Football: Northwest Falls Short in Neubeiser's Debut; Screamin' Eagles Soar to Season-Opening Win

Seneca Valley High School

Bouncing back from a hamstring injury, junior running back James Jones-Williams helped lift Seneca Valley High School to a 24-6 win over the visiting Einstein Titans in the teams’ season opener Friday night.

Jones-Williams carried the ball 16 times for 105 yards. His rushing touchdowns of 10 and two yards, respectively, gave the Screamin' Eagles a 14-0 halftime advantage.

The Jaguars drew from that momentum when Kevin Joppy returned the second-half kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown to give the Screamin' Eagles a 21-0 lead. 

Einstein found the end zone after a six-yard touchdown by Keith Gaye, but the extra point attempt failed and the Titans were kept off the board the rest of the way. A late field goal from Junior Arcaro sealed it for Seneca.

Northwest High School

Northwest High School took their host Blake Bengals into overtime Friday night but fell short, bringing in a 20-14 loss for head coach Mike Neubeiser’s debut with Northwest.

After a scoreless first half, Blake struck first in the third quarter but Northwest quickly answered with a score of its own — a 34-yard pass from Matt Callahan to Joshua Gills. Another Callahan-to-Gills score, this time from 10 yards, gave the Jaguars a 14-6 lead in the fourth quarter.

The Bengals quickly tied it on a Will Scott run and after both teams were kept off the board for the remainder of regulation, Scott's 10-yard touchdown in the extra period gave Blake the overtime win.

Callahan ended with 144 yards passing, while Gills caught seven passes for 93 yards.

Northwest and Seneca Valley square off Friday in the annual Battle for Germantown.