2002 In Review

Week 2

Friday September 10, 2004

Versus

Central York High School

GUT CHECK!

If there was any doubt that Northern's young team had heart, those doubts were obliterated by the 4th quarter of last night's non-league game versus the Central York Panthers in York. Both teams battled like warriors in a last man standing duel which is typical of the way these two teams have played each other during the recent past. Who will ever forget the overtime victory in the North end of the stadium some 5 years ago. Well, that end of the stadium saw the Bears again put their stamp on victory.

Down 3-0 early, the Bears were struggling to find themselves offensively. On the defensive side of the ball, Northern was doing their best to keep Central's speedy wide receivers hemmed in while stuffing the ground game with a blitzing scheme that hurt the Panther's running game. Toward the end of the first half Central York QB Eric Schwartz hit WR Garyon Johnson with a 25 yard touch down pass. The kick missed and the Bears left the field down 9-0.

Trailing as they were the previous week, Northern came out fired up in the 2nd half and scored points of their own when Mike Romagnoli went off-tackle for 51 yards and a touchdown. The PAT made it 9-7 and the Bears were back. Central York answered when Shane Gilbert scored from the 5 yard line. Undaunted by Central's touchdown, the Bears scored again when Colby Betz hit Drew Romagnoli with a beautiful pass that Romagnoli took into the end zone. Drew made some amazing moves in and out of Panther defenders ultimately taking the ball 67 yards for the score. Central's 16-14 lead held until late in the game. Northern's defense was brilliant in the 4th quarter. Sam Bender had two enormous sacks and Craig Moose was all over the field like a freight train. It seemed Moose was involved in almost every tackle in the 2nd half. Shawn McGeehan and Brandon Adams each came up huge for the Bears as they did the previous week. The defense gave the ball back to Betz and the Polar Bear offense and with under 5 minutes to go, the Bears mounted a final drive capped off with a Jimmy Miller 12 yard touchdown run right up the middle. Mike Romagnoli was instrumental on the drive hitting on solid runs while taking clock and Panther defenders with him. Central had the ball with less than 2:30 to go in the game and the Polar Bear Defense shut them down. On 4th and 10 with 40 seconds to go, Schwartz threw downfield completing the pass, but out of bounds. After the change of possession, Colby Betz took a knee and the victory was sealed

This was truly one of those games where you genuinely feel sorry for the team that had to lose. Both teams played with everything they had in them. It was an exciting game from whistle to whistle.

Next week the Bears get to play at host to Mechanicsburg who come in with a record of 1 and 1. The Wildcats won last week on a late field goal giving them the 16-13 victory over Warwick Area High School. Mechanicsburg QB Zach Frazer passed for 195 yards and a touch down and added 31 yards rushing on 5 carries. The Wildcats were a pre-season honorable mention in the state rankings so this will be a good one.

Final Score

Northern 21

Central York 16

Colby Betz 5 of 7 for 192 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT

Mike Romagnoli 12 carries for 109 yards and 1 TD

Next Week Vs. Mechanicsburg at Bostic Field. Kickoff is at 7:30 P.M.