IBERIA — Judah Reid dumped a bucket of ice on his father, Mount Gilead head coach Mike Reid, as the senior lineman and his Mount Gilead teammates danced in a circle around him at midfield.
The impromptu celebration was the result of the Indians’ resounding 36-9 win over Knox Morrow Athletic Conference backyard rival Northmor on Senior Night here Friday.
It also marked the first time since 2008 that Mount Gilead has posted a five-win season.
“I’m not sure where to start,” Reid said. “It’s a long journey and these fellas have stuck with it for a long time.”
The Golden Knights (5-3, 2-3 KMAC) were ranked sixth in Division VI, Region. Mount Gilead (5-3, 3-2 KMAC) was 10th in the same region. The top 16 teams in each region qualify for the playoffs.
The backfield tandem of quarterback Matthew Bland and running back Garrett George combined for 273 rushing yards on 63 carries and the MG line dominated the Golden Knights.
“They did the same thing they’ve done all season. They’re good. Bland and George are good backs. I don’t know that we’ve seen a 1-2 punch like that from anyone this season,” said Northmor head coach Scott Armrose.
“They’re good up front and are well coached. They outplayed us tonight,” he said.
The Indians scored the first touchdown when Bland ran in from a yard out following a Caleb Schnuerer field goal. A Bo Landin pass from sophomore quarterback A.J. Bower gave Northmor a 9-8 lead after one quarter.
It all changed after that point.
“That five wins is huge. They’re in uncharted territory and sometimes they’re not really sure how that feels or what they’re supposed to do. They’re just excited and they created this atmosphere for themselves,” Reid said.
“We beat ourselves up with penalties and turnovers tonight,” Armrose said. “We didn’t tackle well, and we were sloppy. That’s on me. That’s on the coaching; it’s not on the kids.”
Northmor lost one fumble and had two Bower passes picked off by Gabe Simpson. Hunter Fulk had a pick for the Knights.
“Some of their best plays were fumbled snaps where he (Bland) scrambled out of danger. That’s the way he’s been all year. He’s a good football player. He has good speed. He outran us. We’d have him wrapped up and he’d slip out of our hands.”
One of those turned out to be the backbreaker and gave the visitors a 30-9 lead.
On first and 10 at the Mount Gilead 24, Bland took the snap, eluded several Northmor tacklers and weaved and dodged 76 yards for a touchdown with 7:14 to play in the third quarter.
“It’s a building block. It means a lot to the future of the program. Hopefully, it’s also a building block as we get into a really big game at Danville next week,” Reid said.
“Danville is a really nice ball club, so hopefully this puts us in a good position for maybe some post-season. These guys said last year they wanted to be the change. They started making changes last year and really started making changes in the off season.”
Seeing the turnaround makes the coach beam in this his 37th season as a coach and his second at Mount Gilead.
“I’m very proud. It’s very humbling. To be back in my home town. I look on the sidelines and I remember coach (Paul “Bear”) Bremigan and the years that he had there. He’d be awful proud of these kids. They have found pride in themselves and have put pride back in the program.”
Controlling the line of scrimmage has been the Indians’ hallmark this season.
“We kind of had to adjust our offense early in the season when we lost our number one quarterback. Matthew is a tremendous athlete. He moved from the slot and our offense has a lot of reads. We want to utilize his athletic skills as best we can,” Reid said.
Reid said Northmor’s “defense gave us fits early. But we saw what they were doing, and we took advantage of what they gave us. It sounds like a cliche, but we did that.
“Our offensive line (Reid, Bryan Sayers, Nick Garvey, Hayden Krinn, Mitchell Sayers, Nick Garvey and others) did a great job of adjusting the line schemes. We hang our hat on that. Our receiving threats do a great job of blocking downfield.”
He credited Bland with displaying elusiveness.
“That’s just Matthew being an athlete. Garrett’s a great blocker when he’s not running, and Matthew pulled the ball a few times and made good decisions and our defense was tremendous.
“Bower is a really nice quarterback. Their offense is really good, and we shut them down. My defensive staff and coach Joe Ulrey does a great job on that side of the ball.”
Mount Gilead limited Northmor to 120 yards in total offense.
Armrose knows they’re still a lot to play for heading into next week.
“We’re gonna put this one behind us and get back to work. We know Centerburg and Loudonville are both good teams,” he said.
“We’ve still a got a lot left to play for. We’re looking at Week 11 and giving ourselves better position for Week 11, and we have two opportunities to improve our position.”
Box score
Score by quarters
Mount Gilead 8 16 6 6 — 36
Northmor 9 0 0 0 — 9
Scoring summary
First quarter
N — Caleb Schnuerer 25 field goal, 5:34
MG — Matthew Bland 1 run (Bland run), 3:15.
N — Bo Landin 18 pass from A.J. Bower (kick failed), :36.
Second quarter
MG — Garrett George 3 run (George run), 8:37.
MG — Bland 1 run (Bland run), :00.
Third quarter
MG — Bland 76 run (pass failed), 7:14.
Fourth quarter
MG — George 1 run (pass failed), 9:10.
Individual statistics
Passing
Mount Gilead: Matthew Bland 3-4-0 26; Northmor: A.J Bower 9-23-0 89.
Rushing
Mount Gilead: Matthew Bland 28-138, Garrett George 35-135, Gabe Simpson 2-10, Owen High 1-6, Team 1-(-17); Northmor: Paul Cramer 11-44, Caleb Schnuerer 2-1, A.J. Bower 3-(-14).
Receiving
Mount Gilead: Simpson 1-15, High 1-11; Northmor: N. Landin 2-55, Hunter Fulk 1-8, Cramer 1-7, Jaxson Wenger 1-5, Schnuerer 1-2.
Team statistics
MG N
First downs 23 6
Rushing 63-272 16-31
Passes 3-4-0 9-13-0
Yards passing 26 89
Total yards 298 120
Fumbles-lost 1-0 1-1
Penalties 7-45 4-50