Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
NAPPANEE -ÊNorthWood's defense put a leash on the New Haven Bulldogs Friday night in the Class 3A football sectional championship. The offense wasn't too shabby, either, as the Panthers defeated New Haven 48-3.
Going into the game, Charlie Roeder was just 21 yards away from tying the NorthWood career rushing record set by Aaron Huber last season. Huber's record was 2,853 career yards, and Roeder passed that mark on a 53-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. Unofficially, Roeder has 2,901 yards in his career.
Roeder returned a punt 62 yards for a touchdown, returned an interception for 45 yards that set up a touchdown, threw two touchdown passes and rushed for 69 yards and one touchdown.
The Panthers started off slowly as they turned the ball over on downs after just six plays in their first drive. However, New Haven would not have the ball for long as Bill Barkimer's first pass attempt was intercepted by Roeder after only four Bulldog plays.
Roeder returned the interception 45 yards to put the Panthers right back where they were when they gave the ball over on downs. However, this time the NorthWood squad capitalized on the opportunity and scored the first touchdown of the night when Jason Brennaman ran the ball in from four yards out with 5:36 still on the first quarter clock.
Then the "Black Crunch" defense kicked in. The Panthers forced the Bulldogs to go three and out, and then Roeder returned the punt 62 yards for another NorthWood touchdown with 3:54 remaining in the first stanza.
Although the Panthers were ahead 14-0 after the first quarter, NorthWood would not be satisfied with just two touchdowns.
With 10:22 on the second quarter clock, Roeder rolled out in the option and tossed the ball to Chaz Scherer, who ran 24 yards for the next NorthWood touchdown. After Andy Mitschelen's kick sailed through the uprights, the Panthers were up 21-0.
Roeder connected with Scherer on a 15-yard pass play to score yet another NorthWood touchdown with 5:48 left in the first half.
The Panthers still were not finished with their first-quarter scoring onslaught. With just under two minutes left in the half, Roeder and Scherer connected on one last 53-yard pass to give NorthWood a 34-0 advantage as the team went to the locker room for halftime.
"New Haven is a big team," said NorthWood coach Rich Dodson. "We tried to use our quickness to offset their size."
The Bulldogs held the Panthers scoreless for the majority of the third quarter, but Roeder broke out for his 53-yard touchdown run with 1:55 on the clock. When Anthony Sanders' extra point sliced the uprights, the Panthers held a commanding 41-0 lead.
"Charlie had a heck of a run," said Dodson. "What can I say? He's been in our program and started for three years. This kind of puts the icing on his career. Hopefully we'll have a few more games for him to play in, too."
Again, the defense was key as Willy Will intercepted a Barkimer pass on the first play of the fourth quarter. NorthWood then used the clock as the Panthers moved the ball 49 yards on 12 plays and ate nearly six minutes off the fourth quarter.
The 49-yard drive was capped off by a 5-yard Mike Blosser quarterback keeper that resulted in a touchdown. After a Sanders extra point, NorthWood held a 48-0 lead.
However, the New Haven squad did not give in. The Bulldogs moved down to the Panther 2-yard line with first and goal, but the NorthWood goal-line defense refused to allow a touchdown.
New Haven had to settle for a field goal after back-to-back sacks moved the Bulldogs back to the 10-yard line.
"I really think our defense has come a long way," said Dodson. "They came out with a lot of tenacity and enthusiasm tonight, and they hustled against a tough hard-hitting team."
"This is a bit of a hostile environment, and NorthWood is a tough team to play, especially at home," said New Haven coach Tyson Silveus. "That's NorthWood. I would expect no less than that."
"I would like to build a program like NorthWood's at New Haven."
NorthWood is at Norwell (No. 4, 11-1) next week.
NORTHWOOD 48, NEW HAVEN 3
New Haven 0 0 0 3 - 0
NorthWood 14 20 7 7 - 48
NW NH
First downs 13 12
Rushes-yards 34-219 39-155
Passing 140 56
Comp.-Att.-Int. 6-12-0 4-20-3
Total offense 359 211
Fumbles-lost 3-1 1-0
Penalties-yards 2-25 5-41
First Quarter
5:36 -ÊJason Brennaman 4 run (Andy Mitschelen kick), 7-0 NW
3:54 -ÊCharlie Roeder 62 punt return (Mitschelen kick), 14-0 NW
Second Quarter
10:22 -ÊChaz Scherer 24 run (Mitschelen kick), 21-0 NW
5:48 -ÊScherer 15 pass from Roeder (Mitschelen kick failed), 27-0 NW
1:50 -ÊScherer 53 pass from Roeder (Mitschelen kick), 34-0 NW
Third Quarter
1:55 -ÊRoeder 53 run (Anthony Sanders kick), 41-0 NW
Fourth Quarter
6:14 -ÊMike Blosser 19 run (Sanders kick), 48-0 NW
1:16 -ÊJosh Orth 25 field goal, 48-3 NW
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
Rushing - NorthWood: Chaz Scherer 9-71, Charlie Roeder 7-69, Jason Brennaman 6-33, Ben Lehman 6-28; New Haven: Cory Jacquay 20-107, Bill Barkimer 12-30, Paul Gottfried 5-18.
Receiving - NorthWood: Scherer 3-94, Andy Mitschelen 3-46; New Haven: Ty Stoppenhagen 2-28, Nick Burnham 1-18, Ben Barfell 1-10.
Passing - NorthWood: Roeder 6-11-140, 0 INT, 2 TD; Barkimer 4-20-56, 3 INT, 0 TD.
