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North 21 Henderson Co. 40 - Central Stadium Aug 28, 2010

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HENDERSON COUNTY OVERPOWERS HUSKIES 40-21 AUG 28, 2010

The “Dive” play is the most fundamental play in all of football.

The quarterback takes a direct snap and hands it off to a running back who is “diving” straight forward from his set position.  There are no fancy patterns for the back to pivot or cut off of,  no linemen are required to cross block or trap, and no fakes are deployed.

The “dive” is straightforward, power versus power, football.

The team with the most power moves forward.

North got over powered on Saturday night.

The simplest of plays, the most fundamental of plays, simply killed the Huskies.

Over and over and over.

Certainly, early turnovers put the Huskies in a hole from which it would have been difficult to recover.  There’s no overlooking the fact that giving your opponent the ball inside your own 30 three times in the first half is a killer.

But the inability to stop the dive play at the line of scrimmage was where the game was lost.

1^st QUARTER

The Henderson County kicker displayed a strong leg on the opening kickoff booming the ball into the end zone and perhaps no other player would influence Husky fortunes for the evening more than Henderson’s kicker.   Each of the first four times he would kick off, the Huskies would watch the ball land in the end zone and result in touchbacks.  The poor field position would haunt North the entire half.

Following a fumble by the Huskies at their 23 yard line on the game’s first play, Henderson County mixed and matched four short runs and a pass and converted the North turnover into a touchdown.

Trailing 7-0 and once again starting from their 20, disaster struck on this drive’s third play.  As the Husky running back looped out of the backfield for an open reception that would have resulted in a first down, the ball instead deflected off his fingertips and into the hands of a diving Colonel defensive back at the 36 yard line. 

When DE Devin Rios (on his first of NINE tackles on the evening) slammed the Henderson County quarterback to the ground to set up third and long, it appeared that if the Huskies could stop the Colonel’s on third down they might “weather the storm” of two early turnovers.

And when the Colonel QB overthrew a receiver, it looked like the worst was over.

That’s when the “long-legged” kicker came out and hit a 43 yard field goal that would have cleared the bar from ten yards further out.

Down 10-0, the Husky line, which had so dominated Bosse a week ago, appeared to become a bit overwhelmed.  After a 1^st down run by RB Blake Howell around right end, three consecutive Husky running plays to the left resulted in lost yards and a punt.

Henderson County took the ball at their 36 and this was the point at which the “Dive” play took over the game.  On a 1^st down at the 49 yard line, a dive play into the line resulted in the Colonel’s diminutive tailback going 51 yards for a touchdown.  North trailed at the end of the quarter  17-0.

2^nd QUARTER

On their first possession of the second quarter, having started near midfield following a Husky punt, it didn’t take the Colonel’s long to go back to the “Dive”.  On 2^nd and 10 from the North 37, it was the fullback this time who broke through the interior of the Husky defense and went in for the score.

Starting from its 14 yard line following the ensuing kickoff, the Huskies converted a third down to move the ball out from in front of their own goal posts.  Aided by two Henderson defensive penalties, it appeared that the green and white might be putting together a drive as they lined up from their 35 yard line.

Henderson snuffed out that hope with a corner blitz that went unblocked and the blitzing Colonel slammed into QB Luke Blankenship from his “blind” side and forced a fumble.

The Colonel’ scored on the next play when a pass into the end zone was poorly defended.

SECOND HALF

Trailing 34-0 at intermission, most teams might surrender to the inevitable and fail to ‘show up’ in the second half.  To the 2010 Huskies’ credit, this team is different from some past editions.  These guys show up to play all forty-eight minutes.

When LB Mike Johnson slammed a Colonel runner to the ground for a four yard loss on the first play of the half, it set a tone.  And when the rest of the defense forced a “three-and-out”, the Husky offense was ready to respond.

Finally getting decent field position, North took over near midfield and made the most of it.  Johnson banged away for five yards and when Blankenship couldn’t spot an open receiver and picked up four more yards on his own, it set up third and inches at the Henderson 44 yard line. 

Lining up in the “spread” offense, RB Blake Howell turned a draw play into a 15 yard gain to set up 1^st and 10 at the 29 yard line.  With Henderson now watching for the “run” on defense, Blankenship executed a beautiful play action fake to the fullback and then hit Richard Compton mid-stride over the middle at the 10 yard line with a pass.

With a full head of steam, Compton angled to the left flag of the end zone and went in for North’s first score untouched.  K David Patton split the uprights and North had its first seven points of the evening just four minutes into the half.

When Henderson County finds something that works, though, they stay with it. 

And the fullback dive was working. 

Whatever momentum North had from the early score was killed by repeated dive plays (including one that went 49 yards to the Husky 13 yard line).  When the defensive line finally held at the five, only a “wide right” field goal attempt by Henderson’s kicker prevented a score.

The Colonel’s got their points on the game’s next play when they intercepted a pass at the 22 and ran it back for a touchdown.

North managed a long drive to the Henderson eleven yard line on its ensuing possession.  Mixing the hard running of Howell with short passes from Blankenship, it appeared the Huskies might solve the Colonel defense, but three balls fell incomplete at the 11 and North yielded the ball on downs.

4^th QUARTER

The rest of the third quarter and most of the fourth was eaten up by the Henderson running game.  Dive after dive into the line yielded three or four yards and a cloud of dust.  They also generated clock eating first downs.

It wasn’t until the game’s final minutes that the Huskies managed to stall a Henderson drive near midfield.  With the defense forcing a punt from the 50, DE Damien Jackson broke through the center of the formation and blocked the kick.  DT Jarrod Hawkins scooped up the loose ball and rambled 35 yards for a touchdown.  Patton’s kick brought the score to 40-14.

On Henderson County’s next play, a botched handoff resulted in a DT Jacob Embry fumble recovery.  One play later, Blankenship hit WR Brock Hardin on a fade route in the left hand corner of the end zone for a fourteen yard touchdown.

Henderson ran out the clock on the next possession to end the excitement.

CONCLUSION

If anything’s to be taken away from a loss like this one, it’s the way the Huskies played when they were down 34-0.  Admittedly, Henderson County played with less intensity in the second half by virtue of being up 5 scores.

But they still had their starters in the game on both sides of the ball until 6 minutes to play.  North battled and gave as good as they got in the second half rather than give in or give up.

The Huskies generated 150 yards in total offense in the second half and didn’t yield a defensive score after intermission.

Building upon an improved second half, perhaps the Huskies can move to 2-0 in the SIAC conference with a better showing this coming Friday night at Enlow Field.

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