Northwood knocks Panthers from unbeatens
Twin Valley (18) vs. Northwood (47)
Written: Sep 20, 2014
By LLOYD COMBS
for the Daily Telegraph
KEEN MOUNTAIN, Va. — Blake Olinger isn't a one-man show for Northwood, but he is definitely the star of it.
The big senior scored five touchdowns to lead the Panthers to an impressive 54-26 win over the Twin Valley Panthers Friday night at the Twin Valley Middle School field.
Two teams with similar styles they traded scores until late in the first half, when Northwood got a couple of key defensive stops to take a 32-15 halftime lead in a battle of two teams who came in undefeated.
"I felt like going in right before the half I thought, if we could get a stop and a score, then we've got the ball to start the second half so we'd be in pretty good position," interim Northwood head coach Tommy Prater said.
Olinger put the visiting Panthers (4-0) in that position behind a veteran offensive line led by brothers Josh and Jeremiah Bise. A fourth-year senior Olinger ran for 164 yards and four TDs in the first half alone.
He scored on runs of 20, 2, 56 and 5 yards, respectively, and added 67 yards and another score on his only second-half touch. Olinger carried the ball 14 times overall for those 231 yards, mostly by just following his linemen inside after curling off the wing, and he gave all the credit to his big men up front.
Olinger staked Northwood to a 40-15 lead with his final touch, leading a rushing attack that finished with 455 yards on 38 attempts overall.
He waited for holes to open and if they closed up he simply ran over people.
"He's patient, he waits for it and he'll see the cutback and when he gets a big run, that 50, 60-yard run he'll usually see that cutback on the back side," Prater added. "That's when he gets the big run."
Twin Valley stayed with Northwood most of the first half behind the running of its own big back, sophomore Austin Shortridge. He matched Olinger with 164 first-half yards.
While the hometown Panthers (3-1) could not slow down Olinger the only thing that slowed down the strong and fast Shortridge was leg cramps in the second half.
"I thought (Shortridge), to be a sophomore, he's a heck of a football player," Prater added. "I could see him playing at the next level. I'm not taking anything away from the kids we've played against, but he's as good as we've seen this year.
"They hurt us the first half with their jet sweep and we took that away, but Shortridge, we never did have an answer for him. He hurt us, he's just a good football player."
Shortridge finished his day with 182 yards, including first-half TD runs of 35 and 68 yards. Jake Kowalski added 80 yards and a touchdown for Twin Valley, which just could not stay with Northwood in the second half.
"When you've got a senior line like they do, and we've a lot of freshmen on defense, now no excuses by far, but we played well, we were in the ballgame," Twin Valley coach Tommy Crigger said. "And then a couple of things happened and if you don't control it and you don't score with them, Olinger's gonna make you pay, especially with the Bise boys.
"They played hard, they're playing with a heavy heart and when you've a fullback, a senior like Olinger that plays four years that's what happens."
Drake Presley kicked a 36-yard field goal for Twin Valley.
at Twin Valley Middle School
Northwood.........................8 24 15 7 — 54
Twin Valley.........................7 8 0 11 — 26
Scoring Summary
TV-Shortridge 35 run (Presley kick)
NW-Olinger 20 run (Call run)
NW-Olinger 2 run (Doane pass from Call)
TV-Shortridge 68 run (Shortridge pass from Sykes)
NW-Olinger 56 run (Olinger run)
NW-Olinger 5 run (Turley pass from Olinger)
NW-Olinger 67 run (Call run)
NW-Roberts 6 run (Tedder kick)
TV-Presley 36 field goal
NW-Hogston 62 run (Tedder kick)
TV-Kowalski 23 run (Kowalski run)
Team Stats
First Downs: NW 18, TV 15; Rushes-Yards: NW 38-455, TV 41-319; Passing
Yards: NW 24, TV 17; Comp-Att-Int: NW 1-2-0, TV 1-8-3; Fumbles-Lost:
NW 1-1, TV 1-1; Penalties: NW 6-50, TV 1-5; Punts-Average: NW 0-0, TV
2-16.0.
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