The much-anticipated matchup between No. 4-ranked Newman Catholic and No. 8-ranked Northwood-Kensett took place Friday in Northwood and it turned out to live up to the hype as the Knights held off the Vikings for a 21-18 victory.

Two evenly-matched teams showed up, but the offenses appeared in different halves for each team in a game that will likely have implications in the race for the district title.

Newman (5-0, 3-0 District 3 A) got started early and Northwood-Kensett had to play catch up in the second half after the Knights took a 21-0 lead into halftime.

The Vikings (3-2, 2-1 District 3 A) came close but weren’t able to press Newman any further as they put up 18 second-half points.

Ben Buffington and Andrew Burgmeier helped lead the Knights to victory with Buffington rushing for 130 yards and one touchdown and Burgmeier rushing for 83 yards and two touchdowns.

Newman put up 317 yards of total offense, but was held scoreless in the second half as Northwood-Kensett stormed back.

The Vikings got on the board quickly in the third quarter when a bad snap on a punt attempt resulted in a safety.

From there Spencer Capitani scored on a 61-yard touchdown run to cut the game to 21-10 with 2 minutes, 24 seconds to go in the third quarter.

Tyson Werner made it a one-score game with his 1-yard touchdown run with 5:18 left to play, but Northwood-Kensett wasn’t able to find the end zone again.

The Vikings rushed for 242 yards and had 251 yards of total offense.

Northwood-Kensett will try to rebound next Friday on the road against Tripoli.

Newman Catholic 21, Northwood-Kensett 18

Newman Catholic 14 7 0 0 — 21

Northwood-Kensett 0 0 10 8 — 18

First Quarter

Newman— Burgmeier 2 run (Stradt kick), 5:55.

Newman—Buffington 27 run (Stradt kick), 1:47.

Second Quarter

Newman— Burgmeier 5 run (Stradt kick), 8:47.

Third Quarter

N-K— Safety, 10:37.

N-K—Capitani 61 run (Olson run), 2:24.

Fourth Quarter

NK— T. Werner 1 run (Gordon from Capitani), 5:18.

Newman N-K

First Downs 12 12

Total Net Yards 317 251 Rushes-Yards 45-220 51-242

Passing 97 9

Punt Returns NA NA

Kickoff Returns NA NA Interceptions-Ret. 1-NA 1-NA Comp-Att-Int 5-8-1 1-5-1

Sacked-Yards Lost NA NA

Punts-Yards 0-0 0-0

Fumbles – Lost 1-1 1-1

Penalties-Yards 2-16 2-15

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Northwood-Kensett, Capitani 10-79, Werner 15-57. Newman-Catholic, Ben Buffington 22-130, Andrew Burgmeier 15-83.

PASSING— Northwood-Kensett, Spencer Capitani 1-4-0-9 yards. Newman-Catholic, Luecht 5-8-1-97.

RECEIVING — Northwood-Kensett, T. Werner 1-9. Newman-Catholic, Verstegen 4-90.