ALDEN- It was a tale of two halves on Friday night for the Alden-Conger football team.

In the first half, the Knights offense moved the ball well and the defense was aggressive in stopping the Truman Bluejays (3-0 overall) offense.

However, in the second half, it all fell apart for Alden-Conger.

The Bluejays scored 28 unanswered points in the second half to defeat Alden-Conger(0-3 overall) 40-16 in Alden.

“Unfortunately, we couldn’t hold the momentum through the four quarters,” Alden-Conger coach Nick Willaert said. “We started to shoot ourselves in the foot and got ourselves put into some bad situations.”

Early on in the game things couldn’t have gone better for the Knights.

Alden-Conger forced a Truman fumble that was recovered by Elijah Rinehart on the games first drive.

Six plays later, Knights running back Michael Bernal cruised into the end zone from nine yards out to give Alden-Conger an 8-0 lead.

The score stayed that way until the middle of the second quarter when Truman quarterback Clayton Feis found running back Garrett Lieffring on a 56 yard touchdown pass to pull the Bluejays to within two at 8-6.

But it was only seconds later that Knights running back Tony Behnke took the ensuing kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown and pushed the Alden-Conger lead back to 16-6.

Although, right before the half on a fourth and 12 play, Truman struck again when Feis found Brady Shanks for a 28 yard touchdown pass that cut the Knights lead to 16-12.

“It seemed like our offense was rolling,” Willaert said of the first half. “We basically could do anything and we kind of had their defense on their heels. We probably could have had another score in their if we didn’t have penalties.”

While the Knights controlled the first half, it was the Truman Bluejays that would absolutely dominate the second half.

In the third quarter, Feis found DeMarko Thomas for a 24 yard touchdown that gave Truman their first lead of the night at 20-16.

The Bluejays then poured it on in the fourth as Feis found Brady Shanks again for a 64 yard touchdown that pushed the Truman lead to 26-16.

The Bluejays then got one yard touchdown runs from running back Ryan Harris and Jordan Selnes to the Truman lead up to 40-16.

The Bluejays outscored the Knights 28-0 in the second half.

The Knights also helped Truman out as Alden-Conger committed four turnovers in the second half that led to a majority of the Bluejays points.

“We had a couple turnovers there,” Willaert said. “We had two fumbles that probably could have ended up in points. We made a great stop on defense and got the ball moving. Then we threw an interception and then they end up with a short field. We gave them a lot of easy scoring opportunities.”

Despite the loss, Willaert says he thinks his team took a step forward in Friday’s game.

“Our goal every week, every day in practice and every game is to improve as a team,” Willaert said. “And we improved as a team today. Unfortunately, the score really doesn’t show it. We probably played our best game of the season tonight.”

Alden-Conger is back in action next week as it travels to Hills-Beaver Creek.

Truman 40, Alden-Conger 16

Truman 0 12 8 20 – 40

Alden-Conger 8 8 0 0 – 16

Scoring

First Quarter

AC- Michael Bernal 9 yard touchdown run (two point conversion good)

Second Quarter

TR- Clayton Feis 56 yard touchdown pass to Garrett Lieffring (two point conversion no good)

AC – Tony Behnke 96 yard kickoff return for touchdown (two point Conversion good)

TR- Clayton Feis 28 yard touchdown pass to Brady Shanks (two point conversion no good)

Third quarter

TR- Clayton Feis 24 yard touchdown pass to DaMarko Thomas (two point conversion good)

Fourth quarter

TR- Clayton Feis 64 yard touchdown pass to Brady Shanks (two point conversion no good)

TR- Ryan Harris 1 yard touchdown (two point conversion no good)

TR- Jordan Selnes 1 yard touchdown (two point conversion good)