Football

NBC hangs on with Kochara’s FG

CLAYSBURG -- A sun-drenched, glistening turf at Bulldog stadium awaited the start of a battle between two Inter-County Conference foes Friday night. A cat and dog fight ensued where the outcome of the game was unknown until the waning seconds.

In the end, it was the steady foot of Northern Bedford's Alex Kochara, who kicked a 28-yard field goal, that provided the points necessary to secure an 18-15 win over a valiant Claysburg-Kimmel team. The Bulldogs drove 50 yards and got as close as the Panther 23-yard-line before a fourth down, incomplete pass ended the game as the final seconds expired.

Northern Bedford drew first blood as an early stingy defense forced 2 three and outs from the Bulldogs. Senior Aaron Bowers found paydirt in the form of an 11-yard pass reception in the first quarter.

Claysburg's crafty quarterback Mason Campagna would figure out the Panther defense with an outstanding second quarter effort. He hit a wide-open Tyler Mowry with a 57-yard scoring play, then in the next drive the big play was a 30-yard reception from Jacob Herline. Campagna scored on a keeper as the Bulldog's held a 15-7 lead.

The Panthers scored less than two minutes later to knot the score at halftime with an impressive 8-play, 63-yard drive. Junior Ben Clark ran for 5 of those plays and got the score from 2 yards out.

The score traded punches for most of the second half before Kochara's heroics in the game's final two minutes

Play of the game:  NBC's Wes Horsh had a 37-yard reception in the drive that produced the game winning points.

Player of the game:  Northern Bedford's Ben Clark had 22 carries for 157 yards, moving the chains several times on several crucial runs

Unsung heroes:  NBC's Justice Suter had a big third down sack of Campagna to and forced CK to punt in the fourth quarter. Claysburg's Jacob Freeman and Mowry each recovered fumbles to help stop Panther drives

Most vital statistic:   Clark had 37 yards late in the second period in one drive and 36 yards in the first drive of the second half to keep the Panther offense moving.

Northern Bedford coach Garry Black: "We played a really good football team tonight. Seeing the film of their effort last week against Berlin had me challenging our team to grow up fast and be prepared tonight. Campagna, Mark Latteri and Herline are outstanding football players. I am really proud of our effort, we have a brutal upcoming schedule and knew we had to give our all to get this one tonight. Clark is a brand new starter for us taking over the reins from Adam Johnson and as far as Alex's kick, you never know when it will be your time to shine."

Kochara on the game-winning field goal: "The right hash is my favorite. Everything felt great about the whole play."

Claysburg-Kimmel coach Chuck Kassick: "The kids on both teams played their guts out tonight. We had some trouble stopping the run and had some breakdowns. Northern Bedford made a few more plays than us tonight. Offensively we left some plays on the field and had some mistakes. I'll say this often, that we are young and that's going to happen It is a learning curve every week and we must overcome adversity.

Notable: Panther quarter-back Vaughn Schleinkofer stayed consistent with his accurate passing with a 128-yard effort through the air ... Lattieri led the Bulldog rushing game with a 13-carry, 120 yard night … Kochara had a busy week scoring 6 total goals in two games to help the Panther soccer team get off to a 2-0 start. ... Bowers recovering from an injury, played his first game of the season and had several crucial touches and a fumble recovery. ... Claysburg's Campagna had 153 yards passing and 67 yards rushing...Mowry, Remington Diehl and Herline all had big receptions for Claysburg

Records:  Northern Bedford (2-0) Claysburg-Kimmel(0-2)

Next week: Northern Bedford travels west to face Wilmington from District 10, Claysburg will an ICC North contest at West Branch.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Northern Bedford 7 8 0 3 -- 18

Claysburg-Kimmel 0 15 0 0 -- 15

First Quarter

NB- Bowers 11 pass from Schleinkofer (Kochara kick) 4:23

Second Quarter

CK- Mowry 57 pass from Campagna (Fee Kick) 7:29

CK- Campagna 2 run (Campagna run) 2:57

NB- Clark 2 run (Schleinkofer run) 0:37

Fourth Quarter

NB- Kochara 28 field goal 1:36

TEAM STATISTICS NB CK

First downs 13 14

Total yards 339 348

Rushes-yards 35-211 33-195

Yards passing 128 153

Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 11-16-0 10-20-0

Punts-avg. 3-30 4-30

Fumbles-lost 4-2 2-1

Penalties-yards 2-15 7-45

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING--Northern Bedford, Clark 22-157, Schleinkofer 4-23 Bowers 4-16, Pittman 2-11, Suter 3-4. Claysburg-Kimmel, Lattieri 13-120, Campagna 15-67, Mowry 3-5, Diehl 1-5, Team 1-(minus 2).

PASSING--Northern Bedford, Schleinkofer 11-15-0-128, Bowers 0-1-0-0. Claysburg-Kimmel, Campagna 10-20-0-153

RECEIVING--Northern Bedford, Horsh 2-54, Bowers 4-39, Pittman 3-16, Clark 1-13, Clouse 1-6. Claysburg-Kimmel, Mowry 3-67, Diehl 4-40, Herline 2-44, Lattieri 1-2.