2008 Mechanicsburg

Week 4

If the Streak has to End...

Let it not End without a Fight!

Fourth Quarter Bears Comeback bid falls just short.

September 12, 2008

Mechanicsburg 23 – Northern 21

A streak that began with front yard rival, Mechanicsburg in 2005, ended with Mechanicsburg in front of 4,000 screaming fans at Bostic Stadium last night. Northern’s impressive run of 31 straight regular season wins had to come to an end sometime, but the 2008 Bears would fight to keep it going until the last minute of play.

The Wildcats came in to Bostic last night as one of the consensus favorites to win the District 3 Championship. They left earning every yard and every point and looking like they had been in a war. Wildcat QB, Jake Zeigler was outstanding on both sides of the ball though the Bears exerted some real pressure on him and for the most part, shut down Mechanicsburg’s outstanding RB, Tarik Leftenant. The Wildcat’s defense was just as ferocious holding the Bears to just two field goals on their first two red-zone drives. Northern got the scoring going on Jake Warner’s field goals of 30 and 37 yards. After an incredible run by Zeigler where he was down, wasn’t down, was down again, and wasn’t down that ultimately ended up deep in Northern Territory, Tarik Leftenant blasted around the left side for a 10-yard touch down tying the game at 6. Mechanicsburg took the lead on a 24 yard Ben Anderson FG and then added to it on Zeigler’s first of two touch down tosses; this one to Adam Tuttle. With less than a minute left in the half, the Wildcat’s long snapper snapped high to a very alert punter who knocked the ball out of the end-zone giving the Bears a safety and drawing them to within 8. The half ended 16-8.

Then second half began with fireworks as Zeigler hit Anderson on a 53 yard bomb for a touchdown. Mechanicsburg got to 23 points with nearly the entire second half to go when Northern’s defense became a vise. They would allow no more points and would give their offense the ball with great field position. QB Joe Tuschak and company took advantage of it and with 7:34 to go in the game, Joe hit Robbie Bleiler for a 6 yard scoring strike on a huge 4^th down. The PAT was missed hitting the upright and the crossbar finally falling on the unfriendly side. The miss kept the Bears down two scores but in just over two minutes, the Bears again found themselves in the end zone when Jake Boone dove over the line after pounding 15 yards. After giving up a first down to Mechanicsburg on their ensuing drive, the Bears D stiffened again forcing a Wildcat punt with under a minute to go. Unfortunately, time had run out on the Bears as they had clearly taken momentum but just didn’t have enough seconds left to do something with it. While there were some red eyes in the huddle afterwards, there was a great deal of determination as well. After all, these two teams might very well find themselves on the same field at the same time again before this season is over.