The officials that did the Northwestern and Bangor football game last Friday probably had to have their throwing arms checked following the game. They got quite a workout tossing yellow flags as the two teams were penalized a total of 23 times in the game for 215 yards. The refs threw more penalty flags than the two quarterbacks threw passes. In all, there were 22 passes, compared to the 23 flags.

The bottom line, though, was a 29-21 win for Northwestern that moved the Tigers to 4-1 at the halfway point of the season.

The penalties put a damper on the win for Northwestern coach Josh Snyder, who spent the week running his team through extra conditioning drills as a reminder to focus on cutting down on mistakes that cost them yardage. Northwestern was flagged for 14 penalties for 141 yards.

“We had a couple of interference calls and a couple calls for chop blocks and that’s not they style of game that we play,” said Snyder. “I’m not going to put the blame on anybody. It wasn’t the officials or anything. It was our guys just not focusing and staying in control.”

While the Northwestern passing game isn’t known for being very prolific, quarterback Deven Bollinger generally spreads the ball around to a number of receivers. On Friday, he had a connection with Justin Rodda and kept looking to him throughout the game.

All five of Bollinger’s completions went to Rodda for a total of 106 yards. Rodda pulled in a pass down the middle of the field for 45 yards on the Tigers first possession of the game, finally being pulled down from behind at the one-yard line.

One play later, Nick Henry, who missed last week’s game with a shoulder injury, went in for the first score of the game.

“I had a post and was able to beat my guy and ran for the end zone,” said Rodda of the big play.

Bangor (3-2) battled back from the early deficit to tie the game, only to see the Tigers go back on top with an 11-play drive capped by a five-yard run by Bollinger to put the Tigers up by a touchdown.

Bangor turned the ball over on downs at the end of the first quarter and Northwestern took advantage with Henry collecting the second of his three rushing touchdowns on the night when he finished the drive going in from a yard out again.

Snyder elected to go for two and Bollinger hit Derek Holmes in the end zone to convert.

“It was a big win for us,” said Snyder. “I’m not happy about some of the details, but we’re 4-1 at the midway point and that’s not a bad situation for us, so I’m happy about that.”

Place-kicker Connor de Wit remained perfect on extra points this season, going three for three to give him 19 straight extra-point kicks. He did come up just short on a 28-yard field goal attempt.

Northwestern has another road contest this week when its plays at Palmerton (1-4). The Tigers return to New Tripoli for homecoming Oct. 5 when they face the Southern Lehigh Spartans.