ELIZABETH TWP, Allegheny County — For once Friday night, Codi Mullen saw one of his receivers clearly.

A flood of black jerseys had washed away Knoch’s junior passer for the entirety of the evening. He stood on the sideline — the clock winding down in the fourth quarter — and stared into the distance after throwing his second interception in a 22-0 road loss to Elizabeth Forward.

Jackson Bauman approached, placing his hands on Mullen’s shoulder pads to offer a word of reassurance. He talked directly to his quarterback before standing beside him and wrapping his arm around his shoulder.

“Both of us had a bad game,” Mullen said. “We’ve got conference games (starting) next week. We’ve just got to pick each other up. It’s just a bad game, everyone has one once in a while.”

The Knights (4-1), who’d averaged 346.5 yards of offense through their first four outings, were limited to nine yards from scrimmage on the night. The attack went three-and-out on five of its nine possessions and could only manage two first downs against the Warriors (5-0) defense, one coming on a pass interference call.

“Offense didn’t give us a chance to win tonight,” Knoch coach Tim Burchett said. “It falls on me. Period.”

His 5-foot-9 signal-caller, who entered the night leading the Butler County area in passing yardage, was under immense pressure from the jump. His unit couldn’t find any sort of rhythm.

“They were big,” Mullen said of Elizabeth Forward’s defensive front. “Our offensive line couldn’t really hold them up. Our running backs, they were trying to get out wide, trying to set the edge. They just couldn’t do that. I’m a short quarterback. Whenever you’re playing against tall people, it’s hard to find pockets.

“It was hard to find those tonight.”

“Our defense has been strong,” first-year Warriors coach John DeMarco said. “I thought we had a great game plan against him. Our plan was to make him stay in the pocket. We played a lot of man coverage and snuffed their receivers. He had nowhere to go with the ball.”

Mullen went 3-for-13 through the air for a meager 19 yards. One of those incompletions bounced out of Bauman’s hands on a slant in the second quarter. With his speed, he could have changed the complexion of what was then a 13-0 game.

“We’ve got to always pick up our teammates,” Bauman said. “Everyone had a bad game. I dropped a touchdown and muffed a punt (that led to) that third-and-forever touchdown. It falls on everyone.”

On the series prior to that aforementioned drop, Knoch’s defense hardened once it let the hosts to its 20-yard line. On a 4th-and-20 from the Knights’ 33, Elizabeth Forward’s Charles Nigut pooch-punted the football. Bauman, turning around at the last second, lunged awkwardly at it, realizing too late that his judgment was wrong.

“I thought it was a pass,” Bauman explained.

The miscue allowed Warriors quarterback Ryan Messina to find wideout Isaiah Turner for the pair’s second touchdown connection of the opening half. That followed a run for a loss, a false start, and an incompletion that pushed Elizabeth Forward into unfavorable position.

Turner also grabbed Mullen’s second pick.

“We had a third-and-35 and we gave up a post for the touchdown on the back side,” Burchett said. “You can’t win and do that. You can’t. It’s a seven-point game. It should’ve been 7-0 going into halftime.”

Knoch only had only one snap that counted in plus-territory, thanks to a defensive pass interference penalty that moved the team from midfield — where it stopped the Warriors’ offense on downs — to the hosts’ 35. A holding infraction and a bad snap that Mullen fell on for a 20-yard setback.

Mullen’s first interception was batted into the air on a 3rd-and-3, snatched out of the air by defensive lineman Charles Meehleib. That led to a five-yard scoring surge by Jace Brown — who rumbled for 112 yards in the clash. That turnover was also book-ended by a 23-yard William Sinay field goal.

“Maybe we’re reading too many press clippings,” Burchett said. “We lost by 20, we left four touchdowns on the field. We dropped three touchdowns, we couldn’t get any protection, we lost up front tonight. It is what it is.”

Knoch 0 0 0 0 — 0

Elizabeth Forward 7 6 9 0 — 22

First Quarter

EF — Isaiah Turner 41 pass from Ryan Messina (Luke Holdren kick), 9:02

Second Quarter

EF — Turner 38 pass from Messina (run failed), 7:15

Third Quarter

EF — Willaim Sinay 23 field goal, 3:28

EF — Jace Brown 5 run (run failed), 1:10

Individual Statistics

Rushing: Knoch, Ethan Alwine 1-8, Tony Nicolazzo 5-7, Codi Mullen 8-(-5), TEAM 1-(-20). Elizabeth Forward, Jace Brown 27-112, Andrew Grese 6-28, Charles Nigut 7-17, Trystyn Skrinjorich 1-1, Ryan Messina 6-(-8), TEAM 1-(-16).

Passing: Knoch, Codi Mullen 3-13-19-2. Elizabeth Forward, Ryan Messina 15-21-209-0.

Receiving: Knoch, Tony Nicolazzo 1-12, Jackson Bauman 2-7. Elizabeth Forward, Isaiah Turner 8-140, Charles Nigut 4-53, Andrew Grese 1-7, Krystian Kennedy 1-5, Connor Fleming 1-4.