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Belmont football off to best start in 43 seasons

Punishing running game highlights 3-0 start, victory over Northridge.

Photos: Belmont vs. Northridge

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By John Cummings, Contributing Writer Updated 1:23 AM Friday, September 9, 2011

DAYTON — In his 10 years at the helm of Belmont’s football team, coach John Derr has had some good teams.

He has had squads go 8-2 and 7-3, but he now finds himself riding along with Capt. James T. Kirk.

“We are boldly going where no one has been before,” Derr said after his Bison improved to 3-0 with a 33-14 win over Northridge at Welcome Stadium on Thursday night. “I’ve had good teams, but we’ve never started like this. We are in virgin territory, new water and we are going to see who can swim.”

How long has it been since the Bison started the season 3-0?

Pat Yahle was still anchoring the offense and defense for Belmont as they were contending for City League titles ... in 1968.

“That’s a shocker to me,” Bison junior linebacker Jonathon Enright said.

The Bison won behind a strong ground game — 279 yards on 53 carries — and a defense that held Northridge to one yard rushing on 33 attempts and 109 yards through the air while picking off a pair of passes.

The difference between the shine of a 3-0 mark and the 1-9 campaign the Bison finished in 2010?

“We had a commitment to the offseason,” Derr said. “We have a little more serious thought and effort; we are more focused at practice.”

After building a big lead against the Polar Bears, Belmont turned the ball over twice on five fumbles and was penalized nine times for 80 yards in the second half.

“I don’t think it was the pressure, I think we played around too much and goofed off too much this week — even on the bus on the way over here we were joking around,” Belmont quarterback Delmarco Scales said. “I don’t think we were serious enough.”

Belmont began to get serious in the second quarter when Tyshawn Gordon busted outside and outran the Northridge defense for a 59-yard scoring run with 7:23 left in the first half. Scales added a scoring run and a 25-yard TD strike to Walter Roberts for a 20-0 lead at the break.

One play which signals the newfound focus of the Bison came toward the end of the second quarter. Beginning on the Northridge 26, Gordon ran over the first five Polar Bear defenders he came in contact with before spinning past two more before being tripped up at the three. Scales scored on the next play.

“Weight room, weight room, weight room,” Gordon said of the difference from last year after finishing with 153 yards on 15 carries. “Since the end of last season, I lived in the weight room; and the 100s that coach makes us run at practice.”

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