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North 33 Central 56 - Central Stadium Oct 15, 2010

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Game Recap

TURNOVERS, PENALTIES DOOM HUSKY HOPES IN 56-33 LOSS TO CENTRAL

Two turnovers and four fifteen yard personal foul penalties helped to put the Huskies down 28-0 before the second quarter was 30 seconds old last Friday night at Central Stadium.  From that moment forward, the Huskies actually outscored the Bears and did proper justice to the rivalry.

Unfortunately, as has so often been the case during the 2010 season, the early deficit was too much to overcome and the Huskies came away with their seventh loss.

1^ST QUARTER

To recount all of the miscues and mistakes of the first period would serve little purpose.  Suffice to say that the Huskies converted not one, not two, but three third downs FOR the Bears by committing penalties.  Without those penalties, three of Central’s first four scoring drives would have resulted in punts.  As it was, the Bears put their 28^th point on the board on the first play of the second quarter following an interception in North territory.

2^ND QUARTER

When the Bears’ kickoff went out of bounds, North took over at the 35 with 11:35 on the clock.  North was playing without the services of two seniors who normally start on both offense and defense:  RB Richard Compton (who doubles as a defensive back) and OT Austin Moll (who also starts at defensive end).  Both players had sustained concussion-type injuries at Detroit and were forced to sit out the Central game.

Sophomore ‘Big’ Mike Johnson filled in admirably at tailback against the Bears.  Running behind North’s vaunted ‘Steam Roller’ left side of its offensive line (OT Jarrod Hawkins and OG Damien Jackson), Johnson quickly gained 24 yards on two runs and had North across midfield.  Sandwiching a run and a pass to FB Duvante Lane around a 15 yard run by RB Blake Howell, the Huskies were looking at first and ten from the Central eleven.

QB Luke Blankenship took a quick two step drop and tossed a pass to TE Drew Watters at the five yard line.  Watters appeared to be stopped when three Central defenders massed between him and the goal line.  Sensing his first scoring opportunity of his varsity football career, the stoutly built sophomore bulled his way through all three Bears and barrel rolled into the end zone for North’s first score.  K David Patton added the extra point and the Huskies trailed 28-7 with 8:57 to play in the half.

BEARS DISPLAY A LACK OF ‘CLASS’

Over the course of the game, Central had opportunities to be a gracious host and good sportsmen.  Spotted a 28 point lead and maintaining it throughout the game, the Bear coaching staff could have called a conservative offense and rested their starters early in preparation for the playoffs. 

They did neither.

They played their starters until the game's final three minutes and were throwing deep passes while they were up 30 points in the fourth quarter.  As a result, Central confirmed their suspected lack of class as a coaching unit and www.nhsrecords.com won’t provide any description of their efforts for the remainder of the game recap.

‘BIG’ MIKE TAKES OVER

Starting the Huskies second possession of the quarter in much the same way as he had the first, Johnson took off around left end on first down.  Watters and WR Brock Hardin effectively manhandled their blocking assignments on the perimeter of the Bear defense and Johnson skirted along the North sideline for a 21 yard gain.  Three plays later Johnson went off left tackle, cut back inside, and rambled another twenty yards to the Bear 16.  

Blankenship managed to draw Central offside with a hard count on first down and Johnson moved the ball down to the nine on another short run.  With Hardin lined up wide left and drawing one-on-one coverage, Blankenship tossed a fade pass deep into the left hand corner of the end zone.  Hardin went up in the air and made a circus style, one-handed grab of the football.  He landed hard but held onto the ball and North had its second score of the evening.  The extra-point kick was blocked and the Huskies trailed 34-13.

KINNAIRD TURNS ON THE JETS

With the clock winding down on the half, North went into its ‘Hurry Up’ offense.  The Bears aided the Huskies with an Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalty of their own and the ball sat at North’s 43 with barely a minute left in the half.  Blankenship executed a play action fake to Johnson and the corner back bit on the fake.  WR Caleb Kinnaird capitalized on the defender’s hesitation and streaked past him into the open part of the field in front of the Central sideline. 

Blankenship quickly set his feet, shifted his weight, and arced another of his patented, beautiful rainbow tosses 40 yards down field.  Kinnaird raced to the other end of the rainbow and very nearly collected the ‘pot o’ gold’ at the other end.   The official, however, ruled that he had stepped out of bounds at the Central five yard line and it fell to Johnson to run another sweep around left end for the touchdown with 45 seconds to play in the half.  Patton’s extra point made the score 42-20 at the half.

SECOND HALF

The Huskies went ‘back to the well’ on both of their first two possessions of the second half—trying to repeat the Blankenship-to-Kinnaird connection that had generated the big score at the end of the first half.

Both of their trips ‘to the well’ resulted in interceptions.

As a result, they trailed 56-20 when they took over at their 30 with 5:22 to play in the third quarter.  Big Mike banged away for 11 yards on the first play of the possession and it was sophomore Duvante Lane who brought the North fans to their feet seconds later.

Lane, lining up at fullback, barely two yards directly behind the quarterback, took the handoff on a dive play between C Sam Jones and RG Damon Byers.  He slipped through a crease and found himself in some daylight seven yards into the Bears’ secondary.  Angling to his right, he aimed himself toward the Central sideline. 

Kinnaird, having continued to run up field after the handoff, found himself in a position to aid the young running back and provided a key block that further sprung Lane into open space.   A defensive back who also runs on the Central 4x100 relay team in track managed to catch the runner before he made it to the end zone, but not before he’d gone forty yards to the Bear 14 yard line.  Two sweeps around left end by Johnson followed and North had its fourth touchdown of the evening.  North attempted a two point conversion and it appeared that Johnson had gotten into the end zone near the right hand flag.

The officials waived off the apparent two point conversion and ruled the runner down short of the goal line.  Two personal fouls ensued and North ended up kicking off from its twelve yard line trailing 56-26.

RIOS STOPS THE BEARS COLD

Given the impossible spot of the kickoff and their extravagant play calling with a 30 point lead, the Bears were knocking on the North goal line in scant seconds after taking the ball.  Facing second down at the ten yard line, the Big Green looked to be “all in” and ready to take a shellacking. 

No one told DE Devin Rios that it was time to surrender the colors, however.

Rios and the rest of the front four had been close to the Bears elusive quarterback numerous times in the game’s first half only to watch him shrug and evade their grasp.  With the benefit of Division One caliber athletes at the receiver positions, the Bear QB had frustrated the Husky defense by gaining himself just enough time to heave a ball downfield and allow a receiver to run under it.

Not this time.

This time Rios blew past the tackle on a bull rush and recorded the fifteenth “Sack” of his career—good for third place on the All-Time North career leader board.  After being slammed to the ground at the 16 yard line, the Bear QB showed signs of hesitation on each of the next two plays.  He threw the next ball entirely over the end zone and out the back and on fourth down he threw a ball into coverage that was easily batted down.

The North defense had held deep in its own territory as the game entered the final quarter.

4^TH QUARTER

Taking over at the 16, the Huskies handed the ball to Blake Howell to start pushing it back upfield.  He gained 13 yards around left end on first down and narrowly averted disaster on second down.

Running off left tackle, Howell struggled with a line backer and the ball popped loose five yards after he crossed the line of scrimmage.  Luckily for the Huskies, OG Damon Byers was next to the running back when the ball squirted free and he plucked the ball out of the air and rumbled forward another four yards.  Johnson hammered away at the Central starting defensive line twice more and medium gains got him his first 100 yard rushing game of his career.

With the ball sitting at the Central 38, Blankenship found Kinnaird cutting deep across the middle on a ‘Post’ pattern and the lanky wide receiver blazed the final 10 yards into the end zone.  Patton’s  extra point made the score 56-33 and the final margin was established.

“BUSH LEAGUE” BEARS

Central refused to substitute and marched the ball downfield despite two Damien Jackson tackles for loss and another Rios drop for negative yards.  Continuing to throw deep passes with a 23 point lead and barely five minutes to play, they made their way to the North ten yard line.

Throwing to their All-City wide receiver near the goal line, the Bears had to contend with DB DeWayne Williams.  Having already recovered a fumble in the third quarter, Williams stepped in front of the throw and picked off the pass.  Streaking up the sideline, he may very well have scored had he beaten the final Central defender.

Unfortunately, a block in the back call from far behind the play rendered the return moot, but not the interception.  North had the ball at the 23 and the final threat had been thwarted.

CONCLUSION

Hard as it may be to believe, if you were in the stands, you witnessed some of the finest football the Huskies have played in 2010 during the second, third, and fourth quarters of this game.  If not for all the first quarter miscues, this game would have been much closer than the final score.

North gave as good as it got and the Bears certainly cannot claim that the Huskies made gains against their second unit.  We beat their best for five touchdowns in the game’s final 36 minutes and did it without two critical “two-way” starters.

All of which points the Huskies in the right direction for this Friday’s sectional opener on the road at Floyd Central in New Albany.

If North can rekindle the focus of last Friday’s middle quarters, “The Highlanders” had best be ready for a fierce battle.

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