By Peyton Celesti | Sports Writer
PERRY HILLTOP — Opening day of Northside Youth Athletic Association (NSYAA) football was filled with energy in the stands and on the gridiron of Oliver Stadium throughout the morning and afternoon of Aug. 5. But those who watched or participated in the mighty mites division (11 and 12 years of age) game between the Northside Steelers and the East End Raiders had to feel exhausted after a seemingly endless game took three overtimes and more than three hours to complete on a 90 degree day. In the end, the Raiders (1-0) squeaked out a week one victory over the Steelers (0-1), 18-12.
Many penalties and no flow on offense from both teams resulted in a scoreless tie after regulation. Northside Steelers mighty mites head coach Rell Glenn expected to see mistakes in the first game, as his team is understandably still processing and learning important fundamentals of the game at a young age.
“Every week one in every youth league you’re going to see a million flags,” Glenn said. “Everybody’s learning what they can and can’t do and refs are learning teams and coaches.”
The first half was pretty uneventful, although the game started out with an onside kick recovery by the Raiders. Near the end of the first quarter, a fumble on a loose handoff was recovered by Dahgen Johnson Jr. for Northside. The only time anyone came close to scoring was at the end of the second quarter, when the Steelers had a second down-and-goal at the 1-yard line after runs by Dion Stevenson. But penalties sent the Steelers backwards, and they ended up empty handed at halftime.
East End started on offense in the second half and managed to move the ball in a long drive that took up the entire third quarter. But penalties continued to ruin their momentum, which led to an eventual turnover on downs.
Northside had a chance to win the game in their final drive of regulation, as the first play of the drive was a first down quarterback run by Keith Fearbry. The next set of downs looked like it was going nowhere, but the first completed pass of the game to Isaiah Marshman resulted in a fourth down conversion. Unfortunately, after a couple of more plays, time ran out on the fourth quarter.
In overtime for the mighty mites division, each team gets four downs to score from 10 yards out of the goal line. If a touchdown is scored, an extra point attempt (no kicks) is tried from about the three-yard line.
East End got the ball first, and were set back with a few penalties. They managed to regain the yardage back, setting up a fourth-and-goal at the 10-yard line. Northside gave the Raiders a gift with an offsides penalty to give them a much more manageable fourth-and-five. East End cashed in with a run to the left side of the field for the first score of the game.
But Northside managed to tie the game back up. East End jumped offsides twice, which eventually led to a touchdown on a quarterback run by Keeten Sutton. With the Raiders not converting the extra point on their previous drive, the Steelers had a chance to win the game on their extra point attempt. Northside decided to have Sutton throw, and the pass fell incomplete, which kept East End alive and led to a second overtime.
The Steelers got the first turn on offense this time, and they carried over their momentum with a rushing touchdown on the first play of their second overtime drive. Northside tried to run on their second extra point attempt, but came up just short of the goal line.
The back and forth continued. Northside had another opportunity to end the game, but a fourth-and-two conversion on a quarterback keeper tied the game. All of a sudden, the Steelers had their backs on the wall, as an extra point conversion would win the game for the Raiders. But they held their ground to force triple overtime.
Just like Northside in the second overtime, the Raiders carried their offensive momentum from their previous drive with a rushing touchdown on their first play from scrimmage. Penalties on the extra point attempt created an impossible conversion, so the Steelers got the ball with another chance to tie or win the game.
But Northside had multiple negative plays, along with false starts and too many men on the field penalties. On a third-and-forever, a pass was completed to Isaiah Marshman to create a fourth-and-twenty. But this was not manageable enough, as another pass to Marshman fell incomplete out of bounds to end the game.
