Football Preview: Northern Bedford County Panthers vs. Windber Ramblers
Northern Bedford County has enjoyed a three-game homestand but will soon have to dust off their road jerseys. They will square off against the Windber Ramblers at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday. The two teams have allowed few points on average, (Northern Bedford County: 14.8, Windber: 11.2) so any points scored will be well earned.
Northern Bedford County is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup last Friday. They enjoyed a cozy 30-14 win over Meyersdale. The Panthers pushed the score to 28-6 by the end of the third, a deficit the Red Raiders cut but never quite recovered from.
Ben Clark was his usual excellent self, rushing for 170 yards and three touchdowns. The dominant performance gave him a new career-high in rushing yards.
Northern Bedford County was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 223 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
Northern Bedford County's defense made their presence known, laying out Lance Jones. three times. Joey O'Brian was particularly dangerous to the passing game, picking up two sacks himself.
Meanwhile, Windber entered their tilt with Conemaugh Township last Friday with five consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with six. They breezed by the Indians to the tune of 40-0. The result was nothing new for the Ramblers, who have now won eight contests by 20 points or more so far this season.
Lucas Oleksa went supernova for Windber, rushing for 127 yards on only 13 carries, while also throwing for 132 yards and a touchdown. Oleksa also put in work on the defensive side of the ball, picking up a sack and making five total tackles. A healthy portion of Oleksa's aerial production (104 yards to be exact) went to Evan Brady.
Northern Bedford County has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won seven of their last eight games, which provided a nice bump to their 9-2 record this season. Those victories were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 26.9 points per game. As for Windber, they pushed their record up to 9-2 with the victory, which was their sixth straight at home.
Northern Bedford County took a serious blow against Windber in their previous matchup back in October, falling 35-6. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Oleksa, who threw for 121 yards and a touchdown while completing 71.4% of his passes, and also rushed for 55 yards. Now that Northern Bedford County knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
