The Yorktown Wildcats put together a complete performance Friday night, rolling past the visiting Bloomington Bobcats 36-7 in a non-district matchup. 

Yorktown jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first quarter on a 47-yard touchdown pass from Brayden Knostman to Clayton Schendel. Bloomington answered early in the second with a 4-yard run by Lorenzo Dilworth to tie the game, but the Wildcats responded quickly with a 3-yard Knostman scoring run and a successful two-point conversion to take a 15-7 halftime lead.

The Wildcats pulled away in the third quarter, scoring three times, including another Knostman-to-Schendel connection for 20 yards, a 4-yard Knostman run, and a 10-yard run by Bryce Chandler to build an insurmountable advantage. Yorktown blanked Bloomington in the final period.

Knostman completed 13 of 18 passes for 190 yards and two touchdowns while adding 65 rushing yards and two scores on the ground. Schendel, No. 4, hauled in nine catches for 142 yards and both receiving touchdowns. “It felt great!” Schendel said about finding the end zone twice against Bloomington. “I’m excited for the next games.” The Knostman-to-Schendel connection doesn’t end when the ball crosses the goal line. After a touchdown, the two celebrate with their own handshake. His favorite route to run is a post, although he said the hardest part about playing receiver is “all of the running you have to do.” As for what keeps him motivated on the field, Schendel had another lighthearted answer: “It would probably be my dad screaming at me.”

“We played well on both sides of the ball,” Coach Knostman stated. “Defensively, when you play a triple option football team, you have to be disciplined and play responsible football, and that is exactly what the guys did. The big play of the night was recovering the fumble right before half. Offensively, we did a great job of taking what the defense was giving us and executed well in the passing game.”

With contributions on both sides of the ball and a big second half, the Wildcats finished the night with a convincing 36-7 victory and will look to carry that momentum into their next matchup.