Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski
Northern Bedford’s Adam Johnson gets by Claysburg-Kimmel’s Caleb Oakes for a TD run.
By Michael Boytim
mboytim@altoonamirror.com
HOLLIDAYSBURG — Eion Snider has come a long way for Northern Bedford in the last season and a half, and his continued improvement has made the Black Panthers one of the most dangerous Class 1A teams in the state.
Snider threw three touchdown passes Thursday night in Northern Bedford’s 44-21 victory over Claysburg-Kimmel at Tiger Stadium, and he also ran the ball five times for 44 yards — a recent addition to his repertoire.
“That’s something that has been discussed since last season ended,” Northern Bedford coach Garry Black said. “For him to take the next step as a quarterback, we needed him to do that. We started last year, and his job was to manage the game. By the end of the year, he was making plays. Now, he’s a junior and he’s been on the field a lot. He needs to be the complete package and be able to run it too. He’s one of the fastest kids on the team, and him running the ball is one of the things we’re trying to do. I think it makes our offense a lot more dangerous to defend.”
Snider mixed in runs of 14 and 19 yards between two touchdown passes to Aaron Bowers and another to Ben Gable.
“They can’t just read the pass,” Snider said. “They have to have someone try and contain me inside or I can just run the ball.”
Play of the game: There really wasn’t one that stood out while the starters were in. Northern Bedford’s size was a matchup problem for Claysburg-Kimmel from the opening whistle.
“They are huge,” Claysburg-Kimmel coach Matt Bilchak said. “They are enormous up front, and it made it that much more difficult. When you’re going up against guys two or three times your size, you can throw everything you want at them, but there’s a good chance you aren’t moving them. We talked in the locker room that we want to play in games like this, because you know you’re playing a quality opponent. It means more when you’re competing against these better teams, because it makes you better.”
Player of the game: Snider led the way, going 11-for-16 with no interceptions, three touchdown passes and the 44 rush yards.
Unsung hero: He’s not usually unsung, as he’s leading the Mirror’s coverage area in rushing yards and scoring, but Adam Johnson had a relatively quiet night for his standards with 102 rushing yards and two touchdowns on just 15 carries.
Most vital statistic: Twenty-eight of Claysburg-Kimmel’s 37 total rush yards came on Caleb Oakes’ touchdown run early in the fourth quarter.
Black: “I thought we played really well in the first half. The second half, they had one drive on us, which was a little concerning, because we were playing well and didn’t start the second half the way we needed to. That’s the only concern for me, because we haven’t played four quarters in many games. We have to get ourselves ready, because we have some games coming up where we’re going to need to play all four quarters.”
Bilchak: “I wanted to see how our kids handled things when things didn’t go our way. There were some plays that I felt like we could have made in the first half that didn’t go our way. But do you pout? Do you throw a temper tantrum? Or do you go back to work and work on getting better? I was proud of our kids tonight. In the face of the game getting away from us, they were able to compete and get some results.”
Snider: “From the beginning of the season until now, we have been really coming along. The line is really firing off the ball, the receivers are always getting open and Adam Johnson has been running the ball like a man.”
Notable: Collin Yeatts made a 28-yard field goal with 38 seconds left in the first half to make it 37-0 and put the running clock into motion for the entire second half. … The Bulldogs outscored the Black Panthers, 21-0, in the fourth quarter. In addition to Oakes’ touchdown, backup quarterback Mason Campagna connected with Jacob Herline on a 24-yard touchdown pass, and Cameron Nebelski intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown. Elias Ritchey made all three of his extra point attempts. … Ashton Detterline had a 4-yard touchdown run for Northern Bedford.
Records: Northern Bedford (7-0); Claysburg-Kimmel (1-6).
Next week: Northern Bedford hosts Glendale on Oct. 14 at 7 p.m. Claysburg-Kimmel travels to Tussey Mountain the same night.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Northern Bedford 20 17 7 0 — 44
Claysburg-Kimmel 0 0 0 21 — 21
First Quarter
NB–Johnson 16 run (Yeatts kick), 9:56.
NB–Bowers 6 pass from Snider (kick failed), 4:53.
NB–Gable 4 pass from Snider (Yeatts kick), 2:09.
Second Quarter
NB–Bowers 39 pass from Snider (Yeatts kick), 11:47.
NB–Detterline 4 run (Yeatts kick), 4:17.
NB–Yeatts 28 FG, :38.
Third Quarter
NB–Johnson 7 run (Yeatts kick), :11.
Fourth Quarter
CK–Oakes 28 run (Ritchey kick), 8:43.
CK–Herline 24 pass from Campagna (Ritchey kick), 4:31.
CK–Nebelski 65 interception return (Ritchey kick), :41.
TEAM STATISTICS NB CK
First downs 20 8
Total yards 376 191
Rushes-yards 34-224 19-37
Yards passing 152 154
Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 11-19-1 9-15-0
Punts-avg. 1-32 3-35.3
Fumbles-lost 0-0 3-3
Penalties-yards 1-15 1-5
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING–Northern Bedford, Johnson 15-102, Donaldson 8-56, Snider 5-44, Detterline 4-24, Bowser 1-2, Schleinkofer 1-(-4). Claysburg-Kimmel, Oakes 6-33, Claycomb 2-4, Ehredt 7-3, Herline 1-1, Weyandt 1-1, Lattieri 2-(-5).
PASSING–Northern Bedford, Snider 11-16-0-152, Johnson 0-1-0-0, Schleinkofer 0-2-1-0. Claysburg-Kimmel, Oakes 7-13-0-98, Campagna 2-2-0-56.
RECEIVING–Northern Bedford, Bowers 6-72, Gable 3-41, Fernandez 2-39. Claysburg-Kimmel, Claycomb 2-47, Weyandt 1-33, Mowery 1-32, Herline 1-24, McGeary 1-11, Bowman 1-5, Schnieder 1-3, Ehredt 1-(-1).