NB Sticking With Last Year's Success

If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.

The Northern Bedford County High School football team isn’t broke. With starters back at 19 positions, the Black Panthers are far from it, in fact. They look just like last year’s 11-1 squad.

No. It seems if anything is going to be broken this year, it’s going to be the Panthers’ opposition.

Two seasons removed from making the PIAA Class 1A quarterfinals and 10 months away from a heartbreaking loss to Windber that denied it a return trip to states, Northern Bedford is setting a high bar for itself this season, and, contrary to the superstition of not giving its foes bulletin board material, the Panther players aren’t afraid to talk about some extremely lofty ambitions.

“Every year, we want to win the District 5 championship, but, this year we want to go bigger. Go big or go home,” senior quarterback Eion Snider said. “We want to win states.”

The Black Panthers enter the 2023 campaign with deserved swagger. The returnees were the bulk of the team that outscored opponents 437-132 in 11 victories. They had one game during the regular season decided by fewer than 18 points.

They not only have the talent, but, having been here before, they understand what that talent needs to do to get the job done.

“They have a level of confidence that you don’t always have. That kind of comes from the fact that, over the past two years, these kids that are seniors have won 20 football games,” Northern Bedford coach Garry Black said. “A lot of them have been playing since they were sophomores. It’s not the kind of confidence that they think we’re going to beat everybody. It’s the kind that comes from knowing how everything goes.”

Among the starters Black returns on both sides of the football are Snider, Adam Johnson, Ashton Detterline, Aaron Bowers, Ben Gable, Jake Bowser and Brock Beach. Holdovers Brian Amick and Noah Baker also were starters on the offensive line last fall. Rece Dibert, Keyan Guyer and Logan Pepple round out the 10 that started on defense.

Along with Snider, Johnson, Detterline, Gable, Amick, Baker, Bowser, Beach, Dibert, Guyer and Pepple are seniors. Bowers is a junior.

“We’re expected to do more this year than we did last year because of how many people we have back,” said the 6-foot, 170-pound Gable, who plays wide receiver and cornerback. “It really hasn’t changed the way any of us play. We’re just going to try to live up to what people say we’re going to be.”

Among the more prominent members of the team is Johnson. the 5-10, 195-pounder is coming off a tremendous junior campaign in which he rushed for 100 yards nine times, scored 33 touchdowns, rushed for 1,563 yards and averaged 8.4 yards per carry. He enters his final scholastic season with more than 2,300 yards on the ground and looking to cement his place in NBC football history.

“Breaking the season rushing record this year would be amazing. It would be a dream come true,” Johnson said. “I really want to come back this year and win that district title and move on to the state playoffs and go even farther.”

Keep in mind, Johnson did that last year with what was an offensive line that entered last season being largely unproven. That’s no longer the case.

Beach (6-1, 265) and Bowser (6-4, 275) are back maintaining the guard positions. Baker (6-0, 195) probably slots in at right tackle, but he could wind up at center, where he was junior Adam Crooks (5-6, 215) back-up heading into camp. Amick (5-10, 220) was the frontrunner at left tackle but was getting pushed by junior Joey O’Brian (6-4, 230), and Mason Brumbaugh (6-0, 280) probably would end up at right tackle if Baker moved inside.

A handful himself at 6-2, 195, Detterline provides a solid lead blocker for Johnson as the Panthers’ fullback.

Snider (6-2, 190) clicked on 58.6% of his passes last fall for 1,834 yards and 18 touchdowns. He only was intercepted seven times, and also was Northern’s second-leading rusher with 262 yards.

Bowers was his favorite target, catching 47 passes for 692 yards. Gable notched 28 catches, while Johnson came out of the backfield for 21.

The one starting skill player NBC graduated, end Jestin Fernandez, caught 10 passes. Dibert (5-11, 185) figures to be fill his shoes.

“I think we could be unstoppable,” Johnson said. “We have a lot of good backs and receivers.”

“When it came down to it last year (on a 40-33 win over Southern Huntingdon), we pushed the ball down the field and let the line doing its thing,” Black said. “At the same time, if that’s what another team would try to take away, Eion’s presence at quarterback is so much better now that it was just a year ago. Whatever the defense tries to take away, we have other options.”

On defense, Bowser and Beach will play the middle of the line, flanked by Brumbaugh and Guyer (6-0, 160). The linebackers will be Detterline, Dibert, Johnson and either Pepple (6-0, 185) or Baker.

Gable and Snider are the corners, and Bowers, who topped the Panthers last season in tackles, lines up at safety.

Bowers also will punt and return kicks, where Gable will be back deep with him. Junior Alex Kochara (5-11, 145).

The Panthers will be in the South Division of the realigned Inter-County Conference, where they’ll face Berlin Brothersvalley and Winder along with traditional rivals Everett and Tussey Mountain.

Assisting Black are Ryan Cherry, Larry Corle, Kevin Gable, Mike Wiand and Bryan Imler. Barry Crawford, Tom Foor, Jason Free, Andrew Foor and Kevin Brennan coach the junior high.