NorthWood Football: Panthers Primed To Sustain Winning Ways
NAPPANEE – The NorthWood football team was an absolute offensive juggernaut a season ago.
The prolific Panthers piled up video game-like numbers en route to going 14-1 and earning a Class 4-A state runner-up finish.
NorthWood coach Nate Andrews, who enters his fourth season in charge on the Panther sidelines this year, says it’s not exactly smart to expect that kind of production again this fall.
“We’re not going to put up numbers like last year again,” said Andrews. “That’s just not realistic to expect that. Our offense will be a little different this year.”
The Panthers scored an eye-popping, scoreboard-lighting 651 points last fall, totaling 50 or more in eight games. Their closest game during the regular season was a 14-0 conference win over Northridge. NorthWood then beat the Raiders 44-13 in a sectional semifinal game.
NorthWood, which lost 34-22 to No. 1 Roncalli in a battle of unbeatens in the state title game last November, averaged 44.9 points-per-game in 2016 to rank 12th in the state. The Panthers’ average margin of victory of 26.4 points-per-game in a dominating run which ranked them 20th in that category in all of Hoosier Land.
NorthWood said so long to 16 seniors from last year’s squad that rolled through the Northern Lakes Conference. The main piece missing is quarterback Trey Bilinski. The signal caller, who is now at Valparaiso University, threw for 3,322 yards with 39 touchdowns and seven interceptions a year ago. Also gone is standout linebacker/tight end Drew Minnich, who was presented with the Phil N. Eskew Mental Attitude Award after the state title contest, as well as standout lineman Andrew Miller.
Andrews, who was a three-sport star athlete at NorthWood before playing football at Ball State University, thinks his team should benefit from all of the extra work in its lengthy postseason push last fall.
“The experience that our players gained last year in those extra practices and games during the tournament should be a big thing for us this season,” said Andrews. “That should definitely be a benefit to us this year.”
“Our offseason was similar in years past in that we wanted our players to get into APC and work on their speed, agility and power. We wanted them to play multiple sports and then to work hard on the few football opportunities that they did have.
“It’s good that the expectations carry over, but it’s difficult to stay on top. Our mindset and attitude has to be that we have to improve, we have to get better and not just maintain.”
The cupboard is still full of potential playmakers back from last season for the Panthers, who are ranked No. 1 in the Class 4-A preseason poll. Roncalli has moved up to Class 5-A this year due to the IHSAA success factor.
Senior Brayton Yoder, a 5-8, 181-pounder, rushed for 1,387 yards and tallied 18 total touchdowns a year ago. He rambled for a school-record 251 yards in the regional game win over New Haven, breaking the old standard held by his current coach.
Senior DeAndre Smart had 59 receptions and 15 touchdown catches, while do-it-all senior Landon Gessinger tallied 36 catches and 10 scores. Senior Payton Bear rushed for 668 yards. Smart, a big time target at 6-3, and teammate Bronson Yoder each ranked among the state leaders in 2016 with over 1,000 yards receiving.
Gessinger, whom Andrews refers to as a “jack of all trades”, was the starting quarterback in the team’s scrimmage versus Elkhart Central last Friday night. It’s also possible, though, that Brayton Yoder could also see time taking snaps in the high-octane, diverse attack that the Panthers run.
The news to start the season though is not all good for NorthWood. Junior star Bronson Yoder, who rushed for 908 yards and led the team with 20 total touchdowns in 2016, will begin the season on the sidelines. Yoder had wrist surgery on August 10. Though an exact timetable on his return is still up in the air, the Panthers hope to have Yoder, who also had 56 receptions last year and ranked second on the team with 100 total tackles from his defensive back position, return in 2-4 weeks.
The biggest question mark for NorthWood could lie in the guys up front. The Panthers return just one offensive line starter in senior Micah Lehman.
Andrews, a 1996 NorthWood alum who is 28-10 in his three seasons at his alma mater, believes that his seniors need to be the ones who step up to keep the program in championship form.
“The development in terms of leadership of our seniors and how they bring the others along will be key for us,” Andrews remarked. “We had great senior leadership last year and these seniors as underclassmen were almost servant-like followers to our seniors. They key is now how they go to being leaders and that’s a tough thing to do sometimes.”
The NorthWood defense allowed just under 20 points-per-game a year ago. Key players back for that side of the ball include senior Will Ingle on the line, seniors Bear and Jake Chupp at linebacker and Smart, Brayton Yoder and Bronson Yoder in the defensive backfield.
“I would like to think that our defense is going to be better this season and it was pretty good last year,” said Andrews. “I think that they can keep us in it this year.”
NorthWood hosts Jimtown this Friday and then entertains Fairfield on Aug. 25. The Panthers begin league play at Concord Sept. 1.