The Eagles kicked off the 2009 football season for the second year in a row against the Perry Panthers. A light rain fell on the teams for most of the night, but it did not dampen the enthusiasm of the Northside faithful who braved the conditions to support their Eagles in their season opener. The excited atmosphere was tempered somewhat by 5 Eagle fumbles in the first half – 4 of which were lost. The Eagles moved the ball on the ground very well in the first half led by junior Shaquille O’Neil’s 119 yards, but the turnovers kept the Panthers in the game. Perry got on the board first midway through the first quarter after the first fumble with a 21 yard field goal. Northside responded back with 35 seconds left in the first period when junior QB Briar VanBrunt connected with Chavez Ellison on a 33 yard TD pass. Senior Devon Pike split the uprights for the PAT and the Eagles led 7-3. Between the other fumbles of the first half, the Eagles did record their first touchdown of the year when O’Neil ran in from 2 yards out at the 7:53 mark of the 2nd quarter. Pike’s PAT made the score 14-3, and this appeared to be score going into halftime until a botched Eagle punt attempt resulted in a Perry recovery for a touchdown with only 17 seconds remaining in the half. The PAT made the halftime score 14-10 in favor of the Eagles.
In the second half, the Eagles hung on to the ball much better and pulled away from the Panthers with a big assist from the punt block team which produced 2 blocked punts – one of which was recovered in the endzone by Rashad Wright (who also blocked it) for a touchdown. Prior to the special teams’ touchdown, VanBrunt ran in for a 7 yard touchdown at the 8:45 mark of the 3rd quarter. With 44 seconds left in the 3rd quarter, Dan Masteller connected with Stephon Cross for a 8 yard TD pass. Pike added the PAT for all three of these scores to end a perfect 5 for 5 night for him. Senior Rennis Perry ended the scoring on the night with an 8 yard TD run with 6:47 left in the game. Dillon Mixon added the PAT for the final score of 42-10. The Eagle defense held to Panthers to only 35 yards rushing on 29 attempts. Northside has an off week next weekend and then will meet the Carver Tigers on September 11.