Niles attempted 56 passes in its Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference football game Friday against Kalamazoo Loy Norrix.

The bad overshadowed the good when it came to those throws as the Knights came up with five interceptions and scored 29 points off those mistakes in a 55-33 win over the Vikings.

Four of those interceptions turned into 23 points in the first half as Kalamazoo Loy Norrix went into halftime with a 37-14 lead.

“It wasn’t a deal where their defense was stopping us,” said Niles football coach Antwon Jones. “We were stopping ourselves with some errant passes and some drops.”

Niles quarterback Alex Harpenau completed 27-of-55 passes for 458 yards and five touchdowns.
Viking freshman receiver Tre Gray caught 14 passes for 237 yards and three touchdowns. Teammate Joe Avance added nine receptions for 154 yards and one touchdown.

“We made some plays,” Jones said. “We just turned the ball over with some silly turnovers. We’ll get better with that. In the second half, our play improved. People made plays. The guys never gave up and that’s what I like about this crew.”

Defensively, Niles had a hard time slowing down Kalamazoo Loy Norrix as the Knights finished with 406 yards with 312 of those yards coming on the ground.

“It’s correctible,” Jones said about his defense. “We’re young. It was kind of the same things that we saw in our scrimmages. We knew it was going to be a rough going on defense. We’ve got a ton of first-year players and they’re learning how to be physical. But, in the second half, we got some stops. We improved as a team in the second half
“Every game we have to improve and every practice we have to improve.”

 

LOY NORRIX 55, NILES 33

At Niles
Loy Norrix      17       20        12           6 – 55
Niles                  7          7          0          19 – 33
K – Aaron Holmes 2 run (Daquayvion Kizer kick)
K – Holmes 2 run (Kizer kick)
K – FG Kizer 30
N – Tre Gray 28 pass from Alex Harpenau (Jason Echeverria kick)
K – Jalen Pace 16 run (Kizer kick)
K – Nick May 85 interception return (Kizer kick)
N – Gray 2 pass from Harpenau (Echeverria kick)
K – Simeon Smith 12 pass from Traver Parlato (kick failed)
K – Holmes 7 run (kick blocked)
K – Isaiah Cobbs 4 run (kick blocked)
N – Cameron Haines 13 pass from Harpenau (kick failed)
N – Gray 1 pass from Harpenau (run failed)
K – Holmes 1 run (kick blocked)
N – Joe Avance 36 pass from Harpenau (Echeverria kick)