Nick Henry has a chipped tooth and a sprained AC joint in his left shoulder.
Similarly, Northwestern was getting dinged up because of penalties and Bangor’s big pass plays.
Henry and his Tigers teammates, however, found a way to survive Friday night at Paul Farnan Field at Bangor Memorial Park.
In a twist of irony, Northwestern secured its 29-21 win over Bangor thanks to a series of plays in the defensive secondary.
Tyler Slifer stripped a Slater receiver after getting beat on a pass completion, then picked off a pass on the next series.
Derek Holmes, Connor Snyder and Deven Bollinger finished off a strong sequence in the game’s final eight minutes with big plays on the Slaters’ final attempt to tie the game for the first time since the first quarter.
“We couldn’t get burned,” Slifer said. “The secondary had to pick things up [in the fourth quarter].
“[Bangor receiver Joe Genteel] burned me on the inside, but I was able to get a hand on the ball and knock it out.
“On the interception, [Bangor quarterback Bo Meyers] was running around and the receiver made great moves. [Meyers] just threw it and I was there to pick it off. I peaked back to see where the quarterback was.”
Northwestern never trailed thanks to Henry’s 136 yards and three rushing scores.
Bollinger added 101 rushing yards and a TD.
The Tigers (4-1) survived despite committing 10 penalties. It is an area that has been a problem the first half of the Colonial League season.
“Our offense was killing itself with dropped passes and stupid penalties,” Northwestern coach Josh Snyder said. “I said at one point that I guess we’re going to have to win this game on defense.
“Time and time again, we came up with big plays. The interceptions, great tackles when we needed them to happen. A couple of tips.”
Northwestern limited Bangor’s running game to95 yards on 33 carries.
That, combined with the Tigers maintaining the lead for most of the game, forced the Slaters to throw the ball more than they wanted.
“They are a great running team,” Snyder said. “I think we did a good job with that and made them one dimensional.”
Until the fourth quarter, however, Bangor hung around because of its passing game and Northwestern’s mistakes in defensive coverage.
Two Tigers collided in the secondary when the Slaters were looking at a 3rd-and-12. Meyers and Kole Bloshuk took advantage with a 65-yard pass play to the Northwestern 5-yard line.
Bangor scored two plays later and Meyers and Bloshuk connected on the 2-point conversion to get within 29-21 with 1:16 left in the third quarter.
Northwestern’s offense came up empty on its next three possessions, but the defense took over thanks to a series of plays.
Hayden Bobbyn had a tackle for a 3-yard loss on the play before Slifer’s strip play that was recovered by Bollinger.
Slifer’s interception ended the Slaters’ next series.
Then Snyder had a sack for a nine-yard loss before his Tigers teammates stopped the Slaters’ last-ditch, hook-and-ladder play on fourth down in the game’s final moments.
“It was tough watching from the sidelines last week,” Henry said. “It was great to be able to get back out there and help the team.”
Henry had plenty of help, and the Tigers needed all of it.
Penalties galore
There were a combined 12 in the first half, including three pass interference flags against the Tigers, which directly led to both of the Slaters’ touchdowns.
Bangor had a second-and-34 before getting a second pass interference call on Northwestern and a 38-pass play from Meyers to Genteel. It set up Garrett DeBoer’s 3-yard TD run to get the Slaters within 22-13 at the break.
Bangor had a Meyers TD pass to Genteel called back earlier on the drive because of a holding call.
Pick leads to six
Ryan Haas’ interception and 29-yard return on the first play of the second quarter set up Henry’s second 1-yard TD run of the half to give Northwestern a 22-7 cushion.
Bonus the rest of the way
Northwestern (4-1) equaled its regular-season win total from last season.
Up next
Northwestern visits Palmerton on Friday. Bangor hosts Saucon Valley on Friday.
