Panthers fall to North Vermilion

The injury bug struck Berwick Thursday night but the Panthers fought through it and kept themselves in their District 8-3A finale with North Vermilion.
However, a first-half 17-0 lead proved to be too much to overcome as the Panthers fell 17-7 in a battle of team facing must-win situations to make the postseason.
In the game, Berwick (3-7 overall, 1-5 in District 8-3A) lost its starting center, Blake Bergeron, to injury, while quarterback Collin Louviere left the game in the second quarter with an injury and Mitchell Sanford was shaken up in the fourth quarter on a critical drive by the Panthers in the fourth quarter, giving way to quarterback Cameron Wiley.
Berwick coach Craig Brodie said the game was a “hard-fought” one.
“North Vermilion has to win to get in,” he said. “We had to win to get in. It was a great atmosphere, and both teams played their hearts out.”
Brodie said he felt like his team played as hard as they could play.
“It just didn’t come through our way,” he said.
While North Vermilion took a 17-0 lead at the half, the Patriots didn’t score in the second half.
Berwick, meanwhile, got in North Vermilion territory in the first half but couldn’t score.
However, on their first trip into Patriot territory on their second drive of the second half, North Vermilion (4-6, 2-4) reached the end zone when Josh Jones scored on an 8-yard run with 5:40 remaining in the third quarter.
After stopping North Vermilion’s next drive stalled at the Berwick 45, the Panthers moved the ball from their own 10-yard line into North Vermilion territory.
On the drive, the Panthers converted a fake punt on a fourth-down-and-nine situation for a first down when Josh Carver connected with Kenan Jones for a nine-yard completion to the North Vermilion 49.
The Panthers continued to move into North Vermilion territory as, and on third-down-and-11 from the North Vermilion 36, Sanford ran for 10 yards before being knocked out of bounds and colliding with the chains.
Sanford was tended to for a few minutes before being replaced by Wiley with the Panthers facing a fourth down-and-1 situation with about 7 minutes remaining.
However, Wiley was stopped for a one-yard loss on the play and North Vermilion took over with 6:47 remaining, running out the clock for the win.
In the first half, North Vermilion scored on its first two drives of the game as quarterback Dade Dietrich scored on a 1-yard run on the Patriots’ initial drive with 8:59 remaining, while Connor Dupuy connected on a 46-yard field goal on North Vermilion’s second drive of the game for a 10-0 lead with about 1:30 remaining in the first quarter.
Dietrich finished the game with 17 carries for 108 yards and a score, while he completed 6 of 11 passes for 96 yards and a touchdown.
Later in the second quarter, Berwick had its best drive of the half as they moved from their own 9 to the North Vermilion 13.
The big play on the possession was a 54-yard completion from Louviere to Audwin Williams, while Williams connected with Josh Carver for a 16-yard completion soon after.
However, two plays later, Louviere went down with an injury and never returned as he was replaced by Sanford with the Panthers facing a third-down-and-three situation from the North Vermilion 13.
On third down, Sanford’s pass to the end zone for Kenan Jones was incomplete, while his fourth down pass to Williams to the end zone also was complete.
Sanford finished the game 13 of 27 for 125 yards with two interceptions, while Louviere was 4 of 5 for 79 yards.
Williams caught six passes for 86 yards.
North Vermilion took over and responded with a touchdown-scoring drive capped by a Dieterich 15-yard completion to Dupuy with 5:45 remaining in the second quarter. Dupuy’s kick was good to extend the lead to 17-0.
The big play on the drive was a 58-yard run by Dieterich down to the Berwick 30.
The Patriots also got yardage via a 15-yard facemask penalty and a pass interference penalty, the latter occurring one play before the touchdown pass.
Dupuy finished with two receptions for 26 yards and a touchdown, while he rushed three times for 34 yards.
Running back Dylan Dent also rushed 18 times for 91 yards.
Berwick got the ball into North Vermilion territory with less than a minute before halftime but Sanford was intercepted by Ryan Broussard and returned to the Berwick 31.
Dupuy’s 32-yard field goal attempt with five seconds left in the half failed.
Thursday’s game was the final one for Berwick’s senior class.
“I’m very proud of them, persevering through all the losing seasons and all the disappointments,” Brodie said.
As for the future, Brodie agreed there is promise, although the players are young.
“We put them in positions really not to be able to succeed because of their youth and their inexperience, playing bigger, older guys, but I was very proud of the way they stepped up, and it’s going to get better for them in the future,” Brodie said.

BHS NV
First Down 17 16
Yards Rushing 57 233
Yards Passing 204 96
Total Yards 261 329
Passes (C-A-I) 36-18-2 11-6-0
Punts-avg. 3-32 4-38
Fumbles-Lost 2-0 1-0
Penalties-yards 5-40 8-71

Scoring Summary
Berwick 0 0 7 0 = 7
North Vermilion 10 7 0 0 = 17

First Quarter
NV: Dade Dietrich 1-yard run. (Connor Dupuy)

NV: Dupuy 46-yard field goal.

Second Quarter
NV: Dietrich 15-yard pass to Dupuy. (Dupuy kick)

Third Quarter
BHS: Josh Jones 8-yard run. (John McCorkle kick)

BHS Individual Stats
Rushing
Josh Jones, 9-35 yds.; Barrett Hover, 2-10 yds.; Mitchell Sanford, 6-8 yds.; Collin Louviere, 5-5 yds.; Cameron Wiley, 1-(-1) yds.

Passing
Mitchell Sanford, 13-27-2; 125 yds. Collin Louviere, 4-5-0, 79 yds.

Receiving
Audwin Williams, 6-86 yds.; Josh Jones, 2-35 yds.; Cody Roberie, 3-32 yds.; Kenan Jones, 3-26 yds.; Josh Carver, 1-16 yds.; Lucas Hatch, 1-15 yds.; Larenz Clark, 1-4 yds.; Barrett Hover, 1-(-1) yds.