Published: August 30, 2008 12:20 am         

Turnovers doom Northview football against Edgewood

Knights fall 35-14, get first WIC loss of young season

Ellettsville — The Northview Knights have been looking at Edgewood quarterback Josh Collier for four years. They knew going into Friday night’s Western Indiana Conference high school football opener that Collier can not be given an extra opportunities. But they did it anyway.

The Knights turned the ball over five times and Collier made them pay, leading Edgewood’s Mustangs to a 35-14 victory and Northview’s first loss in WIC play in four years.

“That’s a tough one [loss] and one that will be hard to get over for quite some time,” Northview coach George Gettle said of the conference streak.

Collier rushed for 162 yards, including touchdowns of 5, 3, 30 and 4 yards and threw for 24 yards. He also returned the opening kickoff the night 80 yards to set up the Mustangs’ first touchdown.

“For the most part we contained him off the edge, but we could not stop him off tackle. That’s just frustrating because that is the same type of thing Franklin did with us out of spread [offense] with their quarterback,” Gettle said.

For Edgewood, this was the conference championship game.

“I told our kids this was the conference championship in the sense that you have to beat Northview to be the champions,” Edgewood coach Jerry Bland said.

Northview’s loss came down to three lost fumbles, two pass interceptions and six untimely penalties in the second half.

“Too many turnovers and just not doing a real good job stopping people,” Gettle said.

Edgewood took a 14-7 halftime lead after Northview’s second fumble of the second quarter.

Northview tied the score 14-14 on the opening possession of the second half, putting together an eight-play, 65 yard touchdown drive. But that came off an Edgewood fumble, as Northview’s Zach Boejter recovered a fumbled punt to keep the Knights’ drive alive.

Northview quarterback Trent Lancaster hooked up with John Bradshaw for a 39-yard gain and three plays later found him again for a nine-yard touchdown that tied the scored.

Edgewood scored the next 21 points, getting some help along the way from Northview penalities.

Edgewood took the lead for good, 21-14, on a seven play drive that included Northview penalties for a late hit, off side and too many players on the field. Collier scored on a seven-yard run.

Northview’s Gettle noted the Knights improved from week one to week two.

“Last week I felt like Franklin outhustled us, gave a little bit better effort that we did. Tonight I don’t think that was true. I think our kids played with more effort, but continued to make mistakes that really hurt us,” Gettle said.



Edgewood 35, Northview 14

Northview 7 0 7 0 — 14

Edgewood 7 7 7 14 — 35

E — Josh Collier 5 run (J.T. Finch kick)

N — Kade Baker 2 run (Zac Niehaus kick)

E — Kyle Williams 12 run (Finch kick)

N — John Bradshaw, 9 pass from Trent Lancaster (Niehaus kick)

E — Collier 3 run (Finch kick)

E — Collier 30 run (Finch kick)

E — Collier 4 run (Finch kick)

N E

First downs 14 13

Rushes-yards 37-117 29-257

Passing yards 112 24

Comp-Att-Int 9-20-2 5-9-1

Total offense 57-229 37-281

Return yards 53 146

Fumbles-lost 5-3 2-2

Penalties-yards 6-49 1-15

Individual statistics

Rushing — Northview, Lancaster 15-32, Baker 9-13, Baker 5-5, Sorlie 4-11, Smith 2-51, Crowder 2-5. Edgewood, Collier 15-162, Williams 11-73, Wagner 3-22.

Passing — Northview, Lancaster 9-20-2 112. Edgewood, Collier 5-9-1 24.

Receiving — Northview, Niehaus 4-43, Baker 2-38, Stevenson 1-13, Bradshaw 1-9, Boejter 1-9. Edgewood, DuMond 4-15, Finch 19.

Next — On Friday, Northview (0-2, 0-1 in WIC) will travel to Terre Haute North and Edgewood (1-1, 1-0 in WIC) plays at Greencastle (0-2).