It rained like God left the tap on, and then it rained a little more. And then, just for variety, it rained some more.
A filthy night for football: That’s what greeted North Side and Snider on Friday at Chambers Field, in the big showdown between unbeaten SAC heavyweights.
Only Snider (6-0, 5-0) fully greeted it back.
“We love playing in the rain,” Snider defensive end Weston Painter said as his teammates celebrated their slug-it-out (and slog-it-out) 17-6 victory.
“Most teams don’t, but we love it, because when we have a swarming defense like we do, it helps creates turnovers and gives our offense an opportunity to score.”
Or at least to score enough. On a night when lightning interrupted play for 30 minutes with 1:51 to play in the third quarter, this became a north-south, smash-mouth field position game, and Snider won because it was better at all those.
“This was the classic offensive line, defensive line game,” Snider coach Kurt Tippmann observed. “You mud it up. I told those guys at halftime, we pride ourselves at being good up front, well, we’re gonna find out if we’re any good.”
Consider them good enough.
North Side (5-1, 3-1) struck first, converting a tipped Snider pass into an interception and prime field position at the Snider 47. From there, quarterback C.J. Jackson (86 yards in 16 carries) and Anthony Linnear (101 in 20) took the Redskins home in seven plays, Jackson getting the last two with 1:11 to play in the first quarter.
But Snider immediately struck back with a 13-play, 65-yard drive that featured a lot of Je’Norie Smith and a little of Nicolas Reese, and when Josh Spitnale converted the extra point North Side had not, the Panthers had the lead for good.
The rest belonged to the rain and Snider’s defense, while battering North Side into submission with its usual smorgasbord of backs.
Tyrell Swain was the best of them, breaking a 24-yarder on his first carry and finishing with 90 yards on 14 carries. Smith ran 14 times for 80 yards, and Reese tacked on 12 as the Panthers piled up 261 rushing yards.
Reese was the one who finished the Redskins, carrying on six of Snider’s last eight plays to keep a drive going that ate up the final 7:07.
That happened because the Snider defense finally stopped North Side at the Snider 11 after North Side had used to up 17 plays and nearly eight minutes trying to reach the end zone.
“The one part about that was their drives kept getting extended by our mistakes,” said Tippmann, whose team was flagged for eight penalties. “And one thing that helps against that offense is it’s so spread out that as you compress down there toward the goal line that helps the defense.
“But our guys played well and really played disciplined football against a great offense.”
