H.S. Football: Black River falls flat again at Northwestern

CHESTER TWP. — Six of the last seven meetings between Black River and Northwestern at Husky Stadium have been downright memorable, with the outcomes decided by eight points or fewer. Unfortunately for the Pirates, the Wayne County facility has been a house of horrors for almost all of them. The latest edition came Friday. Black River struggled mightily on third down, committed two turnovers in the fourth quarter and had a field goal blocked as time expired, allowing the Huskies to escape with a sloppy 9-7 non-league victory. Northwestern (2-0) has a 4-18 record since the start of 2024. Two wins have come against the Pirates (0-2), who also lost 28-21 in the previous road meeting. "I don't understand it," Black River coach Kyle Clark said. "It's almost like it's a black hole." Black River led for more than half of the game, taking a 7-0 lead on an 11-yard Dom Bell pass to Hunter Varney in the first quarter and holding firm to force a field goal in the second quarter. The Pirates still led 7-3 heading into the fourth before Jesse Hanshaw's first interception of the period set up the go-ahead score. Hanshaw outmuscled a wide receiver on a jump ball at the Black River 49-yard line and returned it 20 yards to put the Huskies in business. Hanshaw then finished the job from the 2-yard line to make it 9-7 with 6:50 remaining before the line-drive extra point abused the crossbar and fell to the end zone. The Pirates had two more chances, and the first was thwarted when Hanshaw jumped a hitch route along the sideline and picked off another pass. The second came after Northwestern punted the ball into an up-man for a 4-yard attempt that was recovered at the Huskies 44 with 57.7 seconds left. The Pirates were without a timeout but moved into the red zone, where Bell rushed right for 2 yards to set up a potential winning field goal for Jackson Burkholder. Alas, the snap was high, the timing was off and Burkholder's 35-yard attempt was blocked easily to set off a wild home crowd celebration. The ending capped a frustrating night for the Black River offense, which was without slot receiver Carson Steidl (foot) and lost center Gerry Smith to an injury just before halftime. The Pirates rushed only 14 times for 7 yards — they have 58 yards on 34 attempts this season — while Northwestern was content taking away deep passes and forcing Bell to throw underneath, as he competed 23 of 37 passes for 190 yards, with only seven attempts going for double-digit yardage. Varney (nine catches, 71 yards), Kage Petruzzi (five, 42), Colton McCune (three, 29), Parker Broadsword (four, 26) and Kayden Hendershot (two, 22) provided balance catching the ball, but Black River again was inept on third down, converting 1-of-9 attempts one week after going 1-of-11 in a 34-20 loss at Hillsdale. "We just can't move the ball," Clark said. "We're trying to force too many things instead of taking what the defense is giving us." Despite struggling up front, starting two freshman and having another player make his debut at a new position, the defense played well. Northwestern had success running off tackle to the left but imploded with penalties, bad shotgun snaps and other mistakes near the red zone, most notably when Black River sent a full-house blitz on fourth-and-goal from the 11 that ended with an intentional grounding penalty on the 16th play of the drive. Pass coverage was good most of the night, as Huskies quarterback Leo Guidetti went 6-of-20 for 117 yards and was sacked three times. Hendershot, Colton Roberts and Jaxson Brewer were among those in on tackles for loss, while Bell broke up a pass in the end zone intended for speedy receiver Rylie Ramsier (four carries, 44 yards; three catches, 90 yards). That was about all that consistently went right, however, in another nightmare on state Route 301. "I thought the defense played great," Clark said. "They kept everybody in front of them and never gave up." Contact Albert Grindle at (330) 721-4043 or agrindle@medina-gazette.com. Northwestern 9, Black River 7 Black River&emsp;7&emsp;0&emsp;0&emsp;0&emsp;—&emsp;7 Northwester&emsp;0&emsp;3&emsp;0&emsp;6&emsp;—&emsp;9 Scoring BR — Hunter Varney 11 pass from Dom Bell (Jackson Burkholder kick), 2:17. N — Jack Morris 30 field goal, 7:53.N — Jesse Handshaw 2 run (kick failed), 6:50.