Heights hands Osage City 31-23 loss
Scott Hayes
Saturday, October 13, 2007
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Northern Heights beats Osage City
Osage's undefeated season ended Oct. 12 on the Northern Heights field in Allen.
ALLEN — The Northern Heights Wildcats knew they would need to stay focused to hand the previously unbeaten Osage City Indians their first loss of the season, and they were able to overcome a few obstacles along the way to pick up a 31-23 upset victory Friday night.
The Wildcats looked to be in firm control, up 17-2 with about three and a half minutes left in the second quarter before Osage City’s Tyrel Clark broke off a 58-yard touchdown run to cut the lead to nine points.
The Indians, despite failing on the two-point conversion, had taken the momentum of the game away from Northern Heights. To make matters worse, lightning pushing in from the west forced the game to be suspended for 20 minutes.
Play resumed long enough for the kickoff and one Wildcats’ play before the game was suspended for almost an hour. Play resumed after the delay with two and a half minutes remaining in the first half and Northern Heights (5-2, 1-0 District) with the ball, but the Wildcats couldn’t pick up a first down and were forced to punt.
Osage City (6-1, 0-1) cut the halftime lead to 17-11 on a Steven Hicks 25-yard field goal and started the second half with the football, needing only four plays to cash in on a 48-yard touchdown pass from Colton Rinzler to Josh Carson. The point-after was partially blocked, evening the score at 17-17.
Momentum had clearly swung in favor of the Indians, aided by a Preston Connor interception of Northern Heights’ Kenneth Bronson as the Wildcats were driving.
But then, Northern Heights put together its second strong surge of the game.
Wildcats defensive end Haydon Parks stepped in front of a Rinzler screen pass at the Indians 46-yard line and ran the interception back to the Osage City 15. Heights running back Michael Glass capped the five-play drive on a 1-yard touchdown run with four minutes to play in the third quarter, and Stephen Nuessen’s kick pushed the Wildcats lead to seven at 24-17.
After trading punts to close the third quarter, Osage City found the end zone on a 38-yard strike from Rinzler to Blake Thornburgh, capping a 12-play drive that lasted more than five minutes. But the PAT from Hicks sailed wide right, keeping Northern Heights in front, 24-23.
The Wildcats took over after the kickoff with less than seven minutes to play, looking to run the clock and pad their lead. They didn’t need long, as Glass scored his third rushing touchdown of the night on the first play of the drive, cruising 73-yards for the final score of the game.
“Mostly what our team was thinking was the clock was our friend at this point,” Glass said about the final touchdown. “I got some really good blocks, and as a running back I can’t turn that down. They (the line) opened up some pretty big seams and I took advantage of it.”
Northern Heights was efficient in gaining 381 yards of total offense led by the 20-carry, 140-yard, three-touchdown night by Glass. Bronson went 18-for-31 for 241 yards passing and Roman Murray made 10 catches for 127 yards receiving.
Glass said the Heights offense had struggled the last few games, but was able to stay in rhythm against Osage City.
“We were just trying to focus on making more plays this week, not making silly mistakes and dropping passes,” he said. “And for the most part I think we did better with that.”
Wildcats co-coach Greg French said his team put together big plays when it needed them.
“Haydon Parks intercepting their screen pass was a huge play — that was a big play for us — and then Glass taking the power pitch around the corner,” French said. “Just a couple of big plays there were the difference the last six minutes of the game there, and we were able to stop them defensively when we needed to on fourth down.”
Penalties were a big hindrance for Osage City, which was flagged eight times for 80 yards, but none bigger than a roughing the kicker call on Northern Heights’ first possession that kept the drive alive. Tyler McClellan put the Wildcats on the board with a 41-yard catch from Bronson. The Wildcats scored on their next possession on a Glass 4-yard run.
Osage City’s first points came on a safety when the snap sailed over Bryan Heinz’s head out of the back of the end zone when Northern Heights was punting from deep in its territory.
Northern Heights 31, Osage City 23
Friday at Allen
NH 14 3 7 7 — 31
OC 2 9 6 6 — 23
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Passing — NH: Bronson 18-21-2 241. OC: Rinzler 7-21-2 144.
Rushing — NH: Glass 20-140, Jeremy Bishoff 1-3, Bronson- 5-(-3). OC: Jordan Tice 23-158, Tyrel Clark 2-62, Rinzler 7-14, Brandon Nech 1-4, Josh Carson 1-1.
Receiving — NH: Murray 10-127, McClellan 2-47, Levi Hizar 1-37, Glass 5-25, Hayden Parks 1-5. OC: Carson 2-92, Blake Thornburgh 1-37, Nech 3-14, James Schwieger 1-9.
neighbor (anonymous) says...
Way to go Wildcats! Excellent game all. Roman, Hayden and Micheal, that's what this team has needed for years.
October 13, 2007 at 5:11 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
canchaser_412 (anonymous) says...
Go Wildcats!!!! Good luck the rest of this year!
October 15, 2007 at 2:15 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )