Seniority pulls rank on Generals
Montcalm (12) vs. Northwood (47)
Written: Oct 04, 2014
By TOM BONE
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
MONTCALM — Too often, it was the Montcalm Freshmen vs. the Northwood Seniors.
The undefeated Northwood Panthers from Saltville, Va., dominated the first half and coasted to take a 47-12 victory from the youthful Montcalm Generals at Prudich Stadium on Friday night.
Northwood (5-0), one of Virginia’s top small-school programs, ran up 338 total yards behind a line consisting entirely of seniors, and led 41-0 at halftime, scoring touchdowns on all six of its possessions.
Montcalm (0-4) got on the board with a 39-yard fumble return by do-everything senior Travis Poynter and added the only score of the final period on a 66-yard jaunt by Colton Egnor. Egnor ran for 98 yards on 12 carries.
Eric Doane ran for 94 yards and two scores on six rushes, and threw a flanker pass to Jonathan Waid for another touchdown. Waid caught two passes, both ending in the end zone.
Waid, another senior, said, “We kept running, and they just anticipated (the run), and I was just open.”
Doane, a junior, and senior quarterback Channing Call delivered the ball on target to Waid.
“They’re both really amazing,” Waid said.
The Panthers ran only 15 offensive plays in the first half, ending in six touchdowns. Substitutes played the second half, which was cut down to a pair of eight-minute mini-quarters.
Montcalm fumbled the ball twice in the first half, losing both, and Northwood’s Austen Keller intercepted one of the Generals’ three pass attempts.
The Panthers fumbled the ball on the second play of the third quarter, and Poynter snatched it off the wet grass and outran the visitors for a score that temporarily energized the crowd.
Poynter said, “I just saw the ball, and I thought ‘Scoop and score!’ That’s how I felt, and I just took it. ... I about tripped myself, as I picked it up, then I caught myself and took off.”
“I can’t get anything on offense, but on defense and special teams, that’s where I got my (best work).”
Northwood head coach Tom Prater said, “I thought we didn’t play our best tonight, for whatever reason, but up to this point we’ve played well.”
He said that the Panthers’ leading rusher, 240-pound senior Blake Olinger, was out with a knee injury. “We hope to get him back next week,” Prater said.
“We played our second group, our younger boys, the second half, and that’s always good, to get them a little experience.”
Egnor burst through a gaping hole created by the right side of the Montcalm line and took off for his 66-yard touchdown that wrapped up the scoring with 5:16 left in the game.
Montcalm head coach Jimmy Redmond said, “We still played with character, played hard, the best we can.”
“It wasn’t really thought of, ninth graders playing against 12th graders (a few years ago), but our guys do it, and they play with a lot of heart.”
The Generals’ ranks took a hit when freshman Jared Parnell left with a first-half injury. Redmond said he broke his wrist.
“He plays with a lot of heart,” the coach said. “He really didn’t want to come out, but we looked at his wrist, and it was nasty.”
Redmond said about Northwood, “They’re a great football team. We just give it the best we can, and that’s all we can do.”
Poynter said about Northwood, “They’re huge, but we had to keep playing and fighting against them.”
He said, “We’re smaller. We’ve got to have heart, we’ve got to keep playing, fighting. It’s hard when we’ve got six or seven freshmen starting, (but) we can’t give up on each other.”
Montcalm hosts Tri-Cities Christian next Friday, while Northwood plays George Wythe High.
Prater said, “We’re pleased so far. We’ve got a big one next week with George Wythe. ... We came out healthy, which is the main thing.”
— Contact Tom Bone at
tbone@bdtonline.com;
Twitter @BDTBone
At Prudich Stadium
Northwood.................21 20 6 0 — 47
Montcalm..............0 0 6 6 — 12
First Quarter
N - Eric Doane 42 run (Channing Call run), 8:31
N - Brennan Turley 26 run (run failed), 4:26
N - Jonathan Waid 27 pass from Doane (Austin Tedder kick), 1:28
Second Quarter
N - Waid 48 pass from Call (Tedder kick), 8:45
N - Doane 11 run (Tedder kick), 4:24
N - Austen Keller 35 run (lost fumble on kick placement), 1:37
Third Quarter
M - Travis Poynter 39 fumble return (run failed), 7:04
N - Jon Bradley Hogston 36 run (kick failed), 4:15
Fourth Quarter
M - Colton Egnor 66 run (run failed), 5:16
———
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Northwood, Eric Doane 6-94, Brennan Turley 3-52, Jon Bradley Hogston 3-30, Austen Keller 2-36, Jesse Hogston 6-37, Mason Cardwell 2-10, Channing Call 1-5, Tod Lyles 1-(–5), Austin Tedder 5-(–4). Montcalm, Colton Egnor 12-98, Trevor Poynter 6-25, Dustin Williams 10-7, Travis Poynter 1-2, Dakota Parnell 1-(–6), Brian Taylor 3-(–11).
PASSING — Northwood, Call 2-2-56-1 TD-0 intc., Doane 1-1-27-1 TD-0 intc. Montcalm, Williams 1-3-1-0 TD-1 intc., Nathan Breeden 0-1-0-0-0.
RECEIVING — Northwood, Jonathan Waid 2-75, Doane 1-8. Montcalm, Colton Egnor 1-1.
———
TEAM STATISTICS
First downs N 15, M 3. Rushes-yards N 29-255, M 33-115. Completions-att-yds.-intc. N 3-3-83-0, M 1-4-1-1. Total yards N 338, M 116. Fumbles-lost N 2-1, M 3-3. Penalties N 3-20, M 7-35.
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