Northmont scores comeback win at Beavercreek

The Thunderbolts started the season with a 49-20 loss to Butler and a 27-6 setback at La Salle in Cincinnati.

They trailed at Cincinnati Withrow in the fourth quarter last week before Brady Lupton ran for a 7-yard touchdown and Grant converted the two-point conversion with three seconds left for a 15-14 win.

This time Grant got the six-pointer on a 3-yard run with 5:25 to play. The two-point conversion attempt failed, but the Thunderbolts were able to hold on when Beavercreek fumbled at the end of what had been a successful fourth down conversion with just over a minute to play.

“It’s tough because when you play those kind of offenses, you only get so many possessions,” said Northmont head coach Tony Broering. “Same thing when we play Fairmont, so you gotta be real careful. You gotta basically score every time, and we did, except for when we turned it over, so that kept them in the game.

“But like I told the boys, last week we were down and it kind of looked bad, and our offense went down and scored, and we went for two and won, and then tonight, same kind of thing and then the defense made a big play. So as long as we stick together and believe in each other, we’ll be okay.”

Beavercreek got on the board first Friday night with a 22-yard field goal by Conner Macek set up by a Northmont fumble deep in Thunderbolt territory.

The visitors responded with an 80-yard scoring drive capped by Grant’s 1-yard touchdown run.

After another Macek field goal, the ‘Bolts extended their lead with a 14-yard run by Lupton, but Beavercreek pulled within five when Macek made a 32-yard field goal with 10 seconds left in the half.

Northmont put together a nice drive to start the second half, but it came to a halt when Lupton’s deep pass down the sideline was intercepted by Kelvin Keys Jr., who stepped in front of a receiver who appeared to be open down the sideline.

The Beavers took over at their own 30 and went 70 yards in 13 plays, a grinding effort that included a 12-yard pass from Calvin Svoboda to Dylan Hunter but otherwise was all on the ground.

Zane Piatt crashed over on third-and-goal from the 2 with 29 seconds left in the third quarter.

That gave the Beavers a one-point lead, but their two-point conversion attempt was no good.

Another Keys interception put BHS in position to add to its lead, but the Beavers fumbled on their first play.

Northmont recovered at the Thunderbolt 28 and went 72 yards for the go-ahead touchdown, a 3-yard run by Grant that was set up by a 29-yard pass from Lupton to Daniel Ivory.

Beavercreek, in its first season under veteran coach Trace Smitherman, fell to 2-2 despite Piatt running for 126 yards on 22 carries as the fullback in the triple-option attack.

Svoboda completed three passes for 18 yards and had some timely keepers to keep the chains moving, but Broering was happy with his defense overall.

“The kids know it, and they rep it, rep it, wrap it,” Broering said. “And we’re accustomed to it just because we play Fairmont so much as far as how the game’s gonna go, what you have to do time management-wise and all that. And this is good for us, too, because the tough thing when you play Fairmont is you never can mimic it in practice. And now we’ve seen it, and we can watch the film, and we can get better at it correct some mistakes. But really the defense played great. It was just us turning the ball over. We don’t turn the ball over, and it’s a whole different situation.”