NEWARK — A Northmor goal-line stand late in the first half turned the momentum and propelled the Golden Knights to their first ever regional championship appearance.
“It’s one of the things we talk about. Just raw determination, heart, and grit, and we’ve got a tremendous amount of that with these guys here,” Northmor head coach Scott Armrose said after a fourth and goal at the one was stopped cold by the stingy Northmor defense.
“When you make a goal-line stop like that on the one-yard line against a physical football team and a quarterback who can run like that, it says a lot about your team. Those guys played with a lot of heart tonight.”
That heart gave No. 2 seed Northmor a 21-7 victory in the Division VI, Region 23 regional semifinal game at White Field.
The Knights (13-0) will play top-seeded Grandview Heights for a regional championship next Friday at Westerville Central High School. The Bobcats shut out Fort Frye, 27-0.
It wasn’t just the stop on quarterback Grant Lahmers’ sneak attempt that stopped a 19-play drive. It’s what the offense did in the remaining minute of the half.
A 15-yard penalty following the stop gave Northmor the ball at the 16. Penalties hurt Ridgewood all night, drawing 11 flags for 99 yards.
Quarterback A.J. Bower immediately went to work, and the result was a three-play scoring drive.
Bower hit two passes to Jax Wenger covering 24 and 32 yards. That set up a 28-yard touchdown strike to Bo Landin in the end zone with 57 seconds left in the half to give Northmor a 7-0 lead.
“We hope that if we leave enough time on that clock, and we’ve been really good in the two-minute offense this year, we’re in our element with that. We practice it and work it really hard,” Armrose said.
“We were able to go up-tempo tonight and coach (Nate) Hall, our passing game coordinator, does a great job coaching that. We had them on their heels.”
The Golden Knights defense was on the field a lot, with Ridgewood churning out 354 total yards and doubling the time of possession, 32 minutes to 16.
But it was a bend-but-not-break defense, with an 89-yard pass in the fourth quarter the only Generals touchdown. Lahmers hit Talon Carns for the score.
Lahmers threw for 180 yards and ran for 105 more on 25 carries, but it wasn’t enough.
“I’m so proud of our defensive staff and the way we went about our week. So many teams all year we’ve seen all year scheme for them. We just stayed in our defense and just did what we did, played good, fundamental football and in the second half it showed our D-line, once again, when we needed them just stepped up,” Armrose said.
Carson Campbell gave Northmor a 14-0 lead on an 18-yard screen pass from Bower with 8:44 left in the third quarter.
“They played a dominant half of football, got after the quarterback,” Armose said.
Ridgewood (11-2) head coach John Slusser credited Northmor’s effort, notably their toughness.
“That was a big play in the game, and credit Northmor for that (goal-line stand). I thought Northmor really stepped up their physicality in the second half,” he said.
“I thought the first half although we were down 7-0, I really felt like we dominated it and had nothing to show for it. I thought in the second half they were just awesome and took us out of our game a little bit.”
Cowin Becker sealed the game with a 3-yard run with just under six minutes to play.
Bower connected on 14-of-19 passing attempts for 231 yards and two scores. Wenger caught nine balls for 164 yards.
“Offensively, we did enough to take them out of their comfort zone and get up a couple of scores. That’s tough for their offense and we knew that. We made enough plays offensively to get that done,” Armrose said.
“The funny thing is, our adjustments are just coaching our guys and letting them know the things they’re doing wrong, like getting out of their fundamentals and trying to do too much at times.”
Armrose credited defensive coordinator Alan Sears.
“It wasn’t a different scheme. It wasn’t a different alignment. We just played better and more fundamental and it showed. They’ve been a dominant defense all year.”
Not a single Golden Knights defender made all-Central District first team.
“It’s frustrating for them because they’ve been a dominating defense all year. We don’t have great numbers to show for it. But again, it’s grit and determination and physical play and they do that very well.”
Slusser wished the Golden Knights well.
“I feel bad for my kids. They’ve had a great year, but it’s always frustrating when you lose that last game. It never makes it easy,” he said.
“All credit to Northmor. They do a good job, and I hope they win the whole region.”
The Knights went undefeated for the first time in school history and won their first Knox Morrow Athletic Conference title.
“It’s amazing. First-ever (regional championship) and we’re making history every week,” Northmor defensive lineman Ashton Clark said.
Box score
Northmor 21, Ridgewood 7
Score by quarters
Ridgewood 0 0 0 7 — 7
Northmor 0 7 7 7 — 21
Scoring summary
Second quarter
N — Bo Landin 28 pass from A.J. Bower (Bower kick), :57.
Third quarter
N — Carson Campbell 18 pass from Bower (Bower kick), 8:44.
Fourth quarter
R — Talon Carns 89 pass from Grant Lahmers (Jaden Smoulder kick), 11:00.
N — Cowin Becker 3 run (Bower kick), 5:56.
Individual statistics
Passing
Ridgewood: Grant Lahmers 12-20-1 180, Jace McQueen 0-1-0 0; Northmor: A.J. Bower 14-19-0 231.
Rushing
Ridgewood: Grant Lahmers 25-105, Matt Humphrey 9-52, Aiden Sparger 8-17; Northmor: Carson Campbell 13-58, Cowin Becker 6-23, A.J. Bower 4-(-6).
Receiving
Ridgewood: Talon Carns 3-103, Jace McQueen 3-47, Matt Humphrey 3-27, Aiden Sparger 3-3; Northmor: Jaxson Wenger 9-164, Bo Landin 1-28, Carson Campbell 1-18, Cameron Goldbach 1-4, Cowin Becker 2-(-1).
Team statistics
R N
First downs 16 16
Rushing 42-174 23-75
Passes 12-21-1 14-19-0
Yards passing 180 213
Total yards 354 288
Fumbles-lost 1-1 0-0
Penalties 11-99 6-37