FROSTBURG — On a night that seemed like Mountain Ridge would go as far as its offense would take it, it was the defense that ruled the roost.
Carter Clites, Jasper Crissman, Eli Rafferty, Nathan Miller and the rest of the Miners’ defensive unit ensured Frostburg would have a happy Homecoming, as Mountain Ridge toppled No. 4 Northern, 17-14, Friday night at Miner Stadium.
“We knew coming into the game that Northern was going to be very hard-nosed, straight downhill running game, and that’s exactly what they were,” said Mountain Ridge head coach Nathan Shipe.
“We knew coming into this week that we had to make some changes, that we just couldn’t keep doing the same thing. And we got a little bit of a spark from those changes tonight. I was really proud of the fight of the kids. It was a great effort all the way around all three phases of the game.”
After Mountain Ridge (3-4) quarterback Levi Clise scored from five yards out with 4:01 to go in the third to tie it at 14-all, the Huskies (3-4) crossed midfield before Clites went untouched off the left edge to sack the Huskies for a loss on fourth-and-four.
Clise and Crissman drove the Miners to the Northern 15, but the Miners settled for three as Will Hughes booted a 27-yard field goal with 9:15 remaining in the fourth to give Mountain Ridge a 17-14 edge.
Emmitt Lipscomb returned the ensuing kickoff 37 yards to the Mountain Ridge 49, but the Huskies faced a third-and-six a few plays later — that was where Crissman blew up a run for a one-yard loss to force a Northern punt.
Crissman followed with runs of seven and 12 yards to get the Miners out of the shadow of their own goal posts, but delay of game and illegal formation penalties stalled the drive — the Miners were penalized seven times for 50 yards.
Northern took over at its own 32 following a 48-yard punt with 3:17 to play.
Huskies quarterback Landon Yoder orchestrated the offense into Miner territory with a 16-yard pass to Lipscomb. Two plays later, Yoder hit Konor Suter for 20 yards to the Mountain Ridge 21.
Following a spike, Clites and Rafferty teamed up for a sack and loss of 12 yards, forcing Northern to burn its final timeout with 41 seconds left.
On third-and-22, Miller came up with an interception at the Mountain Ridge 5 to ice the game.
“They want to make you guard the whole field, guard multiple players, and you’ve got to trust the other 10 guys on the field,” Shipe said of Northern’s offense attacking his defense. “And I think that really showed tonight that our guys on defense, they trusted the other 10 guys, they played their assignment. And when it was time to pin their ears back and get after the quarterback, we were able to do that.”
Northern struck first after winning the toss and electing to receive the opening kickoff, with Yoder scoring on a seven-yard run.
He had Northern’s other score from 23 yards out at 9:45 in the third to put the Huskies ahead 14-7.
The Miners twice came from behind, with Crissman scoring from five yards out with 43 ticks left in the opening frame before Clise’s five-yard plunge in the third to make it 14-14.
The Huskies had a chance to take the lead going into halftime, but a 28-yard field goal with three seconds left sailed wide left.
“It was a classic Northern-Mountain Ridge football game,” Northern head coach Logan Stewart said. “Went obviously down to the wire. They did a great job running the football, something that I’m sure they were working on all week. We were trying to plan on the types of approaches they would take.
“But then, I mean, in that second half, got to make sure we don’t shoot ourselves in the foot, make some mistakes, get behind the sticks.”
Northern had the slight edge in total offense, 241-239, with 15 first downs to Mountain Ridge’s 14. The Huskies were also 6 of 10 on third down while the Miners were 2 for 9.
Yoder had 77 yards on the ground and 77 more through the air, while Evan Graham tacked on 57 yards on 13 carries.
Crissman and Clise combined for 157 of the Miners’ 159 rushing yards. Crissman led with 86 yards on 14 carries while Clise toted the rock 18 times for 71 yards.
Both teams close out the regular season at home, with Northern hosting Allegany next week before taking on rival cross-county Southern.
Mountain Ridge has a short week, hosting Williamsport on Thursday before closing out the regular season against Keyser.