Gridiron: No need to push the panic button on Northwest

When his Northwest team turned the ball over on downs after sustaining a five minute, 17 second drive down to their opponents 13 yard line last Friday, head coach Michael Neubeiser was more than frustrated about his teams miscues.

He ripped his headset off, spelling out feuded words to his team that was down 14-7 to Seneca Valley heading into the third quarter. Senior quarterback, Mark Pierce, was livid – slamming his helmet down on the bench in anger. Northwest fans put their hands over their heads in disbelief that there Jags were on the verge of an upset alert.

Each team traded punts in the fourth quarter until Northwest got the ball for the final time, with their backs against the wall on their own 17 yard line with 18 seconds left, still down 14-7.

It ended in forgetting fashion for the Jags as Pierce heaved a prayer down field that was picked off by Antonio Fox of Seneca Valley.

After squeaking out a win to Gaithersburg in Week 1 and losing possession of The Kings Trophy to rival Seneca Valley, the Northwest community is frantically rushing around to put tabs on their teams hiccups – possibly pushing the panic button.

It’s easy to speculate such a thing as in the nine drives the two-time 4A champs sustained last Friday, five of them ended in some kind of turnover. As Neubeiser walked off the field, he oversaw Seneca Valley celebrate The Kings Trophy presentation on his home turf and it stung him to witness.

He knew he would face many daunting questions – has the Jags magic that won the past two 4A state championships run out? Neubeiser doesn’t like to think so, but he knows it’s time to step up.

“We have a lot to work on,” he said.

And indeed they do. In last Friday’s game, both of Seneca Valley’s touchdowns came off of Northwest turnovers including a 65-yard fumble return that set the tempo at the 1:30 mark in the first quarter.

An assigned block or two or tighter grip on the football could have been the difference for the Jags, but that was not the case. Miscues and untimely fundamental errors plagued Northwest the entire night.

“The things that we did tonight just can’t happen if we want to win,” Neubeiser said.

Northwest also came across a Seneca Valley team that is rejuvenated and boasting in liveliness which perhaps came at an unfortunate time given that it’s Week 2.

“They’re a good football team,” Neubeiser said. “The thing to take away is that they earned it and we didn’t.”

You also have to put in consideration that the schools all-time leading rusher, E.J. Lee, is no longer in the huddle for the Jaguars. And many players on the defensive side of the ball are still trying figure out their roles.

“We’re very young and we will grow if we put in the work,” Neubeiser said.

So while the two time defending 4A state champions have appeared to stumble out of the gates, it’s only Week 3.  There’s no need to push the panic button with senior gunslinger Mark Pierce at the helm and offensive threats Khalil Owens and Reggie Anderson around him.

Let’s just hope the fundamental errors are cleaned up by Week 7 when they face 4A West and county foe, Quince Orchard.

You can follow me on Twitter at @k_fadd and Maryland Sports Access at @MDSportsAccess for more coverage of Northwest football throughout the season.

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About Kyle McFadden 143 Articles
Kyle McFadden is a graduate from Linganore High's Class of 2014 and is a sports enthusiast. He got his start as a sports writer in January 2014 for LHS's student newspaper The Lance where he wrote 13 articles. McFadden then launched his own blog in October 2014 called The Beltway Dispatch covering collegiate, local high school, and professional sports. Formally known as The Beltway Dispatch, McFadden and Evan Engelhard merged each other's respective platforms in June 2015 to make what is now Maryland Sports Access. He brings plenty of sports knowledge to the helm of MSA as he has baseball, basketball and golf experience. McFadden covers a wide variety of sports in football, baseball, basketball, golf, hockey, lacrosse, soccer and specializes in the collegiate and high school level's. McFadden is volunteers his time at Damascus Road Community Church -- serving as a mentor to the youth, basketball coach at the varsity and junior varsity levels, and leads a small group of high school sophomores every Wednesday night. Although he has only been around journalism since January 2014, his work has appeared in Maryland newspapers such as The Daily Times (Delmarva Now), The Hometown Observer, Germantown Pulse, and regularly in the The Frederick News-Post. He's also won two Frederick News-Post Mike Powell Excellence in Journalism awards and has appeared on The Best of SNO, which showcases top student work of high school and college journalists. McFadden also holds positions at The Frederick News-Post as a freelance sports journalist, DMVelite as a high school basketball writer and analyst, MocoFootball.com as a Maryland high school football analyst, and as a staff writer for Maryland's Yahoo! Rivals. McFadden currently studies at Frederick Community College and plans to transfer to the University of Maryland in the fall of 2017 to work on a bachelor's degree in business and journalism as he has aspirations to be a columnist for ESPN.
Contact: Twitter

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