Nappanee Advance-News, Volume 125, Number 44, Nappanee, Elkhart County, 30 October 2002 — Page 12
Page 12
Advance News • Wednesday, October 30. 2002
Panthers open with Lakeland shutout; Valley next
by Barb Reiser Editor Seven different Panthers scored Friday night. October 25. as Coach Rich Dodson and crew had little trouble with visiting Lakeland, shutting out the Lakers 42-zip in opening round Class 3 A football sectional tournament play. Sophomore Michael Ramirez scored 12 points for North Wood, while sophomore Trevor Shields, seniors Kyle Lehman. Jason Cudd and E.J. Yehl each added six. senior Jake Eby four and junior Heath Yoder two. in a contest which saw the Panthers put 21 points on the scoreboard in the first quarter alone. As usual, the Black Crunch defensive effort was impressive, with the "D" hauling in two pass interceptions, one for a score, and forcing their guests to punt eight times, while allow ing just 71 yards of offense. Dodson reported. "We've lost a couple of games this year, but it wasn't due to poor defense. Overall, they have been the strength of our team.” However, the Panther offense also turned in impressive totals, racking up 310 yards rushing and another 93 through the air. for an
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impressive 403-yard total. Ramirez was the leading ground-gainer, with 111 yards on seven carries, while Yehl added 105 on 12 totes and junior QB Phil BeMiller 62 on five keepers. Through the airwaves. BeMiller was good on 5-9 passes for 80 yards, while Shields added 13 on 22. The two threw completions to seven different receivers, with Shields. Lehman. Derrick Miller. Yehl. Josh Sabo. Ramirez and Darren Lengacher each grabbing one. Shields and Lehman took their catches in for TDs of 27 and 35 yards, respectively. Of his offense. Dodson stated. "Our running game has been improving each week, and I think we have a couple good quality backs in Ramirez and Yehl. We wanted to establish that we were the better team early on. It was good that we got a couple of early scores and kind of distanced ourselves a bit." Ramirez cored at 5:04 of the first quarter, on a 20-yard run. with Eby's kick good for tlie extra point. At 2:18 of the same frame. Shields ran from 27 yards out to paydirt, with Eby again kicking the point-
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after. The third score of the opening quarter came just 14 minutes later, on Cudd's 21-yard pass interception with Eby kicking the PAT and increasing the Panther lead to 21-0. In the second period. Ramirez scored his second TD of the night on a nifty 54-yard run at 2:59, with Eby again called to boot the PAT. The 28-0 score carried into the locker room at halftime, with Panther fans enjoying the damp, chilly, game night. In the third period, the hosts added insult to injury, with Yehl scoring on a seven-yard run and Lehman on a 35-yard pass play. Yoder kicked both PATs. and a scoreless fourth period didn't mean much, as the Panthers advanced on their road to tournament finals. North Wood did fumble twice during the contest, losing both, and had a pass intercepted, but Lakeland couldn't capitalize on the errors. The Lakers lost one of three fumbles and had two passes intercepted, one for a TD. The Panthers were penalized eight times, for 55 yards and Lakeland 2-10. For the defense, junior Chad Davis led with seven tackles, while senior Austin Perkins (fumble
Vafley next...
By Ron Haromia CHNI Sports NAPPANEE The further a football team gets in the playoffs, naturally the competition gets tougher. That is certainly the case for North Wood High in their Class 3-A sectional. After easily disposing of a Lakeland Higfi team with only two wins on the year, the Panthers travel to Mentone this Friday night to take on a .500 Tippecanoe Valley team (5-5), with an eye toward two 7-3 teams (SB St. Joseph's or Whitko) for the sectional crown. Tippy Valley is coming off an impressive win of their own, defeating Mishawaka Marian by the score of 40-14 last Friday.
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recovery and QB sack) and junior Joe Beer each had six and seniors Troy Cox and Jason Cudd (interception. one tackle for loss) and junior Austin Mattem had five. Also for the Crunch, senior Phil Sumpter was good on four tackles, as .were senior Brandon Stutzman and sophomore Jason Hochstetler (two QB sacks). Jaime Garcia (sack) and Scott Gerber each added three hits, with Gerber also getting one for loss. Trevor Shields had a tackle to go along with his pass interception. Rounding out the defensive effort were Adams. Hahn. Taylor. Kirk Mast (sack) and Hollar with two hits each and Burkhart, own, Martin. Hershberger and McKechnie each with one. North Wood (8-2) advances to second-round tournament action Friday, November 1, at Tippecanoe Valley (5-5). Whitko (7-3) and South Bend St. Joseph's (7-3) play in the other Class 3A Sectional 19 semi-final round, with the winners meeting November 8 for the sectional title. Game kickoff is set for 7:30p.m.
“They are more of a run-ori-ented team," said Panther head coach Rich Dodson. "(Jon) Rice is a good running back for them. They like to run misdirection plays and what I call 'motion sweeps', where they put a guy in motion, then hand off to him." Rice ran for 138 yards and five TDs (the longest a 43yarder) against Marian. "We will need to get them into passing situations," continued Dodson. "We cannot allow them to have second-and-short (because of a long running e Panthers hope to continue their winning ways with the same formula they have been
Sideline signals 1 Coach Rich Dodson signals to his team during recent actiorf at Andrews Field. Lakeland fell to the Panthers 42-0 in openingi round sectional tournament action played Friday nighte October 26, at Andrews Field. North Wood’s next matchup S 1 with Tippecanoe Valley this week, on Viking turf.
following during their current five-game winning streak. "Lakeland was a young team and did not give us anything like a Northern Lakes Conference game," Dodson said, "and we continued to play good ball. Against Tippy, we just don't want to beat ourselves. We expect to play good, solid football." The Panthers have been very effective mixing the running abilities of Mike Ramirez and
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KIM REISER PHOTO 3
E.J. Yehl with the passing effiJjj ciency of Phil BeMiller. Kylew Lehman and Trevor Shields arefi threats to gain sufficient* yardage after they get their J hands on the ball from their receiver positions. • Defensively, the Panthers have been as stingy as the Grinch at Christmas time. If they continue to play well and stop the Tippy running game, itjj will be a long night for they Vikings.
Earn first \ round win Coach Rich Dodson andT his varsity football Panthers r - easily handled, - - Lakeland-. '■Friday: October 25, in their opening round game of Class 3A football sectional action, shutting out their guests, 42-0, at Andrews Field. In the photo at top, David Mishler (66) celebrates a good play by the Panthers, while at bottom, the offense works a play for valuable yardage. North Wood travels to Tippecanoe Valley Friday, November 1, for second round tournament play. Kickoff is set for 7:30p.m. KIM KEISER PHOTOS
Good Luck!
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