LINDEN — Opportunity.
The North Montgomery football team played two schools the Chargers have never faced the last two weeks with one win and one loss.
The loss, 60-6 to Class 2A top ranked Lafayette Central Catholic ended North’s season in the Sectional 34 Championship game Friday at Charger Field.
“We talked all week they should be proud we made it all the way to the sectional championship,” North coach Josh Thompson said. “I think these kids improved tremendously. If you watched our first game compared to this, we are two totally different teams.”
It was North’s first sectional final appearance since 2015 and Thompson’s second as head coach.
The home team was close early, trailing only 7-6 with 1:09 left in the first quarter. That came about after the familiar duo of junior quarterback Jack Warren and senior wideout Kelby Harwood hooking up from 38 yards.
The Knights controlled the game from there.
“I thought early on tonight we were holding on,” Thompson said. “We were trying to make some things happen. Had a couple things not go our way. I think our kids played hard all night. We had a couple big miscues that really hurt us in that first half. It wasn’t lack of effort.”
Warren threw for 187 yards and was sacked seven times. Seven of his 10 completions were to Harwood for 142 yards.
“On offense we tried to get the ball in the hands of our playmakers. I thought our o-line did a pretty good job of pass protection. We weren’t able to connect on some of those passes, but they worked their tails off up there.”
Central Catholic rolled up 481 yards of offense to North’s 181. But Thompson saw some bright spots from his defense.
“We tried a different defensive scheme to help on the pass. Normally we play with five guys up on the line. We tried a four-man front about half the time. I thought we did pretty good against the run.”
North never got a running game going, ending with minus six yards and Thompson credited LCC.
“They’re fast, big and physical,” he said. “ That’s exactly what you want in a football team. We threw everything at them we could. Unfortunately, we didn’t have some things go our way.”
LCC senior quarterback Bobby Metzger threw for 321 yards and four touchdowns. He added 70 more yards on the ground. Senior receiver Hudson Gutwein caught eight passes for 195 yards.
LCC (11-0) will play No. 13 Andrean at home in the regional. North (5-7) reloads for next season.
“Clearly we have some big shoes to fill with the seniors we’re losing. We talked to the kids a lot about getting better. Are we getting better every day. That’s one of the things we want them to carry over into life. Put your nose to the grindstone and keep getting better.”
