Northmont handles Princeton; Prepares for Moeller
By Adam Adkins
CLAYTON – The Northmont Thunderbolts will start their season facing three Cincinnati-based Division I football programs.
Week 1 was a loss to perennial state title favorite Colerain.
Last week, Northmont defeated Princeton 24-0 at Good Samaritan Field.
This week, the T-Bolts host perhaps the most illustrious high school football program in Ohio, Cincinnati Moeller.
So how do they prepare? Build off their solid showing against the Vikings.
Last Friday, led by sophomore QB Cameron Belton, Northmont moved the ball up and down the field and despite Belton completing fewer than half of his 26 passes, the Thunderbolts were able to put points on the board.
“They’ve got a tough defense,” Belton said. “They really came out to play, but we did too.”
Northmont scored 14 points in the second quarter. The first TD came on an 8-yard-run by Kaleb Ringer. The second came on a 52-yard-pass from Belton to Chris Murray-Townsell.
After halftime, Princeton fumbled the ball on its own 2-yardline. Clay Mangen scooped it up and dived into the end zone to give Northmont a 21-0 lead.
“Our defense really stepped up and helped us a lot,” Belton said.
Northmont kicked a short field goal to give itself a comfortable 24-0 lead late in the game.
Princeton QB Nate McGill completed 9-of-22 passes and took hits often. He was sacked four times and threw three interceptions, one early to DB Josh McClain and two to DB Zach Shaw.
Princeton had few chances. In the second quarter, McGill completed a pass to WR Jay McCants for a 37-yard score that was called back due to offensive pass interference. Other than that, the Vikings struggled. The loss of RB Darian Nelson early in the game hurt their running attack. From that point on, they mostly put the ball in McGill’s hands.
The Thunderbolt defense, led by Ringer and DT Jeremy Campbell, harassed the Viking quarterback all evening.
“Our defensive tackles are really good,” Northmont head coach Lance Schneider said. “We do a pretty good job of blitzing people from different places so they can’t really get a bead on where we’re coming from.”
“The Front 7 is the strength of our defense and we knew that coming in.”
Schneider understands the challenges of facing Moeller next week at home.
“Big physical team, very good on offense,” the coach said. “They do a great job of running the ball and they don’t make a lot of mistakes.”
Adam Adkins can be reached at adamdadkins@gmail.com.
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