Published: October 30, 2009 11:08 pm      

No. 2 Bishop Dwenger too much for Raiders

MIDDLEBURY, Ind — Friday night wasn’t a good night for the Northridge High School football team — football wise or weather wise.

Rain and high winds turned the field a quagmire and made playing conditions pretty much unbearable.

The Northridge Raiders didn’t take advantage of some early opportunities in a 28-0 loss to the No. 2-ranked Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger Saints in a Class 4A sectional semifinal at Northridge.

“We missed some opportunities early in the game,” Northridge coach Jonathan Kirkton said.

The coach was referring to the Raiders’ second possession. Dwenger took the opening kickoff and fumbled on their second play, setting Northridge up at the D-48. Three plays later the Raiders fumbled the ball back to the Saints.

But two plays later the Saints returned the favor and the Raiders had the ball at the D-25.

Northridge moved the ball to the D-1 where the Raiders were stopped on a fourth-and-goal play.

“It has been a long time since we have been stopped at the 1. I know it has not been this season,” Kirkton said.

Dwenger then marched 99 yards and scored on a 1-yard run by junior Remound Wright.

Dwenger’s defense then forced a three-and-out, taking over at midfield. It took the Saints eight plays to find the end zone as senior Landon Feichter caught a 17-yard scoring pass from senior quarterback Wade Markley. Wright ran for a 2-point conversion and the Saints led 14-0 at halftime.

“Because of the winds we actually talked about deferring our choice and giving them the ball to start the second half,” Kirkton said.

Northridge senior Gatlin Rassi took the second-half kickoff and returned it 29 yards to the N-30. A sack and a lost fumble gave the ball to the Saints at the N-20.

Wright broke through the Raider defense and scored giving Dwenger a 21-0 lead at 9:44 of the third period.

Junior Garett Yoder returned the ensuing kickoff 20 yards to the N-25, but another fumbled snap stalled the drive.

Dwenger blocked the Northridge punt and senior Scott Campbell scooped the ball up and returned it 21 yards for the game’s final TD.

Wright ended up with 161 rushing yards on 21 carries.

“A game like this comes down to the team that gets the most snaps,” Kirkton said. “Especially in the first half before the field gets torn up.”

Despite the rainy and muddy conditions Northridge senior quarterback Andrew Hooley completed 5-of-10 passes for 65 yards.

Rassi was his favorite target with three catches for 56 yards.

“Dwenger has a very good defense especially in the middle,” Kirkton said. “We knew we had to either run to the outside or throw the ball. Both of those things were very difficult on a night like this.”