Flames still struggling through hard times

&emsp;&emsp;Just last year, the Northgate Flames played the Springdale Dynamos and played them close, losing 14 – 11. Many things can change in a year, and this year the Flames could not run with the Dynamos, losing on the road in Springdale 55 – 14 last Friday.&emsp;&emsp;It was just four years ago, the Flames fought their way to the WPIAL Class 1A semifinals, losing to the Clairton Bears, in the snow, in mid-November. Though the Flames lost 34 – 18, the score was not indicative of the battle that was waged that day. The Flames were 10 – 2 that season.&emsp;&emsp;The Flames have seen their hardships over the past couple of seasons, having played their home games at JC Stone Field, playing on Saturday afternoons, and losing coaches. The Flames seem to be in a constant state of rebuilding.&emsp;&emsp;It all adds up to one thing and what can be seen as a lesson in adversity. Teams going through losing spurts have to take pride in winning little battles and growing together in their sharing of the same experiences. Teams stay together and have one another's backs whether it is winning times or losing. And, as we have seen thus far, the Flames are struggling through the losing times.&emsp;&emsp;The Flames kicked off to start the game and their defense forced the Dynamos to punt, but when the Flames took possession, they couldn't get things going and were forced to punt from deep in their own territory. After the punt, Springdale had the ball on the Northgate 14 and in just three plays they were in the endzone to take a 7 – 0 lead. Springdale scored once again in the first quarter and had a 14 – 0 lead going into the second quarter. The Dynamos scored early in that quarter to make the score 21 – 0.&emsp;&emsp;The Flames' first score of the game was set up by a 70-yard kick-off return by Delvin Mitchell, who returned it to the Springdale 5-yard line. From there, Christian Davin threw to Danelle Frazier for a 3-yard pick-up, and on the very next play, Davin handed it off to Lewis Clark, who ran left and into the endzone to put the Flames on the scoreboard. The two-point conversion failed and the score was 21 – 6.&emsp;&emsp;Springdale then proceeded to rattle off 20 unanswered points to take a 41 – 6 lead into the locker room at half time.&emsp;&emsp;Northgate received the ball to start the second half of play, and in a series that started with Springdale being penalized for being offsides and the Flames getting called for a false start on the next play, Northgate kept their composure. Starting from their 23-yard line, Davin connected with Frazier, and he rambled his way to the Springdale 15-yard line. Davin's pass fell incomplete on the next play, but looking at a 2nd-and-10 from the 15, Davin dropped back in the pocket and hit Mitchell for the TD with 3:33 left in the third quarter. Davin connected with Jaden Mitchell on the two-point conversion and the score was 48 – 14, which would be the score going into the fourth quarter.&emsp;&emsp;Springdale would find the endzone one more time to make the final score 55 – 14.&emsp;&emsp;