High School Football

Ailing Panthers come up short

H.S. Football Extra

LOYSBURG -- Having lost its starting quarterback (Trace Baker) and top receiver (Nevin Lloyd) on a collision while breaking up a pass late in the second quarter, Northern Bedford gave Windber a taste of its own play calling to start the second half.

Jordan Free filled in as backup QB and the Black Panthers used all but 1:17 of the third quarter as Free ran the ball 15 times on a drive that started at their own 3-yard line.

Unfortunately, the Ramblers came up with a big defensive stop and then drove down the field for the eventual winning points as NBC suffered a 21-13 setback on Friday night at Panther Community Stadium.

"It (military mindset) became the message to our team at halftime that when you're down some brothers, you just have to pick it up and keep going," Northern Bedford coach Garry Black said. "... For us to do what we did down our quarterback, down a receiver, two defensive starters plus we were already down guys. Those are big positions to lose in a high school football game. We had enough to pull it off, but we just didn't."

With the game knotted at 7-7, Free ran his team all the way down to the Windber 3 where he was stopped for no gain on both third and fourth downs.

"We already had that formation in (with Free under center and running) -- that is the Windber single wing that they have run for 15 years under (former) Coach Grohal," Black said. "We had it in and I said to them at halftime that we're going to live by it or die by it because you've got 10 blockers."

The Ramblers immediately responded by putting together a nine-play, 97-yard drive that included a 45-yard pass from quarterback Tyler Tallyen to Braedyn Cheskiewicz, a Tallyen 18-yard run and was capped off with a 22-yard touchdown toss from Tallyen to Trey Tallion.

"We're bend but don't break -- we talk about it all the time," Windber coach Frank Tallyen said. "... Our offense responded as we challenged them at halftime. They responded and came up big. Trey made some big plays for us in the second half."

Caleb Rummell's extra point with 9:57 remaining made it 14-7 and proved to be the winning point.

NBC had a ball slipped through the hands of Preston Horsh on a passed from Free that would have went for a first down but instead gave possession back to Windber.

The Ramblers responded with 3-play, 51-yard drive that included a loss of 4-yards, a 52-yard burst by Tallion and was finished off as Dylan Woodruff powered his way across the goal line from 3-yards out with 5:01 to go.

The Panthers went right back to Free as the junior accounted for 46 rushing yards, while Windber committed three penalties totaling 32 yards to get NBC down to the Rambler 2.

Brett Cottle entered the end zone with 1:08 left to set the final as the two-point try was unsuccessful.

Player of the game: Tallion ran seven times for 53 yards, caught three passes for 60 yards and tied the contest up at 7-7 at 5:29 of the second quarter on a 75-yard kickoff return.

Tallion: "I had a lot of blockers and I just followed them. I made a play and just followed all of them."

Unsung hero: Free carried the ball 28 times for 142 yards, including 139 after the break.

Most vital statistics: While Northern Bedford had its success on the ground with 239 rushing yards to just 2 yards through the air, Windber had 119 passing and 56 on the ground. ... NBC outgained the Ramblers by 241-175 margin, and also 19 first downs to nine.

Notable: Cottle put Northern on the board first with a 3-yard TD run at 5:45. Tallion's kickoff return came on the ensuing drive. ... NBC celebrated Military Appreciation Night by wearing camouflage jerseys, and they had military veterans and active duty members from both communities form a tunnel on the field before the game for the players to run through.

Black: "You think about what those people do for our country. It's just something special to be able to do, and it's really neat to be able to do it with Windber and invite those men and women onto our football field tonight."

Records: Windber (6-4); Northern Bedford (4-5).

Next week: Windber hosts Mount Union next Friday; Northern Bedford entertains Claysburg-Kimmel.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Windber 0 7 0 14 -- 21

Northern Bedford 0 7 0 6 -- 13

Second Quarter

NB--Br. Cottle 3 run (Ritchey kick), 5:45.

W--Tallion 75 kickoff return (Rummell kick), 5:29.

Fourth Quarter

W--Tallion 22 pass from Tallyen (Rummell kick), 9:57.

W--Woodruff 3 run (Rummell kick), 5:01.

NB--Br. Cottle 2 run (run failed), 1:08.

TEAM STATISTICS W NB

First downs 9 19

Total yards 175 241

Rushes-yards 22-56 52-239

Yards passing 119 2

Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 6-12-0 2-7-0

Punts-avg. 2-26.5 1-24.0

Fumbles-lost 2-0 1-0

Penalties-yards 8-67 5-42

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING--Windber, Tallion 7-53, Woodruff 1-3, Tallyen 9-17, Berg 2-3, Rummell 1-(-18). Northern Bedford, Swanseen 10-39, Br. Cottle 7-26, Free 28-142, Lloyd 1-2, Weimer 1-7, Baker 1-7.

PASSING--Windber, Tallyen 6-12-0-119. Northern Bedford, Baker 1-1-0-(-3), Free 1-6-0-5.

RECEIVING--Windber, Tallion 3-60, Woodruff 2-14, Cheskiewicz 1-45. Northern Bedford, Br. Cottle 1-(-3), Bowers 1-5.