SHICKSHINNY – Northwest had to make a trip out to the literal opposite end of District 4 last week to open the season against Cowanesque Valley. The result of that game likely made what was an already long bus ride home even longer.
Not happy with the result of last week’s game, the Rangers came out ready and fired up for their home opener on Saturday night as they racked up over 400 yards of offense and scored on their first three possessions of the game, racing out to a 34-0 lead before Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech was able to find the end zone as Northwest picked up its first win of the season, 40-8 over the visiting Rams.
“We moved the ball well offensively but still have a lot of mistakes we need to take care of – a lot of penalties that weren’t needed and a lot of big plays called back,” said Northwest coach Leigh Bonczewski. “But, it was nice to see the kids come out and play physically, play fast, and really get after it.”
The Rangers got right after it on just their third play from scrimmage when Jace McCoy found Adam Chonko for a 38-yard touchdown reception.
Chonko would later add a rushing touchdown in the second quarter – a 19-yard run – which was set up by his own 41-yard fumble return that gave Northwest the ball at the Ram 19-yard line. That was the first of four turnovers for the Rams, and the Rangers would later turn two others into points as well.
“I’m really proud of the defense. Dom Cavuto, Nick Stevens, Adam Chonko, Loegan Diltz – all of them,” said Bonczewski. We really worked hard on it during the week. We had a rough week tackling against Cowanesque, but they came back this week and really did a nice job and worked hard on it during the week.”
“You have to give a lot of credit to Northwest. They dictated a lot of things that we had to do tonight, put a lot of pressure on Caden, and when that happens, you just have to give the other team credit,” said CMVT coach Mark Varner.
The Rams were able to move the ball well at times but were hurt by the turnovers. Caden Long had a decent game at quarterback for the Rams, throwing for 128 yards, with nine of his 12 completions going to the duo of Axton Koser and Logan Bracey. But he was also sacked twice and threw a pair of interceptions.
“Axton runs a good deep pattern and is tall. It’s always easier to throw to a guy that is 6’3,” said CMVT coach Mark Varner. “We need to develop that second and third receivers and we tried to get our tight end involved a little bit. We want to power run and then throw off of that.”
McCoy tossed four touchdowns for the Rangers and threw for 170 yards despite completing just six passes. He connected with Branden Biller for a 21-yard touchdown later in the first quarter.
Late in the second quarter, Northwest took advantage of a very short punt by the Rams that gave the Rangers the ball at the CMVT 37 with :35 left in the half. McCoy found Trevor Dietz for a 37-yard screen pass that went for a score. That was the first of two screen passes called perfectly to counter a CMVT blitz that went for touchdowns.
“We had an eye out for that. They like to bring the heat up the middle and we knew when they started doing that, they’d do it for a while, so we called the middle screen pass,” said Bonczewski.
The second of those came after halftime and immediately following another CMVT turnover. Cole Hudack picked off a pass and returned it to the CMVT 47. After a holding penalty backed up the Rangers, McCoy connected with Nicholas Stevens on another crossing screen pass, and Stevens broke one tackle and went all the way to the end zone to give Northwest a 34-0 lead.
The Rams were able to get on the scoreboard and in doing so, avoid the mercy rule being invoked as they were able to finish a drive. Long found Koser on a crossing pattern, who then found the corner of the end zone to cap a 10-play, 66-yard drive at the 1:48 mark of the third quarter. Long then hit Ashton Smith for the two-point conversion
Hudack capped the scoring for Northwest with a three-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter.
Northwest 40, Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech 8
Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech (0-2) 0 0 8 0 – 8
Northwest (1-1) 12 14 8 6 – 40
First quarter
10:33 – (N) Adam Chonko 38-yard pass from Jace McCoy (kick failed), 3-53, 1:27
1:01 – (N) Branden Biller 21-yard pass from Jace McCoy (run failed), 11-78, 6:06
Second quarter
7:33 – (N) Adam Chonko 19-yard run (McCoy run), 2-18, :52
:24 – (N) Trevor Dietz 37-yard pass from Jace McCoy (pass failed), 1-37, :11
Third quarter
7:15 – (N) Nicholas Stevens 57-yard pass from Jace McCoy (Biller pass from McCoy), 1-47, :34
1:48 – (VT) Axton Koser 32-yard pass from Caden Long (Smith pass from Long), 10-66, 5:27
Fourth quarter
3:32 – (N) Cole Hudack 3-yard run (kick failed), 4-57, 2:35
Statistics
VT N
First downs 13 16
Rushes-net yards 31-116 28-228
Passing yardage 128 181
Passing 12-29-1-2 7-17-4-0
Fumbles-lost 3-2 1-0
Penalties-yards 6-33 12-104
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING:CMVT: Mason Haught (15-54), Ashton Smith (5-35), Caden Long (5-11), Braxtyn Brown (4-4), Fenway Huntington (1-13), Kaeden Keller (1-(-1)); Northwest: Adam Chonko (13-64-1), Nicholas Stevens (8-84), Trevor Dietz (3-53), Jace McCoy (3-24), Cole Hudack (1-3-1)
PASSING: CMVT: Caden Long (12-28-128-1-2), Ashton Smith (0-1-0-0-0) ; Northwest: Jace McCoy (6-15-170-4-0), Adam Chonko (1-1-11-0-0), Dominic Cavuto (0-1-0-0-0)
RECEIVING: CMVT: Axton Koser (5-82), Logan Bracey (4-40), Ashton Smith (1-4), Braxtyn Brown (1-1), Tyson Brown (1-1); Northwest: Trevor Dietz (3-54-1), Branden Biller (2-32-1), Nicholas Stevens (1-57-1), Adam Chonko (1-38-1)
