AMMON — On Hillcrest’s opening drive, junior quarterback Logan Taylor had a miscommunication with his wide receiver and threw an interception.

It was the first and nearly final blemish for a Knights (4-0, 3-0) offense that had a 30-burger at halftime and finished with a 46-26 victory over Century (1-3, 0-3) on Friday night at Westmark Stadium.

“It’s new faces, but same expectations,” Hillcrest junior running back/linebacker Elam Miner told the Post Register. “We’re going for the same thing as last year. We’re going for the championship and that’s all we want for our team.”

“We’re just trying to keep the legacy going,” he continued.

Miner opened the scoring on an eight-yard reception from Taylor late in the first, and the Knights made it 8-0 on junior wide receiver/defensive back Ethan Saunders’ two-point reception.

Century took only 12 seconds to answer as senior Justus Mangum took the squib kickoff nearly 70 yards to cut it to 8-7.

“There is no such thing as a perfect football game,” head coach Brennon Mossholder said. “In the 100-plus years this game’s around, no team has played a perfect football game. And so, yes, do we want to keep getting better? Absolutely. I tell the guys all the time, ‘We don’t want to peak in September, we want to peak in November,’ so, I think we’re on the right track to that.”

The Knights were unfazed. Taylor marched them right back down the field, led by an absolute seed to senior wide receiver/defensive back Ki Simpson for 46 yards and on the next play, Taylor threw another strike on a deep post to junior wide receiver/defensive back Gavin Lamph.

As was the case all night, Hillcrest went for two, failing that time and leaving the score 14-7.

The Diamondbacks and their talented offense would not go quietly and nine plays later, senior quarterback Austin Hoyd connected with senior tight end Xenophon Fleischmann for a 20-yard touchdown, evening the contest.

Suddenly, the Knights’ defense cranked up the pressure, the rushing attack of Miner, senior J’Vion King — who flew around on the defensive side as a linebacker — and senior fullback Jake Stephens took over behind their excellent offensive line, and they blitzed Century with a 32-7 run to put the game out of reach.

King, in his first year at Hillcrest, has fit in seamlessly and scored a three-yard rushing touchdown to give his team a 22-14 advantage:

“I like the program; it’s a good program. Coached well. Love the coaches. I just came in here and obviously had to work for a spot. It was good though. The people around me are good, good teammates, so just lift each other up,” King said.

“I realized as soon as I got here, it was definitely different,” he added.

Stephens found the end zone from short distance, Taylor hit Saunders in the flat for another score and Stephens added an insurance marker, putting the Knights up 46-20 in the fourth quarter.

The Diamondbacks would get to 26 late, but it was all academic at that point.

Next up for the Knights is their nonconference finale versus Thunder Ridge, while Century hosts Highland.