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October 10, 2009

Raiders relish football win

By Stu Swartz

Alex Riley...Rollie White...Kody Bontreger...Austin Cook...Nate Harrington.

Those names might be heard in pre-game introductions, but seldom after that on Northridge High School football Friday nights.

Yet those offensive linemen are key for the 2009 Raiders being in the upper tier of the Northern Lakes Conference and enjoying the program’s first winning regular season since 1992.

Friday night’s 24-23 victory at Concord, followed a 40-34 triple-overtime triumph at home over Goshen. The Raiders of 1993 also defeated the Redskins and Minutemen back to back.

Northridge is now 5-3 overall and 4-2 in the NLC to share second place with Concord and NorthWood behind 6-0 Plymouth which clinched an outright championship Friday.

This is Northridge’s first winning conference record since a 4-3 in 1988.

Senior tackles Riley and Harrington, senior guard White, sophomore center Bontreger and junior guard Cook are giving Raider running backs lanes to run, the quarterback time to throw and receivers time to get open.

Senior Carsten Miller rushed for 172 yards on 27 tries in the win at Concord. Senior quarterback Andrew Hooley threw for 148 yards on 9-for-20.

Gatlin Rassi, 6-2 (180) senior “Mr. Everything for NHS, caught four passes for 63 yards. He also punts, returns kickoffs, returns punts and plays defense when needed.

Junior Thomas Nowak ran for one touchdown and caught a pass from Hooley for what proved to be the winning score.

Seniors Alec Herman and Dylan Meyer and junior Tyler Priem also caught passes.

While Concord’s offense scored 23 points and piled up 285 yards after halftime, it was the play of Northridge’s defense which set the tone early and gave the Raiders a chance to win.

The high-powered Minutemen were held to no points, 40 yards rushing, 19 yards passing, three first downs and 2-of-10 passing in the first half.

That Northridge unit includes seniors Justin Utley and Jake Chambers at ends, junior Bryce Smith at nose tackle, juniors Jeffrey Parker, Brett Zimmerman and Nick Sherck at inside linebackers, Nowak and senior Kyle Woolsey at outside linebackers, junior David Fields and senior Justin Yoder on the corners and junior Garett Yoder at safety.

Rassi had an interception in the first quarter, Utley knocked down a Concord pass in the second, Zimmerman broke up a pass and Chambers recovered a fumble in the fourth.

Raider coach Jonathan Kirkton, amid the mud and team celebration at Concord, said, “That’s the program win we’ve been looking for, right there.

“We’ve heard the NLC’s not very good, we can only win every other game, we hadn’t beaten anyone with a winning record.

“But the truth is we’ll come into any game and believe we can win. When you have that, and guys who make plays like they did in this game, you have a chance every time you step on the field.”

So kudos to Raiders players, Coach Kirkton and his assistants — Dennis Sienicki, Andrew Brabender, Ryan Vest, James Greensides, Mike Clabaugh, Bryan Fisher and Joel Sienicki — on a golden moment in Northridge history.

They deserve it.

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