CLAYTON — Northmont earned its first victory of the season Friday on a last ditch drive for a touchdown and successful two-point conversion to defeat Cincinnati Withrow, 15-14.

The Tigers scored first on a 36 yard pass from Amari Earley to Quinton Simmons with 39 seconds left in the first quarter. Adama Pontien’s kick gave Withrow a 7-0 advantage.

The Thunderbolts answered with a three yard touchdown run by Calilien Grant with 8:10 left in the first half. Colby Barr’s kick tied the game 7-7.

Simmons put Withrow back on top on a 26 yard run at 4:27 in the third quarter. Pontien tacked on the point after to give the Tigers a 14-7 lead.

Northmont mounted a scoring drive late in the fourth quarter that was aided by multiple penalties against Withrow. The Tigers were penalized 23 times in the game for 221 yards.

Thunderbolts’ quarterback Brady Lupton (14 carries, 67 yards) scored on a seven yard run with three seconds left. Northmont opted to go for the win and Grant successfully scored the two point conversion to give the Thunderbolts a 15-14 victory.

Grant rushed for 74 yards on 14 carries to contribute to the T’bolts 211 total rushing yards. Withrow amassed 254 yards rushing with Simmons accounting for 151 on 11 attempts. He also completed two of four passes for 12 yards.

Lupton completed six of 15 pass attempts for 43 yards for Northmont while Earley completed six of 14 for 63 yards and one TD for Withrow.

Anthony Lemon had six tackles, four solo, with two tackles for a loss while Izaiah Flowers had seven tackles, four solo, Dominic Alexander nine tackles, two solo, Wyatt Smith six tackles, three solo, and Aidan Pendleton five tackles, three solo, to lead the Northmont defense.

With the victory Northmont improved to 1-2 overall while Withrow fell to 0-3. The Thunderbolts travel to Beavercreek this Friday to face the 2-1 Beavers.

Reach Ron Nunnari at (937) 684-9124 or email [email protected].