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UNION TWP. — Northwest had issues holding onto the football again in a 47-20 loss to Line Mountain on Friday night.
“We can’t turn the ball over like that and expect to win,” Northwest coach Lon Hazlet said. “It’s a reoccurring thing for us, and it’s not only something we talked about but also worked on all week.”
The Rangers coughed the ball up a total of six times throughout the game, losing possession on four of the six fumbles.
“It was the same, great effort from our kids,” Hazlet said. “But it’s the same result for us based on too many mistakes.”
Northwest had success running the ball, feeding workhorse running back George May, who finished with 214 yards on 31 carries. The Rangers had just 51 yards of total offense outside of May.
Line Mountain was able to take advantage of Northwest’s fumbles. The Lions did what they do best, running the ball on just over 78 percent of their snaps.
Quarterback Jacob Feese and running back Garret Laudenslager shredded the Rangers on the ground, combining for 207 rushing yards and five touchdowns.
“We knew how big they were up front and we knew we had some matchups we liked,” Line Mountain coach Brandon Carson said. “(Feese) has been doing a great job running our option offense, making the right reads and being discipline.”
The Eagles also surprised the Rangers in the second quarter, throwing the ball over the top with success.
“Coming in we didn’t really have a game plan to throw the ball, but I saw there were some times we could take advantage with it,” Carson said. “We did a nice job of audibling and taking things that were there.”
Line Mountain did most of its damage in the second quarter, scoring 27 of its 47 points in the frame.
“We are really just making too many mistakes,” Hazlet said. “The game plan was good, we ran the ball well initially. But we didn’t tackle and they ran well.”
Northwest will need to rebound next week at home against Canton. The game is currently the final game scheduled for the Rangers in this pandemic-shortened season.
Line Mountain 47, Northwest 20
Line Mountain`6`27`14`0 — 47
Northwest`7`0`7`6 — 20
First quarter
LM — Jacob Feese 48 run (kick failed), 4:34
NW — George May 4 run (Matthew Foley kick), 1:58
Second quarter
LM — Feese 1 run (Brayden Boyer kick), 10:55
LM — Feese 0 fumble recovery (kick block), 9:18
LM — Feese 23 run (Boyer kick), 4:23
LM — Garret Laudenslager 9 run (Boyer kick), 0:23
Third quarter
LM — Dominick Bridi 90 fumble recovery (Boyer kick), 10:43
NW — Carter Hontz 20 run (Foley kick), 6:41
LM — Laudenslager 21 run (Boyer kick), 4:37
Fourth quarter
NW — May 13 run (kick failed), 11:48
Team statistics`LM`NW
First downs`15`16
Rushes-yards`37-236`48-243
Passing yards`99`23
Total yards`335`266
Passing`6-10-0`3-8-0
Sacked-yards lost`0-0`1-7
Punts-avg.`2-28.5`3-23.67
Fumbles-lost`2-1`6-4
Penalties-yards`5-55`4-45
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — LM, Jacob Feese 14-139, Garret Laudenslager 13-68, Beau Keim 6-32, Nolan Baumert 4, Angel Gonzalez 1-1, Max Bingaman 2—8. NW, George May 31-214, Carter Hontz 14-24, Jacob Bobersky 1-4, Landon Hufford 2-1.
PASSING — LM, Jacob Feese 6-10-0-0, Nicholas Snyder 0-0-0-0. NW, Carter Hontz 3-8-0-0.
RECEIVING — LM, Garret Laudenslager 3-67, Aidan Herb 1-14, Cameron Smeltz 1-12, Jace Hackenburg 1-6. NW, George May 1-15, Landon Hufford 2-8.
INTERCEPTIONS — None
MISSED FGs — LM, 47Short