NAPPANEE - Friday's class 3A regional final game between seventh ranked Fort Wayne Harding and the 10th ranked NorthWood Panthers was a tale of who had the better disciplined team and a tale of two halves.

Fortunately for the Panthers, their better half came after the intermission in their 18-7 victory at Andrews Field.

NorthWood won the toss to start the game, but chose to defer to the second half giving the ball immediately to Harding's tandem of 1,000 yard rushers, Sean Casey and Quincy Bright.

The Hawks started their first drive on the 1-yard line, and kept posession for 6:35 during a 15-play drive. Harding's offense couldn't come up with a score, and turned the ball over to NorthWood at the Panther 34-yard line, but they would get it right back.

On NorthWood's first offensive play, quarterback Charlie Roeder completed a 16-yard pass to Aaron Huber, but Huber fumbled the ball right back.

Two plays later, Harding's Chris Smiley connected on a 50-yard touchdown pass with Ike Davis, and after a Josh Davis kick, the Hawks led 7-0 with 4:36 remaining in the first quarter.

Harding continued to pick on Huber, this time causing him to fumble for a 3-yard loss on the second play of NorthWood's second drive. The Panthers went three and out, and Nick Juday punted the ball away 46 yards.

On Harding's next possession, NorthWood's defense stiffened, forcing Harding to punt after a four-play drive. The Panthers got the ball back on a 25 yard punt, but still couldn't find the end zone.

On third and nine, Roeder connected with Brock Doty for a 21-yard gain to Harding's 8-yard line, but after a penalty moved the ball back to the 13, the Panthers settled for a 26-yard Andy Mitschelen field goal that put them on the board with 7:07 left in the first half.

NorthWood's defense continued to turn the tide in the second frame when it got the first of three interceptions, this one coming at the 48-yard line on the third play of Harding's fourth posession.

The remainder of the first half was scoreless, and the two teams went into the locker room with Harding clinging to a 7-3 lead.

Things went NorthWood's way after the break. On second down and seven of Harding's first drive in the third quarter, Ike Davis was called for offensive pass interference. Harding lost 15 yards and a down, setting up third and 22.

After picking up the first down, the Hawks were called for delay of game. On third and seven from the 34-yard line, Huber picked up NorthWood's second interception on a ball that was tipped by three people before he caught it.

"We made some plays, and only gave up one big play," said Panther head coach Rich Dodson. "Our objective was to force them to move the ball, and we wanted to take things at them. We had them limping around."

The Panthers scored the only points of the third quarter when Roeder found Huber for a 25-yard touchdown pass at the 8:45 mark. Mitschelen added the kick to give NorthWood a 10-7 lead that they never relinquished.

"We prepared well," said Dodson. "The kids practiced well this week other than one day. On Wednesday we talked about tradition. I told them about 1980 when we played a Norwell team that we had no business playing, and we talked about what it would take to win tonight because we don't always take advantage of our opportunities."

Discipline is what it took to win last night's regional championship, and late in the game when it counted, the Panthers did take advantage of their opportunities.

"They had a third and 22," said Dodson. "We stepped up and made him option, and we got a fumble recovery out of it.'

Dodson is referring to the 1:43 mark of the fourth quarter when Smiley rolled out and attempted a pitch that the Panthers recovered. By this time the emotions were high, and Smiley threw his helmet to the ground in disgust earning him an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

While Smiley was being escorted off the field by a teammate, Jamarkus Walters, who had played a brilliant game thus far, greeted the Andrews Field crowd with an obscene gesture that forced him to be ejected.

After consecutive unsportsmanlike penalties, the Panthers found themselves at the 8-yard line where Roeder ran in with 40 seconds remaining in the game for the final touchdown. Mitschelen ran in the two-point conversion, rounding out the 18-7 score after a course of events that Dodson said didn't need to happen.

"It's unfortunate that it occurred," said Dodson. "There was a lot of emotion, and one or two players lost control. That doesn't represent coach Cooley and Harding at all, Steve was just a young man out of control."

The win gave Dodson his third regional championship. Last week's sectional championship was his fourth. NorthWood (10-3) plays at Andrean (11-2) Friday.

NorthWood 18 Harding 7

NorthWood 0 3 7 8 - 18

Harding 7 0 0 0 - 7

N H

First downs 13 14

Rushes-yards 36-132 39-230

Passing 94 78

Comp.-Att.-Int. 8-15-2 4-8-3 Total offense 226 308

Fumbles-lost 2-1 1-1

Punts-ave. 3-38 1-25

Score By Quarters

First Quarter

H - Ike Davis 50 pass from Chris Smiley (Josh Davis kick) 4:36 7-0

Second Quarter

N - Andy Mitschelen 26 field goal 7:07 7-3

Third Quarter

N - Huber 25 pass from Charlie Roeder (Mitschelen kick) 8:45 10-7

Fourth Quarter

N - Roeder 8 run (Mitschelen conversion good) 18-7

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

Rushing - NorthWood: Roeder 16-67, Aaron Huber 18-59; Harding Quincy Bright 17-124, Chris Smiley 10-48, Sean Casey 8-46

Receiving - NorthWood: Brock Doty 3-42, Brad Greenlee 2-22, Huber 1-16, Ian Reed 1-14; Harding: Ike Davis 1-50, Trai Essex 2-24

Passing - NorthWood: Roeder 8-14-2-94; Harding: Smiley 4-8-3-78 [[In-content Ad]]