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Friday evening's drizzly contest between Middletown and Tuscarora boiled down to one thing: one team was burned by their mistakes, one wasn't.

Capitalizing on an excess of Titans' miscues, the Knights weathered the storm and took a 20-0 victory.

"It's a defensive win," quarterback-defensive back Rob Michels said. "We made a lot of mistakes, but they made more and it worked out."

The opening kick set the tone. After winning the coin toss, Middletown deferred possession to the second half. Squibb kicking across the soggy field, the Knights recovered the ball after it ricocheted of a Titan within their own 30 yard line. Minutes later Michel capped of the game's first drive with a 1-yard keeper.

Tuscarora relinquished possession two more times within its own 30. None of Middletown's scoring drives were over 28 yards. All in all the, the Titans committed seven turnovers (five interceptions and two fumbles) and were flagged for 60 yards on eight penalties, two of which occurred on fourth downs.

"We didn't play well," Titans' head coach Shawn Carey said. "We didn't make any mistakes last week and tonight that's all we did. We lost the penalty battle and we lost the turnover battle. We didn't make big plays."

Middletown (2-0) fumbled three times. The Knights were charged with 10 penalties and were intercepted in the end zone. However unlike their counterparts, they weren't hindered by blunders.

At 6:16 in the second quarter, the Titans (1-1) coughed up the ball on their own 28. Middletown's subsequent drive appeared to stall at the 10 when the Knights failed to convert a fourth and four due to an incomplete pass. However the Titans were flagged for pass interference earning Middletown an automatic first down at the five. Two plays later, Michels scored on a four-yard keeper. A failed two-point conversion placed the Knights' advantage at 12-0.

Jaraad Yates picked off a Josh Marshall pass on the Titans' 27 with 9:27 remaining in the third. Thomas Pitsenbarger punctuated an 11-play drive with a two-yard run just under five minutes later. Pitsenbarger hauled in a Sam Glushakow toss for the two-point conversion, putting the Knights ahead 20-0.

"I think in a ball game like this, the amount of turnovers is probably the biggest stat, at any level of football," Middletown head coach Kevin Lynott said. "That was huge for us. Then capitalizing on those turnovers is another aspect we did a pretty good job on."