WILMINGTON, DEL — It gnawed at them for a week. The Northeast football team knew that they were better than their 24-0 showing in their season-opening loss to Cedar Crest last weekend, in the debut of Ryan Nase as the Vikings’ head coach.
The frustration boiled over into Friday afternoon, when the Vikings played West Catholic in the inaugural Mid-Atlantic Pigskin Classic football showcase at Salesianum School’s Abessinio Stadium, in Wilmington, Delaware.
For one half, the West Catholic and Northeast were scoreless, before Northeast burned through with a pair of third-quarter scores en route to a 14-6 victory.
It was the first win of hopefully many for Nase at Northeast.
This was a good first step for the Vikings, who arrived late at Cedar Crest when the team buses did not show in time last week. It set off a sequence of bad events for the Vikings.
“I don’t feel we should have lost last week,” said Northeast junior running back Dave Akpuru, who scored on a six-yard run for the Vikings. “There were things we could not control. The buses showed up late. We were in a rush to play. After the first half, they didn’t score a touchdown. I feel now since we are comfortable, the results showed today. Coach Nase is a good guy and he’s put trust in his playmakers.”
Nase has.
He took over at Northeast in late January, which enabled him to learn and know his players.
George Truitt, Northeast’s 6-2, 215-pound senior linebacker, stressed it was a priority among the players to get Nase his first win.
“Coach Nase is going to do something good for this program,” said Truitt, a Division I talent. “I’ve seen his resume. I know what he could do. We can do everything right. The bus didn’t come to get us until two hours before the game last week. It was a mess.
“We couldn’t go through our pregame. But no excuses. We fought, and we got it back this week. We learned today about what it means to keep fighting. We set the tone, and we just have to come out with more intensity. That would make things easier.”
With a game ball tucked under his arm, Nase was beaming. He did an amazing job in building the Cheltenham program into a state championship contender and feels he can do the same at Northeast.
He knows it could not start with winning his first game.
“This feels great,” he said. “I wish it would have started last week. You never know what life is going to throw at you. Part of the reason why we weren’t us last week was because we did not have a good week of practice. This week, we practiced much better. We had problems dealing with (Boston College commit Jayzen Flint) all game.
“Once we adjusted to him and figured out where he was, that seemed to give us much more success in the second half. I was fortunate enough to be hired at the end of January, and I appreciate everyone who stayed here. To have our guy’s trust in me. I appreciate all of them. They completely bought in. We played five seniors, and the future looks bright for Northeast.
“We’re excited.”
Scoring Summary
Northeast (1-1) 0 0 14 0-14
West Catholic (0-1) 0 0 0 6-6
3rd Quarter
NE – George Truitt 35 pass from Mahir Jordan (Ibrokhimbek Juraboev kick), 3:52
NE – David Akpuru 6 run (Juraboev kick), :13
4th Quarter
WC – Durham Kal-el 1 run (pass failed), 3:33
Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter who has been covering high school football since 1992 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be followed on Twitter @JSantoliquito. Follow EasternPAFootball.com on Twitter @EPAFootball.
