Mount Vernon News

JOHNSTOWN — Week 2 did not go as planned for the Northridge High School football team.

The Vikings’ contest against Hamilton Township started on Friday night, but was ended prematurely when lightning forced the game to be postponed at halftime. Northridge was down, 7-0, but the team felt ready to take on the Rangers in the second half.

The game resumed on Saturday evening, with Hamilton Township kicking off to the Vikings at the start of the third quarter. After two incomplete passes, an illegal procedure penalty and a rush for a loss of five yards, the Northridge squad was not looking very sharp. They did start to improve as the game progressed, but the Vikings fell, 24-8.

“We have a very inexperienced line right now, and we have to work through the hard times,” said Northridge head coach Tim Priest. “We had some mental mistakes where the offensive line wasn’t sustaining blocks, or was blocking the wrong way.”

Possession of the football became a fierce enemy of the Vikings, as the Rangers possessed the ball much longer than Northridge. Hamilton Township’s offense had control of the pigskin for 28:15, while the Vikings only had the ball for 19:45.

“We didn’t have a lot of consistency out there today, but we did manage some big plays,” said Hamilton Township head coach Bob Jacoby. “We have some speed, but we haven’t been able to capitalize on it. We didn’t really present Northridge a lot of speed problems.”

The one touchdown Northridge did get was scored by the Viking defense. With only two minutes left in the game, the Vikings attempted a fourth-and-15 play on the edge of the red zone. Jobe Warner’s pass fell incomplete, and the Rangers took over on downs. But on the very next play, Hamilton Township fumbled, and Chase Cockrell scooped up the ball to score a 20-yard touchdown.

The Viking offense was able to practice a little trickery after Cockrell’s touchdown. Northridge set up for an extra-point kick, but when play was snapped, the Vikings gave the ball to Sean Haines. After scrambling to the right side, Haines found Daniel Chapman in the back of the end zone, for a two-point conversion.

“We got better from last week to this week,” said Priest. “We got beat, but we made improvements. We are going to make improvements next week too, and that’s what it’s all about. The good thing is that we are getting experience before we get into conference play. As long as we keep getting better each day, I think we will be all right.”

Lack of experience may have been a factor in the game, but a lot of things really did go Northridge’s way. The Vikings got their touchdown from a fumble, and they also blocked a punt to gain excellent field position. The Rangers accrued 50 yards of penalties in the game, which helped the Vikings with field position immensely. And there was also the attempted punt in the first half that the Rangers accidentally grounded behind the line of scrimmage for a loss of 13 yards.

The Vikings will be at home on Friday night, as they host visiting Lakewood.

“They are country boys just like us,” said Priest. “They will be hard nosed, and we will have to be ready to play.”

The game will start at 7:30 p.m.