Northern York Blanks Hershey 24–0 on Senior Night

Tagged under: District 3, Gameday Hub, News, pfn

Davin Ridall | October 17, 2026

DILLSBURG – Both teams had strong defensive performances early on, both offenses really struggled for almost the entirety of the first half. That all changed for Northern York right before halftime, as a late score gave their offense momentum that they never gave ack in the second half, allowing the Polar Bears to cruise to a 24-0 win on senior night.

Northern York knew this Hershey squad quite well coming into this matchup, losing both their 2024 and 2025 matchups against the Trojans by scores of 14-0 and 42-0. On top of that, the Polar Bears were off to a hot start that they hadn’t seen in quite some time, their 6-1 record coming in was their best 7 game start since 2015, and was much improved from their 0-7 record at this same point last year.

“These guys believe in themselves, they believe in what we’re doing, they believe we’re a team,” Northern York head coach Jeff Costello said about the team’s improvement from last year. “It’s just 51 guys working for 48 minutes, and we’re just trying to battle and have fun, and that’s what I’m trying to get them to do is understand that and have a good time, because these are things that they’re going to remember for the rest of their lives.”

Early in this game it was a defensive battle on both sides, with both defenses making big play after big play to keep the opposing offenses at bay. On the game’s opening drive, Northern York quarterback Mason Barnett fired a pass in the direction of Dalton Porter, but Hershey’s Caine Stepp went up and snagged it out of the air for an interception.

Then it was Northern York coming up big on the defensive side on the very next drive. Hershey after the interception began their first drive at Northern York’s 40 yard line, driving all the way down to the 18 yard line. On a second and long from the 18, a handoff from Bentley Kohr to Harrison Farmen wasn’t executed cleanly, putting the ball on the ground before Jackson Lininger quickly jumped on top of it, ending Hershey’s promising opening drive.

The first drive wasn’t the only time that Hershey came away with a takeaway, as a couple drives later, late in the first quarter, Barnett had his pass picked off again, this time by Domenick Argento who stepped right in front of a pass that was directed towards Cash Keck. Argento gave Hershey another great opportunity on the return, setting the Trojans up at the 32 yard line of Northern York.

Anytime Hershey’s defense made a play in this game, Northern York’s always seemed to have an answer. On the Trojans’ ensuing drive, three straight runs from Farmen left Hershey a yard shy of first down yardage, setting up a fourth and short. A fourth straight handoff to Farmen went straight up the middle seemingly for no gain, and after the chain crew came out and measured for what seemed like forever, the officials confirmed that he was short, and Northern York’s defense had gotten the stop.

“It’s the second year that I’ve been in this program, and I’m just letting the guys play,” coach Costello said about the defensive performance. “We’re letting them make calls, we’re letting them do things on the field, and I trust them and they trust me. We’re trying to just let them go make plays and get after it and have fun, the less they think, the better.”

After just back and forth punts from both sides, Northern York got the ball at their own 38 yard line with a little over three minutes to go until halftime. On that drive, Brody Leathery really began to find some big runs for the Polar Bears, as his runs of 12 and 14 yards were the longest plays of the game by either side up to that point. Then on a third and 10 from Hershey’s 38 yard line, Barnett shovel passed the ball to Tristan Wenrich who took it and ran to the right sideline and somehow broke free from the defense, scoring the game’s first touchdown with just 3 seconds left until halftime.

“I didn’t even know he was still running, I was running down the field calling timeout, I couldn’t see him, so when he popped into the end zone I was like oh my gosh let’s go get the extra point,” coach Costello said about the touchdown from Wenrich. “That was huge for us to get on the board, and the bigger thing I feel like was when we came out first drive of the second half and got the stop, because if they come right back out and roll down the field on us, that’s going to be challenging, but we were able to take care of business.”

That touchdown from Wenrich really seemed like it kickstarted the offense for Northern York, as the Polar Bears started moving the ball much more efficiently. After forcing a three and out on Hershey’s opening possession of the second half, Northern York took over at their own 35 yard line and drove all the way to Hershey’s 21 yard line before stalling. This allowed Beckham Kalnins to come in and kick a 38 yard field goal that just snuck past the crossbar and in, giving the Polar Bears a 10-0 lead.

Northern York then got another takeaway on the very next possession, after Kohr connected with Isaac Williams for a solid gain on a third and long, Williams had the ball stripped by Cash Keck and recovered right away. This time though, it did not lead to any points, as Kalnins came back in to try another 38 yard field goal, but this one fell about five yards short of the goal posts.

That didn’t matter for the Polar Bears, as their defense held Hershey’s offense in check for the remainder of the game. Unlike Hershey, Northern York continued to find offensive success in the fourth quarter, as on their next possession, Barnett hit Leathery on a swing pass to the left side, and after breaking a couple tackles, he cut back to the middle and sprinted 58 yards all the way to the end zone, extending their lead up to 17-0.

The Polar Bears were able to add one more score for good measure, as they took advantage of yet another turnover on downs by Hershey, driving 38 yards and capping it off with a 6 yard run from Leathery, his second touchdown of the night, boosting Northern York’s advantage up to 24-0, which ultimately held strong in the game’s final minutes.

“Once we got into halftime and the offensive coaching staff sat down and figured a few things out, we were able to understand what they were doing to us, and then we tried to call plays to put our guys in the best position,” coach Costello said about the team’s second half success with the run game. “I’ll tell you about the offense, it’s been awesome all year, it’s not just one guy, it’s wide receivers, running backs, wings, tight ends, the quarterback running, it’s the little things that you never know where we’re coming from, which has been fantastic.”

Northern York with the victory improves to 7-1 on the season, their first time reaching that mark since 2015, and they will be back on the road for their final two games of the regular season, the first of which will come against Waynesboro. Hershey drops to 6-2 with the loss, and they will stay on the road next week as they face Mechanicsburg.

NORTHERN YORK

Mason Barnett – 9/13, 162 YDS, 2 TD, 2 INT

Brody Leathery – 20 CAR, 76 YDS, 1 TD
Tristan Wenrich – 5 CAR, 18 YDS
Mason Barnett – 3 CAR, 13 YDS
Gavin Macke – 3 CAR, 4 YDS
Gavin Bucek – 1 CAR, 1 YD
Carter Wright – 1 CAR, -4 YDS
Cash Keck – 1 CAR, -7 YDS

Tristan Wenrich – 4 REC, 66 YDS, 1 TD
Brody Leathery – 2 REC, 60 YDS, 1 TD
Cash Keck – 3 REC, 43 YDS

HERSHEY

Bentley Kohr – 8/19, 83 YDS

Harrison Farmen – 15 CAR, 39 YDS
Caine Stepp – 3 CAR, 11 YDS
Bentley Kohr – 2 CAR, 0 YDS
Alex Jones – 2 CAR, -6 YDS

Isaac Williams – 6 REC, 63 YDS
Devin Lutz – 1 REC, 13 YDS
Alex Jones – 1 REC, 7 YDS