LEWISBURG — Despite trailing early, Northern Bedford scored 34 unanswered points to close out the regular season with a 34-7 victory over Glendale on Friday night at Panther Community Stadium.
Vaughn Schleinkofer had a solid night in his final regular-season game as the Panther quarterback, throwing for 188 yards and two touchdowns on 12-of-18 passing. Aaron Bowers led the receiving end with 90 yards on four catches, including a touchdown where he had to fight for a jump and with his hands stiff for a score.
Glendale’s Cameron Dreibelbis set up the opening score on a 4-yard pass to Logan Schebeck late in the first quarter, but the Vikings struggled to get much going from there.
Skebeck was 10 of 17 for 126 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. Jimmy Sutton rushed for 51 yards on eight carries for Glendale.
Play of the game: Bowers’ 52-yard touchdown grab and run gave Northern Bedford a 19-7 lead with 7:12 left in the third quarter. The score gave the Panthers a two-possession lead and put them in the lead after the Vikings opened the second half with the ball and trailed just 12-7.
Player of the game: Schleinkofer handled the game as well as a high school quarterback can, and also threw for 188 yards with his two touchdowns. He also scored on a QB sneak to put his team on the board in the second quarter.
Unsung hero: Northern Bedford’s passing may have been the highlight, but running back Ben Clarke picked up tough yards all night. He finished the night with 54 yards on 13 carries, plus a touchdown with just 18.9 seconds to play in the first half to give NBC its first lead.
Most important stat: Glendale turned the ball over four times (three interceptions, one fumble) while North Bedford didn’t commit a single turnover.
North Bedford coach Gary Black: “At midnight the clock strikes zero and it’s a new season. The eight wins we had are gone. We will remember them one day, but we are 0:0. We had places where we could play in those playoff games and get those opportunities. Our kids will be ready for it.”
Glendale coach Dave ‘Spank’ Trexler: “We made some mistakes that we couldn’t overcome, and you’re not going to overcome them against a team of this caliber. They will take advantage of these mistakes. “The positive from the first half was that we came out and played them. Those few little games here and there, you can’t make mistakes like that. We were off our game after that.”
Black on Trexler: “Anyone who’s watched this team all year knows that Spank Trexler is one of the best coaches out there. I will vote for him for Altoona Mirror Coach of the Year every year. He’s a great coach. This community should be lucky to have him. He changed football in Glendale. We knew this was not easy by any means. They are healthy football players and have a good program. Well done to them. I’m rooting for them in the playoffs.”
Aaron Bowers on his touchdown: “I just had to fight for the ball. It’s never easy to catch a touchdown, but I caught it well and ran away. I’m pretty confident with the way we looked tonight. We went out and did things right.
Records: Glendale (6-4); North Bedford (8-2).
Next week: Northern Bedford will likely be the No. 2 seed in the District 5 1A playoffs and will host Meyersdale. Glendale is the No. 4 seed in the District 6 Class 1A playoffs, securing a home game against No. 5 Claysburg-Kimmel.
QUARTERLY RESULTS
Glendale 7 0 0 0 — 7
North Bedford 0 12 7 15 — 34
First quarter
G–Dreibelbis 4 pass from Skebeck, (Krise kick), 1:35
Second quarter
NB–Schleinkofer 1 run, (kick failed), 9:50
NB–Clark 3 run, (failed run), :18.9
Third quarter
NB–Bowers 58 pass from Schleinkofer, (Kochara kick), 7:12
Fourth quarter
NB–Pittman 31 pass from Schleinkofer, (Snyder pass from Schleinkofer), 6:32
NB–Love 5 run, (Crooks kick), 1:39
TEAM STATISTICS G NB
First downs 10 17
Total yards 191,312
Rush-yards 29-65 28-124
Passing yards 126,188
Passing (comp.-att.-inter.) 10-19-3 12-18-0
Points-avg. 1-40 3-45.6
Fumbles-Loss 5-1 1-0
Penalties-Yards 9-44 7-70
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING–Glendale, Sutton 8-51, Ammerman 3-21, Seilhamer 2-7, Krise 1-5, Hoopsick-Bell 1-2, Dreibelbis 4-(-1), Skebeck 9-(-8), Team 1- (-12). Northern Bedford, Clark 13-54, Clouse 2-21, Love 3-21, Feathers 2-18, Schleinkofer 4-3, Pittman 1-3, Free 1-3, Snider 1-2, Team 1-(-1) .
PASSING – Glendale, Skebeck 10-17-2-126; Wensloski 0-2-1-0. North Bedford, Schleinkofer 12-18-0-188.
RECEIVING–Glendale, Sutton 4-53, Hopsick-Bell 2-47, Kitko 2-17, Dreibelbis 2-9. Northern Bedford, Bowers 4-90, Pittman 4-60, Clarke 2-30, Close 1-7, Snyder 1-1.