2008 Shippensburg

Week 2

Conference Opener

Smash-Mouth and Defense Wins the Night

September 5, 2008

Northern 14 – Shippensburg 3

Forget about what you thought you knew of Northern and Shippensburg football. Throw out the conference and the regular season winning streak. There were two teams on the field last night that played with heart and guts and the winner would be the last man standing.

And it was Northern!

Both teams literally traded punches in the first half and both defenses refused to yield. The Polar Bears held Shippensburg’s stand out running back, Ethan Naylor in check and the Hounds did the same to Northern’s Robbie Bleiler and Isaiah Hicks. Northern nose, Matt Murphy was a wrecking ball up front while the corners stuck to Greyhound receivers like glue. Not being able to get anything going on the ground, Bear QB, Joe Tuschak was forced into the air. While there was mild success, Northern still couldn’t put any kind of sustained drive together. Both defenses played within themselves and sent a message to the other bench that any points in this game would have to be earned. And there were no points in the game until with 32 seconds left, Shippensburg kicker, Michael Lloyd hammered a 43 yard field goal which would have been good from 50. Not content to be down to Ship 3-0 at the half, Joe hit some critical passes to take the Bears to the Shippensburg 20 yard line. With no time left on the clock, Northern kicker, Jake Warner drilled a 37 yard field goal that supposedly tied the game. The Northern sideline erupted but there was a flag on the field. “Illegal formation.” Jake then attempted a 42 yarder but it fell short and the Polar Bears went into the locker room down 3-0.

As good as they were in the first half, the Northern defense got better in the second. They completely shut down Shippensburg in the 3^rd quarter getting an interception from Luke Barricklow, his second of the year, a fumble recovery, and a three-and-out. That’s when the offensive line said enough and led by Kelton Mehls and Chase Walker, they began blowing Greyhound linemen off the ball. Northern’s running game got going in the 3^rd quarter and even though they trailed Ship 3-0 going into the 4^th, the momentum had clearly shifted into the Bears’ favor. With Isaiah Hicks injured in the 1^st half, Northern turned to Jake Boone who pounded into the line for yard after yard. Jake and Robbie drove the length of the field and with less than 8 minutes to play, Joe Tuschak followed his center into the end zone giving Northern its first lead of the night. After holding Ship to another three-and-out on their next possession, Northern took the punt and the offense was back in business. With 5 minutes to play, Joe Tuschak took the ball to the left side, cut back, and out raced the Shippensburg secondary 56 yards down the home sideline. Jake’s kick made it a 14-3 Polar Bear lead and the ball game was all but over.

Northern held Ship to 119 yards of offense, had 4 turnovers, and 3 sacks. Offensively, the Bears rolled up 277 yards on the Greyhounds while staking their claim to repeat as Conference Champions. Northern, now 1-0 in the Capital and 2-0 overall will head to Hershey where they will face a winless but dangerous Milton Hershey team. Kick off will be at 7:00 p.m. at Milton Hershey.