Bronson Yoder and Jason Borkholder celebrate their touchdown connection in the third quarter of the Black Crunch’s Sectional 19 opener with Plymouth in Nappanee Friday. (Photos by James Costello)

NAPPANEE — Playing a revenge-minded Plymouth squad a second straight week, NorthWood knew it was likely to get the Rockies’ best shot in the two teams’ Sectional 19 opener Friday night.

The Black Crunch survived an early push by their guests, and a game that looked much more competitive at the outset ultimately turned into more of the same as the Panthers advanced via a 40-7 victory at Andrews Field.

“Held our composure from start to finish. Didn’t play our best all the time, but you’re going to have that and we understand that and we get it,” said NorthWood coach Nate Andrews. “I think we took a good shot from them tonight. I know it wasn’t their best last week, in terms of Plymouth, but they gave us a good effort tonight and I thought our kids really responded well.”

After running out to a 28-0 lead in the first quarter of last week’s regular season-closer in Plymouth, it was NorthWood that found itself trailing early in Friday’s sectional rematch when the Black Crunch failed on a fourth and 6 attempt at midfield, and Plymouth needed just three plays before Joe Barron found Garrett Schrameyer in the end zone to stake the Rockies to a 7-0 lead with Dylan Gamble’s extra-point kick at the 5:22 stop of the opening frame. But the Panthers responded with a seven-play, 74-yard scoring drive capped off by Bronson Yoder’s 8-yard run into the end zone to cut that lead to 7-6 at the 2:36 mark of the quarter. Kyle Sellers and the Black Crunch defense recovered a Blake Reed fumble on Plymouth’s first offensive play of the ensuing possession, and NorthWood eventually capitalized on the short field with Yoder’s second TD of the night, an 11-yard keeper that put the home team in the driver’s seat, 12-7. NorthWood never trailed again.

Nate Newcomer keeps it inbounds while Tanner Feenstra blocks Plymouth’s Seth Rundell.

In the persistent rain and cold in Nappanee, the NorthWood defense created a trio of turnovers by the Rockies, and the Black Crunch punished each and every one with touchdowns. Just 10 seconds into the second quarter, Ben Mestach picked off Barron and returned it 38 yards for a pick six that pushed NorthWood’s advantage to 20-7 with Yoder’s two-point conversion run. Yoder demonstrated an impressive vertical when he yanked down a second interception at the 2:23 stop of the third period, and NorthWood’s offense needed just three plays to find pay dirt again as Yoder connected with Jason Borkholder from 13 yards out with a jump ball into the end zone, pushing the score out to its final, 40-7 margin with Nate Newcomer’s second successful PAT of the night with 1:34 remaining in the frame.

Yoder’s interception was his fifth of the year and the 13th by the Black Crunch this season.

“They’ve been there for us all year, there’s no doubt about it. We’ve been able to make plays or force those turnovers when we needed them,” said Newcomer.

After a relatively even first half, NorthWood’s stingy defense limited Plymouth to only 69 net yards of offense in the second half, ultimately out-gaining the Rockies 374-204 yards on the night. Yoder collected 172 rushing yards and a trio of touchdowns running the ball, and he completed 2 of 4 passes for 16 yards and a score, while backup quarterback Newcomer ran for 89 yards and a score and completed 4 of 5 passes for 27 yards splitting time behind center. Jaden Miller reeled in four catches for 33 yards and ran for another 49 yards. Yoder and Eddie Hildebrant finished with five tackles apiece behind Nic Bontrager’s team-best seven, and NorthWood’s defense put the exclamation point on the win with a goal line stand inside its own 10 with 6:03 remaining in the game. The Panthers ran out the clock with a trio of first downs, setting up in the victory formation with more than 40 seconds still left to play.

Jake Lone upends Plymouth’s Blake Davis.

“We’ve done that the last two weeks. We could’ve given them a chance to get a little momentum last week, and we held on fourth down inside the 10-yard line. We did the same thing here,” said Andrews.

Plymouth (6-4) was paced offensively by Reed’s 53 rushing yards, while Barron went 8 of 23 for 81 yards — including three catches apiece by Schrameyer and Jacob Deacon — and the Rockies’ lone touchdown in moderately sloppy conditions at Andrews Field. Brayson Leazenby finished with a game-high 14 tackles, and Kameron VanLue, Blake Davis and Kendall Himes each tallied eight for the Plymouth defense.

No. 1-ranked NorthWood (10-0) advances to play East Noble after the Knights’ narrow, 33-32 win over No. 5-rated DeKalb Friday, on the road in Kendallville next week.