By Nate Ritchey

nritchey@altoonamirror.com

LOYSBURG — Come playoff time, the best football teams generally have things clicking in all three facets of the game.

On Friday night against Meyersdale, Northern Bedford had just that as the second seed put things all together with the use of its offense, defense and special teams.

The Black Panthers got big contributions from all three in the first half where they grabbed momentum and never looked back in earning a 30-14 victory over the third-seeded Red Raiders in District 5 Class 1A semifinal action at Panthers Community Stadium.

“Meyersdale is a tough football team. Knowing that we had to beat them twice (NBC won 35-14 on Oct. 4) is a difficult thing to do,” Northern Bedford coach Garry Black said. “They got better as the season went on … we knew with them coming in here that we’d have our hands full. I’m really proud of our team. We just continue to do whatever we need to do.”

Sequence of the game: After Northern Bedford turned the ball over on downs on two straight possessions to open the game, the defense finally got involved. Aaron Bowers intercepted Meyersdale quarterback Lance Jones and returned it 28 yards to the Meyersdale 42. Four plays later, Ben Clark ran in from 7 yards out with 16.6 left in the first quarter.

On the ensuing kickoff, NBC’s Alex Kochara hit a ball that bounced high over the first row of Red Raiders, bounced once again where Meyersdale’s Caden Snyder tried to field it, but was simultaneously hit off the ball by Wyatt Clouse, who recovered the kick to give the Panthers the ball back at the Meyersdale 31. Four plays later, Northern went up 14-0 when Clark powered his way in from 2 yards just 59 seconds into the second stanza.

Black: “That’s what we did against them (Meyersdale) the first time. Right at the end of the second quarter, things piled up. That’s what we were going for. It (onside kick) was more like a 20-yard kick — there was just a hole there and he (Kochara) put it up like a golfer and it just kind of spun around and we were able to come down and get it. So, that was a really good thing for us.”

Player of the game: Ben Clark carried the ball 28 times for 169 yards and three touchdowns. The junior also went over the 1,000-yard mark for the season and now sits at 1,033. In addition to the 7 and 2 yard TDs, he crossed the goal line on a 4-yard run with 4:26 left in the half to make the score 21-6.

Clark: “This (win) feels great. Running behind my linemen and got 1,000 (yards) on the season — it feels great. We came out early, which we hadn’t done earlier this season. We got into it in the first quarter, did what we needed to do, got on the scoreboard and it was game from there.”

Unsung hero: NBC’s Aaron Bowers hauled in four catches for 41 yards and rushed five times for 39 yards. In addition to the first-quarter interception, he punted twice for a 42-yard average, recovered a fumble and also hauled in a 10-yard pass from Vaughn Schleinkofer to put NBC up 28-6. He also executed a fake punt play on the same scoring drive where he threw a 23-yard pass to Connor Donaldson who took it down to the Red Raider 15.

Most vital statistic: Northern Bedford had 19 first downs to Meyersdale’s nine.

Meyersdale coach Ryan Donaldson: “At this point in time, Week 11, everything matters — all three facets of the game. Special teams are big, and that’s going to change momentum really quickly, and then you make mistakes like that, and you don’t have things quite figured out offensively or defensively. If you make those mistakes and let momentum get away from you, it’s going to be hard to catch up against a team like Northern Bedford.”

Notable: Northern Bedford’s final points came when the ball was snapped over the head of Jones and out the back of the endzone with 49.4 remaining in the game. … In addition to the three turnovers and the punts forced by the Northern Bedford, the defense got Meyersdale to turn the ball over on downs twice. … NBC’s Joey O’Brien sacked Jones twice. … The Red Raiders running back, Caleb Sines, rushed 15 times for 144 yards, including a 2-yard TD with 6:49 on the fourth quarter clock to make the score 28-14. The freshman also picked off Schleinkofer in the second stanza to set up a 31-yard scoring sprint on first down by Karter Schurg to make it 14-6 right before halftime.

Records: Meyersdale (6-5); Northern Bedford (9-2).

Next week: Meyersdale’s season is complete; Northern Bedford plays Windber at Somerset on Saturday, Nov. 9, at 6 p.m.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Meyersdale 0 6 0 8 — 14

Northern Bedford 7 14 7 2 — 30

First Quarter

NB — Clark 7 run (Kochara kick), 16.6.

Second Quarter

NB — Clark 2 run (Kochara kick), 8:37.

M — Schurg 31 run (kick failed), 8:37.

NB — Clark 4 run (Kochara kick), 4:26.

Third Quarter

NB — Bowers 10 pass from Schleinkofer (Kochara kick), 7:48.

Fourth Quarter

M — Sines 2 run (Sines run), 6:49.

NB — Safety, 49.4.

TEAM STATISTICS M NB

First downs 9 19

Total yards 255 337

Rushes-yards 25-181 43-247

Yards passing 74 90

Pass(comp.-att.-int.) 5-15-1 9-17-1

Punts-avg. 3-41.7 2-42.0

Fumbles-lost  2-2 2-1

Penalties-yards 7-62 4-35

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Meyersdale, Whitfield 4-27, Schurg 2-36, Jones 3-(-26), Sines 15-144, Synowietz 1-0. Northern Bedford, Bowers 5-39 Clark 28-169, Schleinkofer 3-6, Clouse 1-18, Snider 4-16, Swanseen 1-(-5), Feathers 1-4.

PASSING — Meyersdale, Jones 5-15-1-74. Northern Bedford, Schleinkofer 8-16-1-67, Bowers 1-1-0-23, Baker 0-0-0-0.

RECEIVING — Meyersdale, Schurg 1-32, Sines 1-16, Vogt 1-2, Brenneman 1-9, Hainsworth 1-15. Northern Bedford, Bowers 4-41, Pittman 1-9, Clark 2-14, Snider 1-3, Donaldson 1-23.