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September 5, 2009

Northridge bounces back from bad loss

<b>High school football recap</b>

By Greg Keim

One of the events motivating the Northridge High School football team Friday night was the previous week’s 41-7 loss to East Noble.

The Raiders were on a mission from the start of the game, scoring 13 points in the game’s first 4:10 on the way to a 33-0 Northern Lakes Conference triumph over the visiting Wawasee Warriors.

“Our kids were upset about East Noble,” Northridge coach Jonathan Kirkton said. “We turned it into a good thing. We told the kids all week in practice that good teams bounce back. We played with an edge and got the lead.”

Wawasee coach Tom Wogomon said, “You could pretty much hit the replay button and what East Noble did to Northridge the week before is what they did to us.

“They came out to play. We thought we were ready, but when things start happening to young team like we are it’s hard to keep your composure.”

The victory snapped Northridge’s 13-game NLC losing streak. The Raiders’ last conference win was a 36-23 triumph over Wawasee in Week 3 of the 2007 season.

Northridge (2-1, 1-0 NLC) travels to Class 4A No. 11-ranked Plymouth next Friday.

“An NLC win is good, but we have to realize we are going to be facing another quality team next week,” Kirkton said. “Our kids have to make the decision of whether we are going to be good against average teams and bad against good ones or good against all teams.”

Five-eight (170) senior fullback Carsten Miller was the Raider standout carrying the ball 21 times for 200 yards and four touchdowns.

He is the first Northridge player to tally four TDs in a game since Justin Love in a 27-20 win over Concord in Week 7 of the 1993 season.

A lot of Miller’s effort, according to Kirkton, was due to the blocking of 5-11 (240) senior Alex Riley and 5-11 (205) senior Nate Harrington at tackles, 5-11 (210) junior Garrett Cook and 5-10 (180) sophomore Austin Cook at guards and 6-10 (210) sophomore Kody Bontreger at center.

“Miller had some nice runs. The line did a great job blocking, both at the line of scrimmage and downfield,” Kirkton said.

Six-two (195) senior quarterback Andrew Hooley was 6 of 8 passing for 99 yards.

Hooley’s snap count was key to drawing several offside penalties on the Warriors.

“We had been going a lot on No. 1 but realized teams were teeing off on us,” Kirkton explained. “We changed it up for Wawasee.”

Hooley connected with 6-2 (180) senior wideout Gatlin Rassi on a 49-yard pass completion on Northridge’s first possession of the third quarter. The play advanced the ball to the W-25, setting up Miller’s 4-yard TD scamper at 6:06.

Six-foot (195) senior quarterback Jake Sommers completed 9 of 22 pass for 95 yards to lead the Wawasee offense.

Sommers also has a strong leg, averaging 44.2 yards on six punts.



Plymouth rocks

Warsaw Tigers

The Plymouth Rockies rambled to a 41-7 Northern Lakes Conference victory Friday night at Warsaw.

Spencer Schalliol rushed for 90 yards and two touchdowns to lead Plymouth. Brock Smith scored two TDs and kicked five extra points.

This was the 93rd football meeting between the Rockies and Tigers. Plymouth nudged ahead in the series 46-45-2.



Lakeland soars to 3-0

After a tough start Friday night, the Lakeland Lakers roared back for a 35-13 Northeast Corner Conference triumph over the Central Noble Cougars in Albion.

The Cougars stunned the Lakers by scoring the first two touchdowns and taking a 13-0 lead.

But, the Lakers then rattled off 35 unanswered points and improved to 3-0 on the season.

Dakotah Baldridge of Lakeland threw touchdown passes to Kole Heller and Cameron Moore. Heller and Chris Smith also tallied on runs.

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