Northside improves to 3-0 after win over Camden County

Published 11:38 pm Wednesday, September 4, 2019

Even Hurricane Dorian couldn’t stop the Northside High School football winning streak from extending to three games on Wednesday night in Camden. The Panthers battled against the turnover bug, but made enough plays to pull away in a 35-14 victory.

Early on the Panthers forced a three and out and proceeded to move the ball down the field into the Camden County red zone, but a fumble recovered by Camden County was scooped up and taken in for a 90-yard touchdown.

Northside put together another solid drive on their next possession, feeding Zakkai Wilson until he reached the end zone. Wilson would go on to have 180 yards rushing on 16 carries with three rushing touchdowns on the evening. That adds up to 11.25 yards a carry on the night for the senior running back. Wilson now has seven rushing touchdowns on the season.

“The O-line got right tonight tonight and everybody was on the same page,” Wilson said about the offense. “We gotta keep practicing (to keep the ball off the ground). We only had one practice this week and I don’t think we were as focused as we needed to be.”

Defensively, the Panthers held their opponents to only one offensive touchdown, and that came with a short field. Fred Taylor led the team in sacks (2) and tackles (6).

“We stayed together tonight, everybody penetrated well, we just gotta make sure we correct the things that allowed them to get the big runs they did get,” Taylor said. “We’re capable of winning (their game against Washington next week), but there’s no more goofing off at practice. We just have to stick together regardless of anything.”

TFL: Northside defensive lineman Fred Taylor racked up quite a few tackles and a couple of sacks against Camden County Wednesday night. (Mitchell Thomas / Daily News)

The Panthers have started their season 3-0 for the second consecutive season, and have only had one normal week so far this season. The Panthers have played on Monday, Wednesday and Friday so far this year.

Head coach Keith Boyd said he was happy to be 3-0, but needs to see improvement when it comes to hanging on to the football.

“We’re not holding it tight, we’re grabbing it with our hands, we just weren’t glued in tonight,” Boyd said. “We’ll go back to practice next week and get better. We better get better, because we have a mighty strong opponent coming in next Friday night.”

The Panthers will get over a week’s time to rest and get ready for the Pam Pack.