Photo for the Mirror by Joe Isenman Northern Bedford’s Vaughn Schleinkofer throws while being pressured by Windber’s Lucas Oleska.

SOMERSET — Northern Bedford and Windber have been District 5’s premier Class 1A teams the last several years.

The two programs have split the district crown the previous two years, and it was only fitting that they were back at it again for round three on Saturday night at Somerset Area High School.

After the Black Panthers and Ramblers traded scores to open the game, the defenses of both took over.

Unfortunately, for NBC, Windber was able to manage a second touchdown which came late in the first half as the Panthers bowed out of the playoffs in a 14-7 loss in the District 5 Class 1A championship.

“I’d like to give a shoutout to my team — especially my defense,” Northern Bedford coach Garry Black said. “That team (Windber) scored 35 points on us the first time around (Oct. 18), and tonight it was 14. They had the ball an awful lot as we only ran 14 first half plays. It was back-and-forth. They have a really good defense, so it was hard to get points on the board. We knocked a couple of times, but we just couldn’t knock the door down.”

Despite the loss, it was an atmosphere and feeling that Black said he is extremely grateful and proud to be part of in District 5.

“I’m really excited that our town and our community had the opportunity to play in a game like this because District 5 is full of community-based schools,” Black said. “I feel bad for my friends in District 6 that don’t get to have the same opportunity that we do because of a broken system. Single-A football is supposed to be about two communities of 100 kids that walk the halls of rural school buildings. I really just want to be an advocate for single-A schools like ours because it just keeps getting harder in today’s environment.”

Key sequence of the game: With 3:06 left in the third, Northern Bedford began a nine-play drive that extended into the fourth but ended on a fourth-and-4 from the Windber 27. On that down, the ball was snapped over the head of NBC quarterback Vaughn Schleinkofer in what amounted to a 24-yard loss after he intentionally grounded the ball trying to save yardage.

The Ramblers took over with 11:04 remaining and milked the clock, including overcoming three penalties, down to 5:25 when they failed to convert on a fourth-and-15 from the NBC 28 on a drive that took 11 plays.

Schleinkofer was intercepted on the third play of the ensuing drive by Windber’s Dylan Woodruff, allowing the Ramblers to run three more minutes off the clock before the Panthers got the ball back one final time with 1:23 left and 81 yards to go.

Woodruff came up with another interception to ice the game.

“I thought to be able to take the air out of the ball a little bit, and try to get a score,” Windber coach Matt Grohal said. “If we would have gone up two scores there, I would have felt really comfortable.”

Player of the game: Windber QB Lucas Oleksa helped control the clock with 21 rushes for 102 yards. The senior also caught a pass from Luke Hostetler that went for 26 yards. On the play, Oleksa had the ball knocked free and out the side of the end zone. However, officials ruled him out at the NBC 1 — setting up the winning score.

“It means a lot for me to do everything I can to help my teammates out to reach a collective goal,” Oleksa said. “I appreciate all my line.”

Unsung hero: The Ramblers’ RJ Tallion had 60 yards on 14 attempts and the senior tallied a pair of 1-yard touchdown runs.

“I am frustrated with the officiating. I’m going to make it a point to make sure I say something,” Black said. “Before the game, I told them (officials), I have over 200 plays where they (Windber) are never set (on offense) for a second. I put it (film) in slow motion and I talked to them (officials) about it. It’s a quarter of a second and they (Windber) do different things with their hands when they are running and passing. He (head official) said that they weren’t going to nitpick. And I said, ‘why is there a rule book and the game should be played fair?’ So, that is an advantage to the offense if you don’t have to be set for a second.”

Great response: Following Windber’s first TD, Northern’s Ben Clark broke loose for a 50-yard gain up the middle down to the Rambler 20. Schleinkofer later connected with Connor Donaldson on an 18-yard strike to tie the game at 7-7.

“We watched a lot of film, and we saw some stuff that some other teams did,” Black said. “We stole plays, that’s what you do at this point in the season because you’ve run all your stuff.”

Most vital statistic: Windber ran 61 plays to just 40 by Northern Bedford, including a 32-14 difference in the first half.

Records: Northern Bedford (9-3); Windber (10-2).

Next week: Northern Bedford’s season is complete; Windber faces Westinghouse on Friday at Cupples Stadium in Pittsburgh in the PIAA playoffs.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Northern Bedford 7 0 0 0 — 7

Windber 7 7 0 0 — 14

First Quarter

W–Tallion 1 run (Krause kick), 6:06.

NB–Donaldson 18 pass from Schleinkofer (Kochara kick), 3:32.

Second Quarter

W–Tallion 1 run (Krause kick), 3:15.

TEAM STATISTICS NB W

First downs 8 15

Total yards 156 274

Rushes-yards 18-101 50-197

Yards passing 55 77

Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 8-18-2 4-8-0

Punts-avg. 3-32 1-37

Fumbles-lost 2-0 0-0

Penalties-yards 7-54 8-60

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING–Northern Bedford, Clark 11-89, Schleinkofer 6-13, A. Bowers 1-(-1). Windber, Tallion 14-60, Oleksa 21-102, Mash 2-10, Richards 3-17, Hostetler 4-(-1), Chicarell 5-10, TEAM 1-(-1).

PASSING–Northern Bedford, Schleinkofer 7-16-2-46, Clark 1-1-0-9, TEAM 0-1-0-0. Windber, Oleksa 3-7-0-51, Tallion 0-0-0-0, Hostetler 1-1-0-26.

RECEIVING–Northern Bedford, Donaldson 1-18, Z. Bowers 1-7, Clark 2-0, A. Bowers 1-9, Pittman 2-15, Horsh 1-6. Windber, Brady 1-30, Oleksa 1-26, Mash 1-9, Chicarell 1-12.