By JD Davidson

Northern dominated on both sides of the ball In the second half to take a key 17-6 win over the Shippensburg Greyhounds in opening play of the Colonial Division. The loss knocked Shippensburg from the ranks of the unbeatens.

The game started great for the visiting Hounds as Kaden Shope picked off Timmy’s Bonin’s pass and returned it to the Northern 15.  In five plays the Hounds were in the endzone off aAmari Kerr two yard run.  A bad snap on the PAT left it at 6-0.

The Greyhounds defense came to play forcing three straight thee and outs, but the offense sputtered.   The Hounds reached the Polar Bears 38, 33 and 41 on each possession, but two intsand turnover on downs stopped the drives.

Northern finally found and answer with a 60 yard 10 play drive, converting twice on third and once on fourth down.  Bonin on third hit Kyle Lamb for 19 for a first.  Bonin followdby hitting Mason Yohn for 7 on fourth down.  On third and 11, Bonin hit Nate Anderson with a fade for a 25 yard score.  Yohnadded the PAT for a 7-6 halftime lead.

The second half started great for the Hounds as Trae Katerripped off a 36 yard run to the Polar Bear 21, but after that it was all downhill.  The Hounds went backwards with back to backholding penalties and three runs for a loss of five.  Erby Weller hit a dandy of a punt pinning the Polar Bears at the five.

Northern took over from there with a 95 yard 11 play scoring drive.  The drive didn’t start great for the home team as they fumbled the handoff, but Bonin quickly jumped on it to preserve the drive.  Talon Belluscio ripped off an 11 yard run to jump start the drive.   Cole Bartram took over form there with eight carries for 73 yards, capping it with a two yard run.  Bartram had runs of 12, 12 and 31 in the dirve.

​Northern capped the scoring with Yohn’s 21 yard field goal which ended a 14 play 76 yard drive.

​A tale of two halves for the teams.  Ship had 141 yards in the first half to Northern’s 77.  In the second the Polar Bears racked up 208 (all on the ground) to Ship’s 51.  Kater lead the Hounds with 109 rushing yards.  Bartram lead the Polar Bears with 166.  Jaxon Funson lead the Hounds with 12 tackles.  ErbyWeller had a stellar night punting with four boots averaging 46.75.

Up next for the Hounds is a THURSDAY home game against Susquehanna Township.