YEATESVILLE — It doesn’t get much better than this for Northside. The Panthers began the night with a tribute to their seniors, then moved on to a touching ceremony as they honored the late Bryan Keith Woolard by handing out a scholarship named in his honor. After that, Northside went on to top the Four Rivers Conference-leading Riverside Knights 8-6 to win its seventh straight contest.

The Panthers began the year losing its first 12 games but with Thursday’s win they have now pieced together a seven-game winning streak and are charging towards the postseason. With an effort that the late Bryan Keith Woolard himself would have been proud of, the Panthers (7-12, 7-5) rallied back from 4-2 deficit to stun the Knights (14-4, 9-3).

After honoring seniors Taylor Woolard, Josh Miller and Brandon Ussery, Northside awarded the Bryan Keith Woolard Memorial Scholarship to Taylor Woolard.

Bryan Keith Woolard was the catcher on Northside’s 1994 state championship team and died in an automobile accident on Jan. 3, 2009. Woolard is survived by his wife Teresa and his eight-year old son Ryan. On Thursday, Woolard’s parents Keith and Wendy Woolard, along with his sister Stacy Cutler, Teresa and Ryan handed out a $500 scholarship to Taylor Woolard. Helping contribute to the scholarship fund was Sawyer Paint and Auto Supply, Seiler, Singleton & Associates and Slade Landscaping.  The scholarship is awarded to the senior baseball player that performs best in the classroom as well as on the diamond. After the scholarship was awarded, Ryan Woolard threw out the first pitch to Ussery, the Northside catcher.

“It was a real tough decision. There are three seniors and when you look at them all it got right down to picking hairs. It was an extremely tough decision,” Keith Woolard said.

The Woolard’s sought input from various places before making their decision and said that in the end Taylor Woolard’s work in the classroom was too good to ignore.

“(Taylor) had already applied to ECU and his grades were extra special,” Wendy said.

Taylor Woolard, who will be studying pre-law at East Carolina, was thrilled with how the day played out.

“I couldn’t have dreamed it better,” Taylor said. “It’s definitely an honor getting that because I know his family and it’s just so special what they do for us out here … (seeing Ryan throw the first pitch) I didn’t want to tear up, I was just glad they got him out on the field.”

After the ceremonial first pitch the fans were treated to a superb matchup between area aces as Northside’s Brandon Marsh dueled with Riverside’s Matt Perry, who was last year’s WDN pitcher of the year.

The pitchers’ duel didn’t exactly play out the way it was planned as both pitchers struggled to get comfortable with a strike zone that neither team was happy with. Marsh, the winning pitcher, threw all seven innings and allowed six runs on nine hits while striking out four and walking two. Perry, the losing pitcher, walked eight batters in 5 2-3 innings while allowing seven runs on nine hits.

“Northside is probably the hottest team in North Carolina,” Riverside coach Hank Tice said. “We knew coming it was going to be two good high school pitchers on the mound. I thought both guys were a lot better than what the pitching charts show … Matt probably hasn’t walked eight batters all year. That guy behind the plate made two good high school pitchers look bad … That guy had no business calling a game of this magnitude.”

With the game tied at four, Northside had a runner on first with two outs when they were able surpass Riverside. The Panthers drew four straight walks, with the last two bringing in runs to take a 6-4 lead.

In the sixth inning, the Panthers struck again with two outs as Tyler Waters smacked an RBI single and Ussery was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to bring in the final run.

Waters had a tremendous day as he was 3-3 with an RBI and scored three times. Miller went 3-4 with a triple and a double and also scored three times.

“All I can say is we’re just a confident group right now,” Boyd said. “They come out every night and play hard and practice hard. They overcome adversity. We got down again and found a way to come back. These kids just don’t ever quit. They believe in themselves and that makes them dangerous.”

Christian Leggett led the Knights going 2-4 with an RBI, while Will Gurganus was 1-4 with a triple and two RBIs.

Both teams will be back in action next week when they play in the Northside Easter Tournament.

Riverside 013 010 1 č 6 9 2

Northside 020 222 X č 8 10 2

WP: Brandon Marsh; LP: Matt Perry

Hitting: R č Caleb Whitley 2-3 (R), Will Gurganus 1-4 (3B, 2 RBI), Christian Leggett 2-4 (RBI), Matt Perry 1-4 (2B, R), Lucas Groover 1-3 (2B), Luke Mathews 1-3, Thomas Knott 1-3; N č Brandon Marsh 1-3 (RBI), Josh Miller 3-4 (3 R, 3B, 2B, RBI), Ryan Arthur 1-4, Tyler Waters 3-3 (3 R, RBI),  Brandon Ussery 2-2 (2 RBI).