The Royals used the arm of Brady McDermott to drive and scored on a 1-yard touchdown pass, which cut the deficit to just six points early in the second quarter.

Something in that moment clicked for Montgomery. Not just for the offense, but the defense. The Red Raiders know they’re a solid team all around and knew they were capable of playing better than they did on that touchdown drive. Montgomery coach Joel Knoebel told his team to keep the pace and just stick with what they practiced all week and they would be fine, and that’s precisely what Montgomery did.

After allowing a touchdown drive, the Red Raiders started firing on all cylinders offensively and were a shutdown unit on defense en route to a 57-6 rout in which Montgomery scored 45 unanswered points to put the mercy rule into play and move to 7-1.

“We started out pretty slow. We knew we needed to fix some things but came out after that first quarter and really brought it to them,” Montgomery quarterback Parker Persing said. “They started figuring things out, we wanted to work a bit on our passing game and we started to pick that up a little bit there. We came out and showed we can still play and it was awesome.”

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Montgomery quarterback Parker Persing (7) runs a keeper to score during the second quarter of a high school football game against Holy Redeemer at Montgomery on Friday.

Montgomery scored four touchdowns in the second quarter on four consecutive drives to take a 40-6 lead into the half. That offensive surge in the fourth was led by Montgomery’s ground game. Josh Knoebel had a 10-yard touchdown run, Briar Persing had a 7-yard run and then the Red Raiders broke two long touchdown scores.

Trace Furman had a 58-yard run and Parker Persing broke a 28-yarder and all of a sudden, the Red Raiders were in complete control.

“Keep the intensity and don’t let off,” coach Knoebel said as to what the second-quarter key was. “Just execute. They know what to do, just execute, and when they do we’re hard to stop.”

Montgomery ran for 383 yards as a team on 33 carries as Knoebel ran for 104 yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries, Trace Furman had 114 yards and two touchdowns on four rushes, Persing had 72 and a score on five carries and Austin Luckenbill had six carries for 53 yards.

That’s a credit to Montgomery’s outstanding offensive line paving the way play after play.

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Montgomery's Briar Persing (22) snags a pass and steps into the endzone early in the first quarter of a high school football game against Holy Redeemer at Montgomery on Friday.

“It’s huge. It all starts at the line in football and they’re irreplaceable,” Persing said. “All the guys across do a good job and I really couldn’t thank them any more than that.”

Persing threw for 84 yards and had a 25-yard touchdown pass to Briar Persing on Montgomery’s opening drive for an early 6-0 lead. It was thenF Furman’s 38-yard touchdown run which gave Montgomery its 12-0 lead.

As a team, Montgomery had nearly 500 yards of offense as the running game and passing game were able to work in unison.

“They didn’t take away any one dimension of our game. We had a balanced attack. We threw for close to 100 yards, had two guys rush for over 100 again tonight,” Knoebel said. “Just a balanced attack again. We ran a lot of new formations tonight and we keep building and evolving and moving forward.”

While the offense executed outstanding — the Red Raiders had seven touchdowns on their first nine possessions, with one possession ending the second quarter — the defense played superbly.

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Montgomery's Briar Persing (22) steps past a pair of Holy Redeemer defenders and into the endzone early in the first quarter of a high school football game at Montgomery on Friday.

The Red Raiders stifled the Royals’ offense. Holy Redeemer ended Friday night’s game with just 61 yards of total offense. The Royals threw for 84 yards, but the run game was non-existent as Montgomery forced minus-23 yards on the ground.

After Holy Redeemer scored on its 13-play touchdown drive, the Royals had nine drives resulting in just 10 yards of total offense. Of those drives, three ended in interceptions, one resulted in a safety, and three were three-and-out punts as Montgomery didn’t let up big plays. The Royals had just six first downs all night, five of which were on its 13-play touchdown drive.

“Again it’s bend, don’t break. They did what most teams aren’t going to be able to do and that’s consistently drive the long field on our defense,” Knoebel said. “A good job to them, but again, same thing same message to the defense as the offense: just buckle down, play hard football and you’ll be fine.”

After Montgomery went ahead 20-6, Holy Redeemer looked to go deep on its next possession and it resulted with a turnover. The next possession by the Royals was the same: a costly pick.

Both turnovers led to Montgomery touchdowns as well, shifting the momentum.

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Montgomery's Trace Furman (1) runs into the endzone early in the first quarter of a high school football game against Holy Redeemer at Montgomery on Friday.

“Transition touchdowns are huge, that’s just back-breaking and demoralizing,” Knoebel said. “It’s really nice to get a turnover and have a one-play hitter whether it’s a long ball or something else. We ran a simple dive play and it went for a one-play touchdown. You always like to have those.”

Montgomery put the mercy rule into effect with 8:28 to play in the third quarter when Knoebel had a 19-yard run. The Red Raiders then added two more points with a safety when Holy Redeemer had a bad snap on a fourth-down punt, 49-6.

Montgomery’s final score came with 2:13 to play when lineman Caleb Parkyn punched in a four-yard touchdown and fellow lineman Layne Gingery converted a two-point conversion run for the 57-6 lead to close the game.

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Montgomery's Josh Knoebel (9) runs the ball during a high school football game against Holy Redeemer at Montgomery on Friday.

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Montgomery's Trace Furman (1) runs the ball during a high school football game against Holy Redeemer at Montgomery on Friday.

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Montgomery's Briar Persing (22) prances through the Holy Redeemer defense during a high school football game at Montgomery on Friday.

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Montgomery's Trace Furman (1) intercepts a pass intended for Holy Redeemer's Michael Zbierski (10) during the second quarter of a high school football game at Montgomery on Friday.