IBERIA — At times it resembled a 7-on-7 drill.
Northmor unveiled its vaunted passing attack and produced big numbers at the expense of Upper Sandusky, 48-14, in a non-league football season opener here Friday night.
The Golden Knights all-Ohio senior quarterback A.J. Bower hooked up with four receivers and completed 10 of 13 passing attempts for a whopping 329 yards and three scores.
“We executed well. All week long our plan was to focus on us and improve what we do from the Wynford scrimmage until now,” Golden Knights head coach Scott Armrose said. “We did that, and you get that start that we got, and it helps.”
An incredible start it was as the hosts went up 21-0 after one quarter.
The scoring began early when Bower found Jaxson Wenger for a 60-yard bomb down the left sideline just a minute and 41 seconds into the game. Northmor added a 50-yard toss to senior tight end Cameron Goldbach and Carson Campbell rambled 37 yards for the third score.
“We’re a bend but don’t break defense. We make other teams drive the football on us. That’s the way we play,” Armrose said. “We give up the underneath stuff, make good tackles and I thought they executed tonight as well.”
Upper Sandusky wasn’t without its offensive production, getting 348 yards including 238 through the air from new starting quarterback Justin Heilman.
“Northmor is a very good team. You play 13 games (last year), and you bring back most of your team, you’re going to be pretty good,” Rams head coach Russell Hall said.
“Coming out of the gate I thought they were ready to go and we kind of felt our way in. It took us a half almost to get going on both sides of the ball. That’s something that we have to focus on as a program.”
Heilman connected on 26-of-37 pass attempts hitting six receivers, led by Max Martinex (8 catches for 95 yards) and Kaleb Francis (8 for 62).
The Rams kept possession of the ball and had 17 first downs to Northmor’s 8. But that was primarily because the Golden Knights scored quickly on most of their possessions.
The Golden Knights produced those three touchdowns running a total of 13 plays.
Landin had four catches for 161 yards including back-to-back catches of 42 and 31 yards that set up the sixth touchdown of the first half, a 3-yard run by Campbell.
Prior to that series Northmor stopped Upper Sandusky after a 14-play, 53-yard drive when the defense stuffed two straight running plays at the Golden Knight’s 16-yard-line.
But it was Northmor’s wealth of weapons that made life difficult for the visitors.
“It’s not just A.J., Bo, and Jax. Our tight end Cam Goldbach made a big play, Cowin finding the endzone. Carson Campbell and our offensive line blocked well tonight,” Armose said.
Goldbach added a sack on the ensuing series.
Northmor returns a veteran team from last year’s 10-3 squad that won a pair of home playoff games before losing in the regional semifinals.
“This group of 15 seniors has been playing together for a long time. They’re a close group and they did a great job tonight. Week one you never know what you’re going to get. Special teams are live for the first time, and you only have scrimmage film to watch,” he said.
“It’s a nerve-racking week for a football coach because you like to pour into the film and see what you’ve got.”
With a running clock in the second half, the nerves took a little break for the Golden Knights while the Rams never quit competing.
“We had mental mistakes here and there. Same with the defense. We’d get in a third-and-seven or third-and-long and unfortunately, we’d give up a big play,” Hall said.
Two touchdown runs by 190-pound junior Ethan Lewis put Upper Sandusky on the scoreboard in the second half. He led the Rams with 74 yards rushing on 21 carries.
“There’s a lot of new guys stepping up. I think we’re capable to be a good team. He (Justin Heilman) had a good day. But it takes everybody. He can’t complete a pass if you don’t block, or if the receiver doesn’t run the right route or the receiver doesn’t watch it in.
“We need to watch film and see what we did well and emphasize that and see what we did wrong and focus on fixing that. It comes down to execution and mental focus of getting all 11 guys doing our job. If we get all 11 guys doing their job we can run and we can pass,” Hall added.
Upper Sandusky hosts Mount Gilead while Northmor visits South Central in week two. South Central fell to Willard 32-7 and Mount Gilead topped Triad 46-19 on Friday night.
Box score
Score by quarters
Upper Sandusky 0 0 7 7 — 14
Northmor 21 20 0 7 — 48
Scoring summary
First quarter
N — Jaxson Wenger 60 pass from A.J. Bower (Bower kick), 10:19.
N — Cameron Goldbach 50 pass from Bower (Bower kick), 7:37.
N — Carson Campbell 37 run (Bower kick), :22.
Second quarter
N — Wenger 70 interception return (Bower kick), 9:16.
N — Cowin Becker 13 pass from Bower (kick failed), 7:35.
N — Campbell 3 run (Bower kick), :24.
Third quarter
US — Ethan Lewis 3 run (Kobe Beidelschies kick), 3:43.
Fourth quarter
N — Campbell 19 run (Becker kick), 10:20.
US — Lewis 10 run (Beidelschies kick), 1:04.
Individual statistics
Passing
Upper Sandusky Justin Heilman 26-37-1 238; Northmor: A.J. Bower 10-13 0 329.
Rushing
Upper Sandusky: Ethan Lewis 21-74, Justin Heilman 6-15, Kaleb Francis 2-10, Max Martinez 1-4, Ezekiel Baldwin 1-4, Kaden Vogel 1-3; Northmor Carson Campbell 8-81, Cowin Becker 7-31, A.J. Bower 1-(-9).
Receiving
Upper Sandusky: Max Martinez 8-95, Kaleb Francis 8-62, Josh Heilman 5-47, Ethan Lewis 2-25, Brodie Cox 2-10, Peyton Bosley 1-9; Northmor: Bo Landin 4-161, Jaxson Wenger 2-82, Cameron Goldbach 2-62, Cowin Becker 2-24.
Team statistics
US N
First downs 17 6
Rushing 32-110 16-103
Passes 26-37-1 10-13-0
Yards passing 238 329
Total yards 348 432
Fumbles-lost 1-0 0-0
Penalties 4-40 2-25