By Kendall Beck
Rounding out September with a 2-3 record, the Polar Bears move into October with four weeks left in the regular season. They will travel to East Pennsboro, Susquehanna Township, and ending the season with Mechanicsburg. They will host Greencastle (9/30) and Gettysburg at Bostic Field.
Recapping September, the Polar Bears picked up wins against Red Land and Shippensburg. They received loses from Chambersburg, Dover, and Waynesboro.
Kicking off October, the Polar Bears traveled to East Pennsboro High School to take on the Panthers. This game was very special as the Polar Bears and Panthers were chose to be the featured game on Fox43 Friday Night Frenzy. There were interviews at practices all week along with before the game, and the cheerleaders got the chance to be featured in various parts of the pregame events. The game began with Northern deferring until the 2nd half of the game. The first big moment of the game was a fumble from the Panthers that was recovered by #31 Joel McClintock. In the 1st quarter, East Penn had a 24-yard run before being stopped by the Polar Bears. The first quarter remained scoreless. With 7:51 left in the first half, #22 Talon Belluscio runs the ball in for a touchdown. #82 Mason Yohn kicks the extra point for Northern taking the score to 7-0. Northern decided to try to gain yardage on a 4th down with a huge success when #12 Timmy Bonin threw a pass to #81 Nate Anderson. The score remained 7-0 through halftime. After halftime, Talon Belluscio runs another touchdown in while Mason Yohn kicks the extra point. The advanced to 14-0. Unfortunately, the Polar Bears fumbled the ball within the 10-yard line of scoring which was recovered by East Penn. Although the Panthers had a long way to go, they started off their trek to the other side of the fields with a 25 yard gain when #22 Dakota Campbell passed to #14 Chase Deibler. Shortly after, Northern's #10 Magarrin Macke was called with an interference when trying to intercept the ball. Sadly, East Penn's efforts did pay off and scored a 33-yard touchdown. Dakota Campbell added the extra point taking the score to 14-7. Later in the game, Cole Bartram fumbled the ball and was recovered by the Panther's #10 Breckin Swope. Starting off the 4th quarter, the Panthers scored with 10:16 left in the game when #12 Aaron Angelo scored. The extra point was added on and took the score to 14-14. Later in the 4th quarter, Mason Yohn delivered a 60-yard punt to put the Panthers on the other end of the field. East Penn returned with a 41-yard touchdown run by Aaron Angelo. The Polar Bears had a 4th and 8 and decided to go for the yards when they succeeded. Timmy Bonin passed to Mason Yohn for a Polar Bear 1st and 10. Near the end of the 4th quarter, Mason Yohn attempted a 40-yard field goal, but East Pennsboro blocked and recovered the ball. The game ended and the Polar Bears entered overtime. In the 1st overtime, the Panthers started out with scoring a touchdown on a pass from Dakota Campbell to Aaron Angelo. The extra point was good. The Polar Bears returned with a touchdown and extra point as well making the game enter it's 2nd overtime. The Polar Bears started on offense in the 2nd overtime. Northern ran the ball in for another touchdown, and the extra point was good. East Pennsboro received the ball for their chance to win the game. The Panthers got a touchdown and decided to go for a 2-point conversion which was incomplete and ended the game. Final score, Northern 28, East Pennsboro 27.
Cole Bartram was nominated for the PennLive Mid-Penn Conference Football Player of the Week and the PennLive Pennsylvania Football Player of the Week. He did not win either of these, but Northern is proud for his recognition.
Also, on October 3rd, senior #35 Glenn Sadler announced that he will be committing to Misericordia University to further his academic and athletic career.
In Week 8, Northern traveled to Susquehanna Township to play the Indians in a hard fought game. Early on in the game, the Polar Bears had possession of the ball when #12 Timmy Bonin was sacked to give us a 14-yard loss. Later in the 1st quarter, the Indians scored with 5:37 left. They added a 2-point conversion to their score taking the early lead 0-8. Shortly after, the Polar Bears had a flag thrown on them for holding. The Polar Bears were able to get close enough to the end zone to allow #82 Mason Yohn to kick a field goal taking the score 3-8. Shortly after the beginning of the 2nd quarter, Mason Yohn contributed another field goal taking the score to 6-8. The Indians responded back to our two field goals with an 86-yard touchdown run with 9:16 left in the 2nd quarter. They yet again added a 2-point conversion taking the score to 6-16. On the kick return, Northern fumbled the ball once and was recovered by Susquehanna Township before they fumbled and Northern ended up keeping possession on this action filled play. With 4:03 left in the half, Timmy Bonin throws a pass to Mason Yohn for a touchdown. Mason Yohn added on the extra point advancing the score to 13-16. Shortly before the half, the Polar Bears received another holding penalty. Starting off the 2nd half, Susquehanna Township had a false start. #7 Cole Bartram had a big run to collect a 1st and 10 for the Polar Bears. With 7:24 left in the 3rd quarter, Northern scored a touchdown. Mason Yohn added the extra point putting the Polar Bears in the lead for the first time this game with a score of 20-16. Susquehanna Township responded back to our touchdown less than two minutes later, with a touchdown and had a 2-point conversion. This took the score to 20-24 rounding out the 3rd quarter. The Indians started off the 4th quarter with a long touchdown pass for a 1st down taking the ball to the 1-yard line. They quickly added on a touchdown when the Polar Bears blocked the extra point attempt. The score became 20-30. As the Northern fans were at the edge of their seats, the Polar Bears scored with just 2:50 left in the game. Mason Yohn added on the extra point taking the score to 27-30. The Polar Bears regained possession of the ball shortly before the end of the game which allowed the Polar Bears to have a field goal from Mason Yohn on a 4th and 3. The Polar Bears headed into overtime for the 2nd week in a row. Both teams had successes during overtime, but Susquehanna Township came out on top when they made a 2-point conversion to end the game. Final Score, Northern 37-Susquehanna Township 38.
During this game, Cole Bartram reached a significant milestone for capturing 1000-yards in rushing this season. This is the 1st time this achievement has been achieved since 2019 when Northern graduate, Kyle Swartz, captured this same amount of rushing yards.
Northern's last night at Bostic came about during Week 9 of play. Before the game, the Polar Bears took time to recognize all 43 seniors who are involved in the band, cheerleading, and football. Senior football players include: Elijah Grissinger, Kade Kitts, Alex Williams, Kyle Lamb, Timmy Bonin, Talon Belluscio, Joel McClintock, Glenn Sadler, Calvin Armstrong, Wyatt Hazen, Sam Gunning, Paul Pasqualini, Justin Billman, Nate Anderson, Mason Yohn, and Nathan Deller. After the loss to Susquehanna Township last week, the Polar Bears are seeking to collect their ticket to attend the Post-Season playoffs. The Polar Bears started out strong when #31 Joel McClintock sacked a Gettysburg player for a loss of 8-yards. Northern later goes on to fumble the ball to allow Gettysburg's #11 Jakaree Anderson to recover. With 7:34 left in the 1st quarter, the Warriors kicked a field goal posting the first points on the board taking the score to 0-3. The Warriors went on to later regain possession of the ball where they would have been able to have the chance to score a touchdown, but many yards back were given a flag for holding. This gave them a yardage penalty, and this happened numerous times again. They ended up not scoring and having to punt the ball away to Northern. In the 2nd quarter, the Polar Bears yet again fumbled the ball and was recovered by the Warriors. With 6:49 left in the half, Gettysburg's #5 Jayden Johnson scored a touchdown. Northern's #65 Wyatt Hazen blocked the extra-point only allowing Gettysburg to gain a 0-9 lead. Northern responded to the lead Gettysburg collected with a huge yard gain when #12 Timmy Bonin passed to #35 Glenn Sadler. Later on in the quarter, Timmy Bonin runs the ball in for a Polar Bear touchdown. Mason Yohn added the extra point and took the score to 7-9 going into halftime. After halftime, #7 Cole Bartram quickly added to the score with a little less than 2 minutes back into the game when he ran the ball in for a Polar Bear touchdown. Mason Yohn completed the kick for an extra point. The score advanced 14-9. There was later a call made by the referees that Northern would receive a penalty for an ineligible receiver downfield. Mason Yohn shortly after contributed a 37-yard field goal making the score 17-9. With 3:35 left in the 3rd quarter, the Warriors had a 62-yard touchdown run with a 2-point conversion tying the score 17-17. With 9:19 left in the 4th, Gettysburg scores another touchdown, but their 2-point conversion attempt was blocked leaving the score 17-23. The Polar Bears responded with just under 5 minutes left in the game when Cole Bartram scored for the Polar Bears. Mason Yohn added on the point with the extra point. Mason Yohn later went on to have an amazing interception. #6 Kyle Lamb made a tough catch from Timmy Bonin that allowed the Polar Bears to receive a 1st down and secure the win. The final was Northern 24, Gettysburg 23. The Polar Bears celebrated a win against the current division leaders. Immediately following the game, the 16 seniors reported directly to the endzone to do the traditional walk across the field. The 16 seniors left their all on Bostic and left Bostic for the final time proud of all they have accomplished. Congratulations to all of our Seniors! Northern Nation is proud.
Also, Cole Bartram was nominated at the 4th Down Magazine Football Player of the Week and PennLive Mid-Penn Football Player of the Week. We are proud to have Cole recognized.
In the final week of regular season play, the Polar Bears went in with a goal of winning to claim a playoff spot and claim the Route 15 Classic trophy back from crosstown rivals, Mechanicsburg. The game started off with many good and notable plays. Northern received a flag for a false start in the 1st quarter shortly followed by #68 Sam Gunning sacking Mechanicsburg's Jeff Lougee. In the 2nd quarter, Mechanicsburg attempted a field goal, but were unsuccessful. Mechanicsburg's Sage Thomas recovered a fumble from Northern. With 9:34 left in the half, the first points were added to the board by Mechanicsburg with a touchdown and a field goal. #31 Joel McClintock shortly after had an interception. Northern's #82 Mason Yohn also attempted a field goal before the half, but was unsuccessful taking the game into the half with Northern down. Coming back out after halftime, #12 Timmy Bonin ran the ball into the endzone for a Northern touchdown, and Mason Yohn added the extra point tying the game. The score remained tied through the 3rd quarter until Northern scored another touchdown shortly into the 3rd quarter taking the score 14-7 as Mason Yohn added the extra point. Mechanicsburg responded with a touchdown and extra-point shortly after tying the score again. As the game neared its end, Northern fans were on the edge of their seats as I'm sure everyone questioned if we were going to go into overtime. With only 29.1 seconds left in the game, Northern scored a touchdown and kicked an extra point taking the score 21-14 out of the game. The Polar Bears were the winners of the Route 15 Classic and were able to bring the trophy back to Northern for the next year!
The Polar Bears end regular season with a 6-4 record and clinched a playoff spot. They ended 2nd in the Mid-Penn Colonial Division. The Polar Bears are set to travel to the South Western Mustangs in Hanover, PA for the first round of playoffs! Great season Bears!