11/17/23 Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski /
Northern Bedford’s Aidan Pittman is gang tackled by a trio of Steelton-Highspire defenders.
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By Nate Ritchey
CLAYSBURG — Two big plays hurt Northern Bedford on Friday night.
Two plays that gave Steelton-Highspire enough separation to seize control of a game that went back-and-forth all night during the PIAA Class 1A first-round matchup with the Black Panthers.
In the end, NBC saw its season come to a crushing end with a 21-7 loss to the Steamrollers on a rainy night at Claysburg-Kimmel’s Bulldog Stadium.
Northern Bedford entered Friday night’s PIAA Class 1A first round matchup with Steelton-Highspire as heavy underdogs in the minds of a very large majority of high school football followers across Pennsylvania.
The Steamrollers are the defending state champions that boast a bunch of Division I recruits and commits.
They also entered as the number one ranked team in the state according to PA Football News and PennLive and are now 13-0.
“We played a team that has been winning state titles toe-to-toe for four quarters, and seriously, I feel like on two plays, they got us,” Northern Bedford coach Garry Black said. “They (Steelton-Highspire) are excellent as there wasn’t much we could figure out to do on offense but try to move it and win every battle on every play. But, I couldn’t be prouder as it’s a ranking that someone throws on a piece of paper that is somebody’s opinion so it doesn’t mean anything But, I definitely think that we showed that we are one of the best three or four teams in the state to do what we just did tonight.”
The Black Panthers, which finished with a 12-1 mark, didn’t much care what anyone outside of the locker room or the NBC community thought as the third ranked team in the state according to PennLive and fourth ranked by Pennsylvania Football News.
For two quarters of play, Northern made the plays on defense to keep high-powered, high-scoring offense of Steel-High off the board as the two teams entered the halftime locker room scoreless.
The Steamrollers had just 50 yards of total offense while the Panthers could only muster 41 through the first two quarters.
“We’ve been there before — there wasn’t much of a rattle,” Steelton-Highspire coach Andrew Erby Sr. said. “We kind of are used to the crowds coming out. To some teams in the playoffs, a close game is a good game. We just came back in at halftime, make our adjustments and our guys have been here before. We’ve got to stay disciplined because that can come back to bite you later down the road.”
Play of the game: Steelton-Highspire took the second half kickoff and wasted no time getting on the board as quarterback Alex Erby found Durrell Ceasar Jr. for a 52-yard pass-and-catch on the second play of the half. The PAT from Judah Hernandez was good to give the Rollers a 7-0 edge just 43 seconds into the third quarter.
Players of the game: Alex Erby and Ceasar Jr. The duo connected four times for 86 yards with two touchdowns. The seniors would hook up again after the Steel-High defense got a turnover on downs immediately following the first score. The second TD came from 30-yards out on a second-and-11 with 7:20 left in the third to make the score 14-0.
Alex Erby finished the night 7-of-11 for 138 yards and four rushes for 22 yards. Meanwhile, Ceasar Jr. came up with one interceptions on defense as it put an end to a promising drive for NBC that the Steamrollers aided with three penalties for 40 yards.
Coach Erby: “We took our shots in the second half with a dry ball and came out early. But I thought we were efficient enough to do what we needed to do.”
Unsung heroes: The Northern Bedford defense. In addition to the 50 yards in the opening half, the Black Panthers forced two punts in the first quarter, a turnover on downs on a fourth-and-2 that Ashton Detterline stopped with a crushing hit to hold Ronald Burnette to a 1-yard gain.
On the last Steel-High possession of the opening half, the Steamrollers took over at the NB 9 after Eugene Green recovered a fumble by NBC signal caller Eion Snider. On second down, Erby rolled out and a 15-yard penalty was called on the Rollers that backed them up 15 yards to the NB 24. On the next play, Alex Erby had to scramble and was hit hard by two NBC defenders causing Alex Erby to be helped off the field. On his way off the field, Alex Erby could be seen shouting in the direction of the Northern bench and a flag flew. The Panthers’ bench was tagged with a 15-yard penalty which moved the ball back to the NB 9.
On the third down and goal, Jaeion Perry was under center and called his own number. The senior gained two yards by a hit from Adam Johnson knocked the ball loose as NBC’s Josiah Bowser fell on it to give the ball back over to Northern Bedford with 15 seconds left. With the ball on their own 5, the Panthers safely took a knee to end the half and escape unscathed.
Black: “I was thinking I wouldn’t say something because I don’t like to be this way. But I got an unsportsmanlike called on me. I’m not ok with certain things, and before the game just some of the language that was used directed at me specifically was probably the most disappointing thing that I’ve experienced as a high school coach. I told the officials that if it continued to happen, that I would address it. Then when it happened again, I addressed it and I got called for the penalty. So, I will say, they (Steelton-Highspire) are a great football team. I would like to see some of that (language) cleaned up because I want to root for them. That was one of the most disheartening things about the game tonight. Like I said, I didn’t know if I should say it, but I’m going to because this is high school football. You’ve got to play the game the right way and learn to do things the right way.”
Panthers denied on the doorstep: Northern Bedford won the toss and elected to receive the opening kickoff. Junior Aidan Pittman set the Panthers up in great field position as he returned the kick 34-yards to the SH 46. NBC, aided by 19 yards on two Steel-High penalties and a Snider 17-yard run on a third-and-5, got down to the SH 5 where Snider underthrew Rece Dibert who had to defender beat but had to stop and come back for the ball allowing the Steamroller defender to make the tackle at the SH 3. Snider ran for no gain on third down before Johnson ran for two yards before fumbling the ball into the endzone. On the Steelton-Highspire recovery, the ball got out of the endzone to the SH 1 before he was tackled.
Black: “We had an opportunity to score, and there’s where we knew — we said it would be in the first five minutes that we’d figure out what the game was going to be like. Within the first five minute window, we moved the ball, and it was with their (Steelton-Highspire) help (due to penalties). When we couldn’t pound it at them, it sort of changed things for us.”
Most vital statistic: Steelton-Highspire outgained Northern Bedford in the second half by a 232-99 margin as the NBC offense continued to have all sorts of trouble cracking the defense of the Steamrollers.
Black: “It was tough sledding for us on offense, but, man, did we battle on defense. Up front, that’s probably the hardest they’ve played all year. I’m just really proud of our guys.”
Notable: Northern Bedford reached the endzone in the fourth quarter when Snider found Aaron Bowers for a 30-yard scoring strike to set the final with 2:21 remaining. … Bowers came up with a field position-changing punt in the first stanza. The Panthers were forced to punt on a fourth-and-20 from their own 34 near the end of the quarter and Bowers unleashed a 62-yard boot that Ben Gable downed at the SH 2. The Steamrollers would be forced to return the punt after a three-and-out by the NBC defense. … Burnette, who was held in check for the entire night by the Panthers, broke free for a 25-yard burst across the goal line to make the score 21-0 with 4:40 to go in the contest. … In addition to the Ceasar Jr. interception, Yahmir Ceasar and Angel Luciano also came up with picks for the Steamrollers. … Steelton-Highspires was whistled for 11 penalties totaling 114 yards, while Northern Bedford was given six for 60 yards.
Coach Erby: “They (Northern Bedford) play some hard defense. They gave us some different looks but a lot of times we went a little on the conservative side because of the weather. We played the field position because we knew were would get the ball the second half and be able to come out. They made some plays down there, but then again they’re a good football team. That’s one of the better teams we’ve played thus far. They have a senior group of guys that have been totally committed, so just to be able to beat those guys at this rate — I’m happy.”
Records: Steelton-Highspire (13-0); Northern Bedford (12-1).
Next week: Northern Bedford’s season is complete; Steelton-Highspire will play Lackawanna Trail next weekend.
Black on his senior class: Nothing with football probably. They are fun, the time in the weight room that we could spend together, the watching film and the stuff that nobody gets to see. You (everyone else but the team and coaches) get to see Friday but it’s a whole lot more than that. I couldn’t be prouder of them. They won the whole way up through for youth on. They are great football players, and I’m just lucky enough that I had the opportunity to be their coach. I feel like my kids just keep leaving it (football program) in a better place, and I hope that’s what they did for our younger kids.”
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Steelton-Highspire 0 0 14 7 — 21
Northern Bedford 0 0 0 7 — 7
Third Quarter
SH–Ceasar Jr. 52 pass from Al. Erby (Hernandez kick), 11:17.
SH–Ceasar Jr. 30 pass from Al. Erby (Hernandez kick), 7:20.
Fourth Quarter
SH–Burnette 25 run (Hernandez kick), 4:40.
NB–Bowers 30 pass from E. Snider (Kochara kick), 2:21.
TEAM STATISTICS SH NB
First downs 13 12
Total yards 282 140
Rushes-yards 40-144 27-63
Yards passing 138 77
Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 7-11-0 11-21-3
Punts-avg. 2-35.0 1-62.0
Fumbles-lost 2-1 2-2
Penalties-yards 11-114 6-60
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING–Steelton-Highspire, Burnette 21-63, Chisholm 3-31, Perry 7-30, Al. Erby 4-22, Jackson 1-(-2), Fuller 2-2, TEAM 2-(-2). Northern Bedford, Johnson 10-22, Detterline 1-2, Gable 1-0, E. Snider 14-40, TEAM 1-(-1).
PASSING–Steelton-Highspire, Al. Erby 7-11-0-138, Perry 0-0-0-0. Northern Bedford, E. Snider 11-20-2-77, Gable 0-1-1-0.
RECEIVING–Steelton-Highspire, Chisholm 1-6, D. Ceasar Jr. 4-86, Perry 2-46. Northern Bedford, Gable 1-(-4), Dibert 3-26, Bowers 4-43, Johnson 1-6, Pittman 2-6.