PIQUA — In a matchup of explosive offenses, the Piqua football team got past Northmont 24-21 in a three quarter scrimmage Friday night to close the scrimmage season.

The Indians will play Belmont at 7 p.m. Friday night at Welcome Stadium in the regular season opener.

“I thought it was a good test for us,” Piqua football coach Bill Nees said. “I thought the offense looked good. We gave up one big run defensively. That was the only disappointing thing.”

Northmont coach Tony Broering — the former Piqua offensive coordinator — offered a similar sentiment.

“I thought we did a lot of good things offensively,” he said. “We have some things to clean up on defense, but overall I thought it was a good scrimmage for us. Piqua hasn’t lost a regular season game in three years. That is a good football team.”

Piqua quarterback Brady Ouhl — who finished 12 of 17 passing for 239 yards — completed passes of 11, 14 and 19 yards on his first three attempts before the Indians settled for a 24-yard field goal from Jackson Trombley.

Northmont answered on its third play with a 73-yard touchdown run by quarterback Cahke’ Cortner and the PAT kick made it 7-3 with 7:01 remaining in the opening quarter.

It took Piqua just one play to take the lead back.

Ouhl found Dre’Sean Roberts across the middle and Roberts turned it into a 65-yard touchdown. Trombley’s kick made it 10-7.

Northmont then put together a 15-play, 84-yard drive to go up 14-10.

Piqua answered with a 61-yard drive, capped by a 7-yard TD pass from Ouhl to Mickey Anderson and Trombley’s kick made it 17-14.

It stayed that way until Northmont put together an 89-yard drive, with Cortner running 11 yards for a score with 16 seconds left in the half.

He would finish with 12 carries for 136 yards and he completed 13 of 21 passes for 164 yards. The PAT kick gave Northmont a 21-17 lead at the break.

“He (Cahke’ Cortner) is a really good quarterback,” Broering said. “We brought coach Adams back to coach him and he is doing a good job.”

Piqua would have the only score of the third quarter.

Ouhl found Ryan Brown behind the defense for a 50-yard touchdown and Trombley’s kick made it 24-21.

Northmont would have a chance to tie it with seven seconds to go, but a 39-yard field goal attempt was blocked.

“The two scores Northmont had (besides the long run) were where they put drives together,” Nees said. “i think we got rolling (on defense) in the second half. And, as always, coming out of the scrimmage injury free is always a big thing.”

As the Indians head into the season looking for a third straight MVL title.

Sports Editor Rob Kiser can be reached at [email protected]