Northwest Capitalizes on Glenn Penalties, Out-Scrambles Bobcats for a 21-14 Victory-Wyatt Smith Reporting

The Glenn Bobcats jumped out to an early 14-0 lead Friday night, and it looked as though the Northwest Guilford Vikings weren’t going to overcome their offensive struggles. But the Vikings managed to get the last score and beat Glenn, getting their second conference win of the year.

Glenn’s first score came with 3:35 left in the first quarter when quarterback Stephon Brown hooked up with Chris Goolsby on a 32-yard touchdown pass.

That score was unanswered by the Vikings, and with 6:24 to go in the second quarter, Bobcats’ running back Damian Dodson ran one yard into the end-zone for the score.

Northwest’s struggle at quarterback continued Friday night. Caleb Homol was the starting quarterback for Coach Jared Rolfes’ Vikings, but it was team captain and all-around star Thomas Hennigan who threw the only touchdown for the Viking offense. It came with 4:34 left in the first half when he connected with receiver Tre’ Turner for a 32-yard touchdown.

Hennigan also scored the winning touchdown for Northwest. However, it came on the ground, rather than through the air. With 5:04 remaining in the game, the Vikings’ number seven ran 34-yards up the far sideline to give the Vikings the lead.

Northwest’s game-tying touchdown had come only two and a half minutes earlier, when Kyle Finnie ran 37-yards for the score.

Caleb Homol struggled at quarterback for the Vikings once again.

“I don’t know where our quarterback situation stands right now. It’s been a shuffling of the deck all year,” Rolfes said. “We started with Jake Smith, went to Caleb Homol, and I thought in some areas we were better the past couple of weeks, but he also made some crucial mistakes with turnovers and things. He’s a great kid and works really hard. I thought we had a game plan in place that he would succeed in. He just wasn’t successful tonight. That’s on me, though. I have to figure out how to coach him to perform better,” Rolfes said of his quarterback issues.

Thomas Hennigan took snaps at quarterback, and some may wonder if we will see number seven at the QB position for the Vikings in the coming weeks because of his overall talent. It should be noted that Hennigan was going to an area hospital post-game to get x-rays on his left wrist. Rolfes said that Thomas would be fine, but we will definitely keep an eye on the Vikings star in the coming weeks.

On the play before the game-winning score for the Vikings, Glenn’s defense took a personal foul penalty that not only moved Northwest 15 yards deeper into Bobcat territory, but gave them an automatic first down on a play that would’ve brought up fourth and five for the Vikings.

Glenn Head Coach Antwon Stevenson wasn’t pleased with his defense for the foul, and called all personal foul penalties “selfish ones”. This was indeed true of this play because in the heat of the moment, the penalty ended up losing the game for the now (4-5, 1-2) Glenn Bobcats.

Northwest improves to (7-2, 2-1) on the season with the win, battling offensive troubles.

Glenn Offensive Leaders:
Stephon Brown- 17-30 158yds 1TD, 1INT
Chris Goolsby- 3 rec. 30yds, 1TD
Damian Dodson 11 car, 42yds, 1TD

Northwest Offensive Leaders:
Thomas Hennigan 1-2 32yds 1TD passing, 9 car 89yds. 1 TD
Tre’ Turner 8 rec, 106yds, 1 TD
Kyle Finnie 20 car, 86yds, 1TD

Scoring Plays
Glenn– (3:35 left in 1st) Chris Goolsby 32 pass from Stephon Brown (Jared Jones Kick)
Glenn– (6:24 left in 2nd) Damian Dodson 1 run (Jones Kick)
NWG– (4:37 left in 2nd) Tre’ Turner 32 pass from Thomas Hennigan (Zac Ellison Kick)
NWG– (7:45 left in 4th) Kyle Finnie 37 run (Ellison Kick)
NWG– (5:03 left in 4th) Hennigan 34 run (Ellison Kick)