2002 In Review

Week 4

Friday September 22, 2006

Versus

Greencastle

Division Play is Underway………………

Even though the Polar Bears are coming off of two straight Mid-Penn Colonial Division titles in 2004 and 2005, many of the pundits had the Bears behind Greencastle and West Perry for the 2006 campaign. The next two weeks would determine who was actually right.

With Northern’s 7-0 victory, half of the question was answered in Greencastle, PA last night in a defensive slugfest which saw the same or fewer points scored in a Northern game since September 13^th, 2002 when the Bears beat Mechanicsburg 7-0. There were more 4^th down stands by both teams than any time in recent memory and both offensives were severely tested. Greencastle’s Conrad Myers came into the game fresh off of a 170 yard, 3 touch down performance last week against Waynesboro. Tonight, he was smothered and held to 26 yards on 16 carries and no scores. The entire Greencastle offense was held to just 91 yards rushing and 127 overall. Northern, on the other hand, rolled up 259 yards of total offense before stalling inside Greencastle’s 5 yard line, twice. Initially, the Bears got all the scoring they would need on the game’s opening drive which culminated in a 25 yard Gerald Anderson touchdown run. After that it was all defense up to the very end when Ryan Stephenson dropped Myers short of the marker on 4^th down from midfield. Northern took over, drove for a first down, and ran the clock out after the Blue Devils spent all of their time-outs.

The victory puts Northern in the driver’s seat at 4-0 (1-0 in the Colonial) with the West Perry Mustangs coming to town. West Perry is also 4-0 but have yet to play a Divisional game. The Mustangs are led by Ibrahim Smith. Smith threw a touchdown pass with 30 seconds to play last night lifting West Perry over Central Mountain 19-15. Smith accounted for 362 yards of total offense against Central passing for 136 yards and rushing for 226 yards and 3 touchdowns. This major clash is also the Polar Bears Homecoming so get their early.