By Jaclyn Yingling Sports Editor
FLINTON - Despite being led in almost every statistical category, the Glendale Vikings were driving down the field for a chance to tie or win the game with 2:00 minutes left in the fourth quarter.
But a big red-zone stop by the Northern Bedford Panthers allowed them to hang on to a 20-13 victory at Dr. Roy F. Baker Field on Friday.
Northern Bedford had 22 first downs in the game to just six for Glendale. The Panthers also ran 68 plays to just 45 for the Vikings.
But it the end, it came down to the defensive stop as time expired and a 40-yard passing touchdown from Blake Over to Kyler Diehl in the third quarter.
"It just comes down to execution," said Glendale head coach Matt Irvine. "Congratulations to Northern Bedford. They are a good team. They always are. They are young, but they are good.
"But, we didn't execute. Up front, we didn't make our blocks. Our receivers dropped some balls. The quarterback made some wrong reads. It's the little things that lost us the game today."
The Vikings scored first on their first play from scrimmage in the second quarter. Northern Bedford pinned Glendale down in its own end after missing a chip-shot field goal.
That put the Vikings at their own 5, where quarterback Gary Witherow handed it off to Damon Braniff, who broke free of Panther defenders early to run in the 95-yard score.
Northern Bedford responded 10 plays later when Conner Kagarise bulled his way through the Viking line for a 5-yard touchdown. Glendale blocked the PAT attempt with 1:21 left in the second frame.
"We were a little erratic in various facets of the game," said NBC head coach Jeff Batzel. "We had some breakdowns and mistakes, but you expect that early in the season.
"Boy, we sure did make it hard on ourselves a couple times. We probably dominated statistically, but we were hanging by a thread a couple of times. We squandered some opportunities."
The scoring wasn't done for either team, however, as Glendale's Doug Twigg took the kickoff return 75 yards for the score.
This time, the Vikings extra-point attempt failed, leaving them with a 13-6 advantage with 1:07 remaining.
That proved to be just enough time for Over to engineer another scoring drive.
The Panthers attempted seven passes, four of which were successful. The final pass ended with Tayler Pressel scoring on a 12-yarder.
"We knew that was coming all week," Irvine said of the pass. "They have tall receivers, and other than Twigg, our defensive backs aren't the tallest.
"We just need to step up and execute in situations like that."
With just 18.2 seconds left in the half, the teams traded interceptions before time finally expired.
"The secondary played a great game," Batzel said. "They gave up some little things there in the last drive, but when push came to shove on that last drive in the red zone, we kept them out of there."
Northern Bedford held Glendale in its opening possession of the third, forcing the Vikings to punt from their own 21.
Twigg went down with what appeared to be an ankle injury during the drive, and was forced to come off the field.
The punt, normally made by Twigg, sailed just 15 yards, putting the Panthers in prime position to score once again.
"Doug is a leader on the team," Irvine said. "He is one of our playmakers. Everybody keys on Damon or Gary, but I think Doug is the key piece, and I think we saw that tonight.
"Without him, other guys have to step up and make plays."
With Twigg not on the field, Northern Bedford needed just two plays, including one for negative yards, to hit paydirt again.
Over hooked up with Diehl for a 40-yard score, as the Panther junior outsprinted the Vikings secondary for the touchdown.
Diehl finished the game with 183 yards on eight receptions.
Over was 17-of-28 for 284 yards and two touchdowns on the night.
"We had a few breakdowns in the passing game, but overall we thought we were pretty good with the passing game," Batzel said. "It starts with our line. They block well, and it allows us to get that stuff in the air."
Twigg returned to the field after a few series out, but both teams struggled to move the ball the rest of the frame. The Panthers got as far as the Viking 22 before Over was picked off by Twigg for the third time.
Twigg had four interceptions in the game.
The fourth quarter saw both teams with chances to score again, but none was as important as Glendale's drive with 2:00 left in the game.
The Vikings forced a punt, and got the ball on their own 30.
Witherow hooked up with Twigg for a 31-yard reception, moving the Vikings into Panther territory.
Two more passes and an 11-yard run from Witherow pushed Glendale to the Northern Bedford 12.
But the Vikings failed to get any farther than the Panther 8 on their next four plays, as the Panther defense did its job with just a few seconds left on the clock.
Over knelt on the ball and time expired, giving Northern Bedford the 20-13 victory.
"It was just a team effort on the last drive," said Batzel.
"We didn't have quite as much help with the pass rush. We were successful with that early on, getting to their quarterback, but he made some nice plays at the end to get out of bounds and preserve the clock for them and keep that drive alive."
Glendale's Braniff finished the night with 134 yards on 13 carries.
"I'm glad the kids picked it up at the end and fought to have a chance to win at the end," said Irvine. "It's just like quarters two and three and the beginning of four. We can't rely on playing the last two minutes of the fourth quarter in a game like that tonight."
Kagarise was the Panthers leading rusher with 75 yards on 19 totes.
Glendale travels to Everett on Friday, while Northern Bedford hosts Tussey Mountain.

Northern Bedford 20
Glendale 13

Score By Quarters
No. Bedford   0  14   6   0-20
Glendale       0  13   0   0-13

Second Quarter
G-Braniff 95 run, (Witherow kick), 6:18.
NB-Kagarise 5 run, (kick blocked), 1:21.
G-Twigg 75 kickoff return, (kick failed), 1:07.
NB-T. Pressel 12 pass from Over, (T. Pressel pass from Over), 18.2
Third Quarter
NB-Diehl 40 pass from Over, (kick failed), 8:43.

TEAM STATISTICS
NB G
Total First Downs 22 6
Rushes-Yards 40-103 33-156
Comp-Att-Int 17-28-4 4-12-2
Passing Yards 284 55
Total Plays-Yards 68-387 45-211
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 0-0
Punts-Avg 2-37.5 6-26.5
Penalties-Yards 5-50 4-26
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
Northern Bedford-Kagarise 19-75, Ebersole 15-48, Z. Pressel 2-4, Over 3-(-23), Team 1-(-1).
Glendale-Braniff 13-134, Twigg 4-17, Witherow 14-7, Team 2-(-2).
Passing
Northern Bedford-Over 17-of-28, 284 yds., 2 TD, 4 Int.
Glendale-Witherow 4-of-12, 55 yds., 2 Int.
Receiving
Northern Bedford-Diehl 8-183, T. Pressel 4-35, Miller 1-28, Z. Pressel 3-26, Ebersole 1-12.
Glendale-Twigg 1-31, Bantly 2-13, Hommer 1-11.