The Oskaloosa Bears survived a late game scare and held on for a 22-18 victory over Jefferson County North friday night in Winchester.

Oskaloosa opened up the ballgame without its leading rusher from week one senior Kyle Hopkins, who was dealing with an ankle injury suffered in warm-ups.

The loss of last week’s 200 yard rusher didn’t faze the Bears, as senior tailback Dillon Grother ran it in from 25 yards out with 9:27 remaining in the opening quarter to give Oskaloosa the first points of the contest. Freshman quarterback Jaxon Webb found senior wideout Tommy Molder on the two-point conversion to give the Bears an 8-0 lead.

That score held all the way through the first and just six seconds into the second quarter JCN senior quarterback Bryce Noll found the end zone on a five-yard TD scramble to put the Chargers on the board. The two-point try failed, leaving the score 8-6 in favor of the Bears.

JCN forced a punt on the ensuing Oskaloosa drive, and with 6:42 remaining in the second quarter Noll found sophomore receiver Brayden Summers from 10 yards out to give the Chargers a 12-8 lead after the conversion try failed.

The Chargers had all of the momentum and the home crowd behind them, but the Bears made sure that didn’t last into halftime.

After the JCN score, Oskaloosa went on a five and half minute drive capped off by a Hopkins nine-yard touchdown with 1:00 remaining in the opening half. The conversion failed once again, and the Bears took a 14-12 lead into the break.

The third quarter saw just one score by Grother who found the end zone from nine yards out to give the Bears 22-12 advantage with 1:09 left.

JCN responded as Noll found Summers once again, this time from seven yards out to make it 22-18 in favor of Oskaloosa with 7:59 left in the ballgame.

The Charger defense forced a turnover after the Bears failed to convert on fourth and three giving them the ball back with 3:22 remaining and a chance to win it with a touchdown.

Noll orchestrated a drive down the field and into the Oskaloosa red zone. On fourth down from the seven yard line the senior quarterback floated a pass into the left corner of the end zone to senior receiver Cole Bryant who came down with the catch, but his feet were on the sideline which gave Oskaloosa the win.

Grother finished with 220 yards on 29 carries and 2 touchdowns, while Hopkins ended his night with 68 yards on the ground and one score. JCN’s Noll completed 10 of his 18 pass attempts for 151 yards and a touchdown.

Oskaloosa (2-0) heads to Maranatha for week two. JCN (1-1) is back home hosting Pleasant Ridge.