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North 48 Castle 20 - Central Stadium Evansville Sep. 1, 2006

Game Stats    Game Recap   

Offense

    Offensive Line Grades

  Trapp       Allgood         Hawkins     Price         Turner      Lewis         Brown

   76%         80%              88%            81%          86%         93%           63% 

Defense

Game Recap

The battle lines were drawn early on Friday night.  In a game featuring two teams with vastly different outcomes against a common opponent in Henderson County, few experts in the newspapers or on television would have drawn the lines the way it actually turned out.

The right half of the North offensive line determined that the battle was going to be fought over precious turf scanning the ground immediately ahead of them. With RG J.T. Turner, RT Jordan Lewis, and TE James Trapp sizing up the Castle defense early, QB Dion Pendleton and HB Larry Merriweather were given room to operate with precision and power.

The Huskies pounded Castle's defense into submission on an 8 play 83 yard drive early in the first quarter.  Merriweather carried in his first score of the evening from the 3 yard line.  When Castle returned the ensuing kick to their 30 yard line, it was time for DT Matt Hawkins to assume control of his side of the defensive line.  Three times the Knights ran towards his spot.  Three times Hawkins rejected all attempts to contain him and put down Castle's ball carrier.

With their next possession, the Huskies got a chance to show off their finesse offense.  When QB Pendleton dropped back, he looked deep for WR Ryan Parkman.  62 yards later, North had a 14-0 lead and the momentum was gaining.

Finding a creative way to get the ball to their heavily covered WR Brandon Stewart, the Huskies ran a flanker trap play that got Stewart the ball with a blocker.  He covered more than 60 yards before stepping out of bounds at the one yard line.  Two plays later, Merriweather made it 21-0 and the rout was in high gear.

Stewart got his first score of the evening when he dove into a pile and recovered a North fumble in the end zone.  Staying with that theme, sophomore Travis Carlisle then scooped up a loose ball in the end zone on the ensuing kickoff and with 8 minutes to play in the half the Huskies led by five touchdowns.

Castle managed to break through for a long pass that gave them an opportunity to put points on the board, but with the exception of a single play, the defense bottled up the Knights all night long.  With defensive ends Quintez Todd and Jordan Lewis supplying a heavy pass rush every time Castle's QB stepped back to throw, the Husky defense was never seriously threatened.

The offense relentlessly rolled right handed again for its final long drive of the half as Turner and Lewis drilled away at the Castle defensive end until the Huskies reached the five yard line.  From there, Pendleton took a quick drop and put the ball up high in the left corner of the end zone where All-World receiver Brandon Stewart plucked the ball out of the air for the sixth score.

With K Kyle Horstman making a name for himself on booming kickoffs, Castle was backed up deep with two minutes to play and desperate to close the gap before halftime.  They didn't appear to have learned anything from the display of leaping skills that Stewart had just shown in the end zone scant seconds earlier as Castle attempted a long pass in his direction.  When the Husky safety leapt and stole the Knights' pass, he sliced his way 57 yards to the Castle 5 and gave QB Dion Pendleton a chance to score on a five yard keeper with only 38 seconds to play in the half.

When Horstman converted his sixth of seven extra point tries (one was partially blocked), the Huskies' ravaging of the Knights stood at 48-6.

The second half featured a ball control offense designed to run time off the clock.  North abandoned its vertical game in favor of a possession oriented offense.  Castle, leaving it's starters in until the game's final seconds, managed two meaningless second half scores.  North, however, gained the full advantage of significant playing time for almost its entire bench.  Sophomore Drew Hawkins repeatedly recovered Castle's on-side kick attempts with sure handed grabs.

With a game plan designed to kill time and running behind the second team line featuring C Aaron Ethridge, G's Josh Douglas and Zac Hermann, and T's Paul Seals and Daniel Borman among others, HB Travis Carlisle picked up some tough yardage on 3rd and 1 and 4th and 1 despite being hit behind the line of scrimmage.  FB Greg Hopkinson ground out runs of 7 and 8 yards in the final possessions that also helped move the chains and keep Castle's offense off the field.

Heading to Memorial with a 2-0 SIAC conference record, the Huskies appear to be a formidable opponent for the Tigers.

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