Northwest rolls past Towanda

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Walter Titus | September 11, 2022

What’s usually Friday night lights at Northwest turned into Saturday night lights this week as the Northwest Rangers improved to 3-0 for the first time since the 2020 Covid shortened season by beating the Towanda Black Knights 45-12.

It was a tale of two halves for Northwest. They looked great on the opening kickoff where they recovered a fumble on the Black Knight 22. Two plays later Carter Hontz ran it in for a 10 yard Northwest touchdown, making it 7-0.

Then the Rangers started to look shaky at times in the 1st half especially on special teams where they had two fumbles, one that was muffed punt that Towanda recovered and on another punt where a Ranger touched that ball as it was rolling that Towanda also recovered.

After the second fumble recovery by Towanda on special teams the Black Knights drove down into red zone but Northwest’s Andrew Bonczewski intercepted Towanda’s pass in the end zone and Rangers take over at the their own 20.

Towanda had another chance at scoring in the 1st quarter where they drove it deep into Ranger territory but came up short with an incomplete pass on 4th & goal at the Northwest 5 yard line.

Northwest’s QB Carter Hontz is the complete package. Not only can he kill you with a deep pass or hit the wide receiver going down the middle with a slant pass but he’s also very mobile. He showed his mobility when he evaded Towanda’s pass rushers and escaping for a 37 yard touchdown run, putting the Rangers up 14-0 with 7:49 remaining in the second quarter.

Northwest’s Matt Foley added a 22 field goal with 39 seconds left before halftime putting the Rangers up 17-0 at the half.

After receiving the second half kick off, Towanda forced Northwest to punt deep into their own territory. Varius Farrell came up huge for the Black Knights by blocking the punt at the goal line and taking it in for their first touchdown of the game. The extra point would bounce off of the goal post and be no good making it 17-6.

Northwest bounced right back though. On the first play after the kick off QB Carter Hontz hit Derek Dietz over the middle where he took it to the house for a 90 yard touchdown. That increased Northwest lead to 24-6 in the 3rd quarter.

Most of the remaining time in the third-quarter was back-and-forth until the 1:01 mark where Northwest’s Jake Bobersky ran up the middle breaking tackles for a 50 yard touchdown run increasing their lead to 31–6.

It didn’t take long for Northwest to score again once the fourth quarter started. With 10:41 left in the 4th, QB Carter Hontz threw a bullet to Derek Dietz again for a 57 yard touchdown putting the Rangers up 38-6.

The Rangers added another touchdown while milking the clock. Jake Bobersky ran it in from 5 yard out making it 45-6 with 4:18 remaining in the game.

Towanda did have one last gasp when QB Grady Flynn hit #80 (not listed on Max Preps roster for the Black Knights) for an 80 yard touchdown pass with 2:56 left in the 4th. Towanda still trailed 45-12.

Northwest has out scored their opponents 158-45 in their first 3 game. Only 12 of the opponents points have come against the Rangers start defense.

Photo Credit: Ward Killian (WK Photography)

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