Bears fall short of fourth straight West Title
Portage Northern shares division title with Portage Central

(Portage) --  For three straight years, the Big 16 West Championship has had St. Joe in it, until this season.  Portage Northern claimed a share of the West Division crown with their arch rival Portage Central after the Huskies beat St. Joe 27-14 at McCamley Field.

Long touchdown plays have been the story of the season for the St. Joe defense, and on Portage Northern's second play from scrimmage, the Huskies scored on an 80 yard passing play from Adam Dunlap to Jonathan Keizer.

The Bears offense responded on the next drive as St. Joe drove 77 yards on nine plays, scoring on an 11 yard touchdown pass from Jeremy Rush to Joel Bergman.

Northern would retake the lead midway through the second quarter as running back Terry Kerr scored the first of his two touchdowns on the night from three yards out to put the Huskies up 14-7.

On the Huskies opening drive to start the second half, Dunlap would throw a 17 yard touchdown pass to T.J. Simpson, the point after was no good after hitting the left upright, but the home team had expanded the lead to 20-7.

St. Joe's offense again stalled through the third quarter and Northern would score again early in the fourth quarter when Kerr scored from 24 yards out and put the Huskies up 27-7.

St. Joe tried to get back into the game on the following drive.  The Bears drove 80 yards on 11 plays and found the endzone again when Rush threw a nine yard pass to Bobby Symonds to cut the deficit to 27-14. 

The game was delayed after the extra point when St. Joe's Adam Lalley was injured on the Bear sideline, after a delay of 15 minutes Lalley had to be carted off and taken by an ambulance to a Kalamazoo area hospital.

The game ended as Portage Northern breaking a four game losing streak to St. Joe.  It's the Huskies first win at home against the Bears since 2000.

SCORING SUMMARY

St. Joseph     7 0 0 7 -- 14
P. Northern    7 7 7 7 -- 27

PN - Jonathan Keizer 80 yd pass from Adam Dunlap (Joe Livingston kick)
SJ - Joel Bergman 11 yd pass from Jeremy Rush (Josh Akins kick)
PN - Terry Kerr 3 yd run (Joe Livingston kick)
PN - T.J. Simpson 17 yd pass from Adam Dunlap (Joe Livingston kick failed)
PN - Terry Kerr 24 yd run (Joe Livingston kick)
SJ - Bobby Symonds 9 yd pass from Jeremy Rush (Josh Akins kick)

Elsewhere around the Big 16

	Portage Central 21, Lakeshore 14 Kyle Cutler scored two touchdowns as Portage Central claimed a share of the Big 16 West Division title for the second year in a row as the Mustangs defeated Lakeshore 21-14.  Robert Shelby did not play for Lakeshore
	Niles 56, Kalamazoo Loy Norrix 26 Martell Miller and Anthony Bice each ran for 132 yards and three touchdowns as Niles defeated Kalamazoo Loy Norrix 56-26.
	Mattawan 36, Benton Harbor 20 MacKenzie Dietz threw for four touchdown as Mattawan ended the season with a win as they defeated Benton Harbor 36-20.
	Jackson Lumen Christi 35, Kalamazoo Central 33 Michael Cremeans scored five touchdowns and had 252 yards rushing as Lumen Christi beat Kalamazoo Central 35-33.
	Battle Creek Central 42, Battle Creek Lakeview 28 The Bearcats' Greg Williams had 177 yards rushing and four touchdowns as Battle Creek Central beat Battle Creek Lakeview 42-28.
	Battle Creek Harper Creek 55, Coldwater 7 Harper Creek clinched a share of the Big 16 East Division title as the Beavers defeated Coldwater 55-7.  Trevor Blattner had 153 yards and three touchdowns while Kody Carson had three TD passes for the Beavers
	Sturgis 21, Marshall 14 Sturgis ended the regular season with a 21-14 win over Marshall in the SMAC East. Dan Scheske tallied 3 interceptions on defense and quarterback Chance Stewart scored the game winning touchdown in the fourth quarter as the Trojans end the regular season at 5-4.