LAYTON -- The Kearns Cougars came into Friday night's non-league contest having allowed a total of 13 points in its first two games.
The explosive Northridge offense surpassed that in just over eight minutes.
Even though it got a little dicey down the stretch for the Knights, they eventually pulled away for a 42-27 victory.
"I thought at times that both our offense and defense played really well, we've just got to take care of the little things like the momentum swings caused by our mistakes on special teams," Northridge coach Erik Thompson said. "It's the best game we've played, but we still have a lot to work on."
The Knights scored touchdowns on four of their first five first half possessions to build a 28-6 halftime lead. Quarterback Karson Casteel had a one-yard scoring plunge and threw a pair of touchdowns to Christian Schlicte as he went 11-for-12 for 168 yards. Running back David Adams accounted for the other Northridge score on a seven-yard run.
As it turned out, the only thing that could slow the Knights down was themselves and a series of third quarter mishaps nearly cost them.
After a Kearns punt deflected off of a Knight, the Cougars regained possession and went on a 50-yard scoring drive to make it 28-13. Then, near the end of the third quarter, Kearns blocked a Northridge punt and trimmed the deficit to 28-19 on a one-yard scoring dive by quarterback Justin Summers.
Northridge tacked on another TD with 8:11 to play when Casteel found Adams for from 27 yards out, however the Cougars then answered by going 80 yards in 11 plays to pull within a score at 35-27.
After forcing the Knights to punt, Kearns took possession with a chance to tie, however Austin Tate picked off an errant fourth down pass with 2:21. Adams then scored his third touchdown of the game on a 17-yard scamper with 55 seconds left.
Casteel finished 18-for-25 for 266 yards as the Knights totaled 404 yards of offense.
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