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Northern Bedford drops heartbreaker to rival Tussey Mountain

H.S. football extra

By Nate Ritchey 6 min read

LOYSBURG -- Depending on which way you drive to get back-and-forth, Northern Bedford and Tussey Mountain are separated by about 15 miles.

The two schools also share a co-op for golf and cross country.

But every year, the Backyard Brawl on the football schedule is heavily attended and highly anticipated as it's school against school with no sharing allowed.

The Black Panthers have dominated the series for many years, but the Titans made the trip to Loysburg looking to change things.

NBC had stolen control of the 2025 edition in the second half, but an 87-yard drive by Tussey Mountain in the waning seconds crushed the hearts of the Panthers in a 26-21 loss on Friday night.

"We just made mental mistakes in the first half that cost us situationally. We're a team that has to play in the right situations, and we made a couple of mistakes there," NBC coach Garry Black said. "We ran the ball really well, we blocked really well, we played really tough the entire game. … In the second half, (we did) everything we needed to do to come back and beat a tough football team. We had the lead and it was just a tough final drive there."

Sequence of the game: Northern Bedford, leading 21-20, took over possession with 7:01 remaining in the game and tried to run the ball to eat as much time off the clock as possible. On a fourth-and-3 from the TM 30, NBC's Ben Clark was limited to a 1-yard gain to give the ball back over to the Titans with 2:56 left.

Tussey, with no timeouts, went to work at its own 29 as quarterback Owen Miller threw to Noah Lucko for a 1-yard loss, but Lucko was then slapped with a personal foul that backed the ball up to the TM 13.

Miller uncorked a 35-yard gain to Wyatt Clark, then hit Isaiah Gambol for a 6-yard completion before once again connecting with Wyatt Clark on a 31-yarder down to the NBC 15.

Following a Lucko run for minus-3, Miller tossed outside to Jax Garner for 8 yards, then hit Gambol for 5 more down to set up first-and-goal from the NBC 5.

Miller gained 3 yards on a run before getting up and spiking the ball to stop the clock to bring up third-and-goal from the NB 2.

With 17 seconds left, Miller dropped back and found Gambol to the right corner of the end zone for the 2-yard touchdown pass and game-winner with 11.9 remaining on the clock.

Tussey Mountain coach Jacob Dasher: "Owen is a tough kid -- going back to baseball, he pitched a big game in the Elite 8. That gave him some confidence coming into the year that he can come through in these big spots. I think we just trusted him throughout, and he came through for us in the end. I couldn't be prouder of him. That's a big moment for him."

Black: "I told the kids -- I apologized -- that I should have changed what we were doing defensively on that final drive to give us a better opportunity to win. We have a lot of young guys and it's just tough. … We looked like a different football team tonight than we have in the first five weeks. … I just feel so bad for our kids because they played their hearts out."

Player of the game: Until the final drive, Miller had attempted three passes and all three were intercepted. However, the junior went 7-for-7 for 86 yards on the final drive of the night.

Miller: "So, that's obviously not what I wanted to do on my first few throws (interceptions), but adversity happens all the time. You've just got to get through it. We went into that last drive knowing we can do something, knowing we can move the ball in the air. We always train with our wristbands -- always try to go hurry up offense with the two-minute drill. Hard work pays off."

Unsung hero(es): For Tussey Mountain, Wyatt Clark not only caught the two passes for 66 yards on the game-winning drive, the senior also returned a kickoff 80-yards for a score to quickly turn a 7-7 tie, following a NBC score, into a 14-7 TM lead with 4:09 left in the second quarter.

For Northern Bedford, Ben Clark carried the ball 41 times for 188 yards and he found the endzone for all three Panther scores. Trailing 7-0, the senior plunged in for a 1-yard score at 4:21 of the second stanza.

He then bowled over several would-be tacklers on his way to a 2-yard TD on the opening drive of the second half before finding paydirt on a 35-yard run in which he stiff-armed the final defender before crossing the goal line with 3:03 in the third quarter. Weston Hart's extra point allowed Northern to take the 21-20 lead at that point.

Most vital statistic: Prior to the 87-yard game-winning drive, Tussey Mountain had just 26 total yards of offense in the second half. Meanwhile, Northern Bedford had 129 --- all on the ground.

Dasher: "The first half was phenomenal. I would say the first 22 minutes in the second half were very bad. … Just for them (Tussey Mountain) to battle through adversity and trust each other coming through when it counts — makes me proud."

Records: Tussey Mountain (3-3); Northern Bedford (0-6).

Next week: Tussey Mountain hosts Berlin Brothersvalley. Northern Bedford travels to Meyersdale.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Tussey Mountain 7 13 0 6 — 26

Northern Bedford 0 7 14 0 — 21

First Quarter

TM--Lucko 18 run (W. Clark kick), 28.3

Second Quarter

NB--B. Clark 1 run (Hart kick), 4:21.

TM--W. Clark 80 kickoff return (W. Clark kick), 4:09.

TM--Lucko 3 run (kick failed), 31.8

Third Quarter

NB--B. Clark 2 run (Hart kick), 8:40.

NB--B. Clark 35 run (Hart kick), 3:03.

Fourth Quarter

TM--Gambol 2 pass from Miller (kick failed), 11.9

TEAM STATISTICS TM NB

First downs 10 14

Total yards 193 227

Rushes-yards 32-107 49-221

Yards passing 86  6

Pass (comp.-att.-int.) 7-12-3 3-7-1

Punts-avg. 2-39.5 2-51.0

Fumbles-lost 2-0 1-0

Penalties-yards 5-38 4-25

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING--Tussey Mountain, Lucko 20-79, Miller 6-11, W. Clark 3-0, Garner 3-17. Northern Bedford, B. Clark 41-188, Swanseen 2-11, Baker 4-21, Cottle 1-(-1), Donaldson 1-2.

PASSING--Tussey Mountain, Miller 7-10-3-86, Garner 0-1-0-0, TEAM 0-1-0-0. Northern Bedford, Cottle 2-3-0-6, Baker 1-4-1-0.

RECEIVING--Tussey Mountain, W. Clark 2-66, Garner 1-8, Lucko 1-(-1), Gambol 3-13. Northern Bedford, B. Clark 2-2, Baker 1-4.

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