Berne Union rebound from destructive loss to a big win over Notre Dame
By: Darayus Sethna
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SUGAR GROVE, Ohio (WOUB) — It was Nate Nemeth’s night. His four-rush touchdown performance secured a 25-14 win for the Berne Union Rockets over the Notre Dame Titans.
Head Coach Tony Hurps and his Rockets looked to right their wrongs Friday night after last week’s 43-6 route at the hands of Coal Grove. And they did just that.
Berne Union opened Friday night with Nemeth’s first touchdown, giving his team a 6-0 lead halfway through the first quarter.
But that lead would be short lived.
Just 48 seconds later, on a 4th-and-goal, Titans quarterback Luke Cassidy threaded the needle and threw a thicket of Rocket defenders to Myles Phillips in the endzone. The subsequent field goal broke the deadlock and Notre Dame took a 7-6 lead into the intermission.
Things didn’t get any better after the break. With 11:45 left in the period, Dylan Seison of the Titans returned the opening kickoff all the way to the endzone. It extended Notre Dame’s lead to 14-6.
Fans in Sugar Grove saw a penalty ridden contest throughout. A total of 14 penalties were called in the second half alone. Down by eight and in a stagnant battle, it seemed that the Rockets’ chances at victory were starting to slip away.
That was when Nate Nemeth took over.
With just under six minutes left in the third, Nemeth snuck into the endzone to earn his second touchdown run of the night. He struck again with under a minute to go in the quarter. This time courtesy of a 95-yard touchdown run.
Those efforts contributed to a miraculous five-point turnaround to end the quarter. Berne Union ended the frame with an 18-14 advantage.
After a sizzling performance from Nemeth on the offensive end, the Rockets’ defense stepped up to the plate in the fourth quarter. Those efforts held serve, allowing the offense to seal the deal with under 45 seconds remaining.
And there was no one more fitting to cap it off than Nemeth himself.
Nemeth picked up his fourth touchdown run. It was the nail in the coffin for Notre Dame. The extra point increased the lead to double digits.
As the final seconds ticked away, fans in Sugar Grove shouted in jubilation as their team recorded its first win of 2022.
Rockets Head Coach Tony Hurps reflected on Nemeth’s sensational performance after the 25-14 victory.
“He is quick and sudden. When he’s one-on-one with someone in the open field, not many people are going to tackle him,” Hurps said Friday. “We don’t have the passing threat that we did last year, but we’ve got him and that makes up for a lot.”
Although his team came away with a crucial victory, Hurps knows that there is still a lot of work to be done. That includes cleaning up the number of mistakes to reduce penalty calls.
“A lot of it is [from] inexperience. A lot of those flags were on freshmen and sophomores [who] are still learning the game. We’ll watch film and try to clean [that] up the best we can.”
Berne Union takes on Bishop Rosecrans in their first road game of the season next Friday. The Notre Dame Titans face Fisher Catholic in their home opener that same night. Both games are scheduled for 7 p.m. EST.