exciting to see what we can possibly do next year and keep rolling.”

Montgomery kicker Abe Childs reached a milestone in Friday’s win. He became the program’s all-time career points leader for extra points and field goals with 80 and counting. His first extra point gave him 78 which broke the previous record.

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent

For the Red Raiders, they enter districts with an outstanding 9-1 record and while Friday’s Week 10 win wasn’t the best offensive showing Montgomery has put together this season, coach Knoebel thinks it’s more than beneficial to have adversity right before the playoffs and have to play a tight game knowing the competition only gets better from here once districts begins.

“Absolutely it was good for them to face that. A little bit of gut-check, little adversity at halftime,” coach Knoebel said. “It’s not a bad thing to experience here in Week 10 because now it’s the season that matters.”

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Montgomery's Trace Furman gets tripped up by Cowanesque Valley's Dave Hess (4) during a high school football game at Montgomery on Friday.

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Cameron Woltz runs the ball for Montgomery during a high school football game against Cowanesque Valley at Montgomery on Friday.

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Josh Knoebel runs the ball for Montgomery during a high school football game against Cowanesque Valley at Montgomery on Friday.

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Montgomery football players huddle up during a high school football game against Cowanesque Valley at Montgomery on Friday.

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Josh Knoebel runs the ball for Montgomery during a high school football game against Cowanesque Valley at Montgomery on Friday.