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North Huskies vs Mater Dei Wildcats - at Bundrant Stadium Sep 25, 2020

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Offense

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Game Recap

WILDCATS EXTEND STRING TO 13 WITH 29-14 WIN OVER NORTH

North’s offense struggled to string together first downs in a 29-14 loss to the Mater Dei Wildcats Friday night.  Field position was at a premium as special teams dictated the outcome of a game that was evenly balanced statistically.  The Huskies were faced with an average field position of the 17-yard line on their last seven possessions whereas Mater Dei benefited from a starting position of their 40-yard line over the same time period.  Half of the Wildcat’s scoring drives originated from North territory.

BATTLE OF FIELD POSITION

The Huskies consistently placed a heavy burden on sophomore Jaylon Mitchell’s shoulders.  Filling in for North’s regular quarterback and punter, Mitchell managed an excellent average of 36.3 yards per punt.  Unfortunately, the offense’s struggles to ‘move the sticks’ often had him punting from in front of the North goal posts.  Mater Dei return men routinely called for a fair catch around their 40-yard line.

Conversely, the Wildcats’ punter found himself punting four times from near mid-field.  Three of those four punts failed to be caught by Husky return men and rolled dead well inside North’s 20.  Faced with 80 yard or longer fields in front of them, the Huskies struggled to put points on the board.

MATER DEI’S LINE WINS THE BATTLE UP FRONT

The first half brought a realization that North’s previously indisputable domination of the line of scrimmage was no longer ‘a given’.  Mater Dei rang up more yards rushing in the first half than the Huskies had given up in the entire season to date.  17 times the Wildcats ran into the line and never once failed to gain yardage—they went into halftime with 143 yards rushing.

PRESSWOOD KEEPS THE GAME COMPETITIVE

With quarterback Ethan Brawdy out due to a non-Covid19 related illness, the North offense struggled mightily.  North failed to gain a first down until their tenth offensive play.  It fell to senior Capelton Presswood to assert himself with the longest touchdown run of his career.

With North lined up in a pistol formation at their nine-yard line, Presswood took a handoff and started to follow right guard Timothy Dixon to his left.  Both Mater Dei defensive tackles had “pinched” center Kaleb Lowe on the snap—Lowe and left guard Gage Sales handled the defensive maneuver, but the defense’s penetration blocked the way to Presswood’s left.

The nimble senior jump cut back to his right where tackle Garrett Mooney had neatly removed the defensive end from position.  Unfortunately, with the play calling for Dixon to pull and run down the line, there was no one to block the linebacker.

‘Cape’ did another of his ‘inside-out’ juke steps that have resulted in long runs and defenders with ‘broken ankles’ trailing along behind him.

In a flash, Presswood juked to his left, lowered his shoulder, brushed his way past the linebacker, and then juked to his right toward the sideline.  The maneuver effectively removed both the linebacker and the strong safety from being able to contain him.

From there, ‘Cape’ accelerated down the sideline for a 91-yard touchdown run—eventually putting 15 yards between him and his closest pursuer.  The score, in combination with sophomore Mitchell Renfro’s twentieth extra-point kick of the season, drew North within two points at 9-7.

The Wildcats were able to return the ensuing kickoff to their 35-yard line.  From there, they strung together three first downs running the ball on eight straight plays and found themselves at the North 25 facing third down and nine.  Mater Dei perfectly executed a ‘wheel route’ pass and it resulted in a 25-yard touchdown reception. The Huskies trailed 16-7 at half time.

RUN STUFFERS RETURN IN THE THIRD QUARTER

The Huskies made adjustments at halftime and the defense responded.  Sophomore Cale Johnson stopped a receiver ‘cold’ in the flat on first down, junior T.J. Hankins stopped a runner short of the first down marker on the next play and senior Gage Sales made a statement on third down. 

With Mater Dei in a two-back set on third and short, Sales lined up in his nose tackle position.  On the snap, the senior stood the opponent center straight up and tossed him in the air down the line and away from him.  It was a picture of ‘strong man’ football at its finest.

In a play that had worked routinely in the first half for Mater Dei, the “H” back came next to the center of the line with the intention of eliminating Sales from his position located squarely in the hole.  Sales laid his right shoulder into the H-back and shed him like aluminum foil.  That left Sales one-on-one with the running back who had gained over a hundred yards in the first half.

Sales picked the runner up and threw him down helmet first into the ground for what should have been a tackle for loss but was marked no gain by the officials.  Regardless, the line had finally held against the Wildcats and North believed they would get good field position as a result.

THE 0-LINE PROVIDES HIGH TIDE FOR THE HUSKIES

A punt that the Huskies chose not to catch in the belief that it would quickly go out of bounds failed to do just that.  Instead it danced along the Mater Dei sideline and rolled and rolled and rolled.  It rolled another 25 yards in a straight line—something footballs are not known to do.  It finally stopped rolling at the North 14-yard line and Husky fans rolled their eyes in response.

With fears mounting that the terrible starting field position would douse whatever fires the team had stoked during halftime, the faithful need not have worried.  Capelton Presswood would once again answer the call.

Given the strong defensive showing on the first possession of the quarter, the Huskies needed to get the offense untracked.  A pair of quick flat passes moved the chains.  Fullback T.J. Hankins made a beautiful off-tackle run that gained 40 yards but was called back and changed to just an eight-yard gain for an unexplained violation that appeared to involve both teams.  A Mitchell run placed the ball out past the 46 and North hopes would reach “high tide” on the next play.

In shotgun formation, the Huskies ran an outside zone play that worked to perfection and Presswood would once again be the straw-that-stirs-the-drink for this offensive line.

On the snap, Timothy Dixon would neutralize the tackle in front of him.  He stood his man up and simply turned him to his left.  He became the pivot point on which the play would turn.  Garrett Mooney turned his man outside and kept turning him all the way to the sideline.  Junior Angus Davis stepped into the hole as a lead blocker and dealt with the linebacker.  Presswood wasted no time dashing into the void but his way was still blocked by a pair of defenders.

Timing is everything on offense and at exactly the moment that Presswood needed them, the Sales brothers arrived like the cavalry coming over the hill in an old western movie.  Gage Sales had pushed his man backward into the secondary and younger brother Gunnar followed his brother towards the action on the right side of the field  The two linemen spotted defenders that posed a threat to Presswood as he cleared the hole given him by Davis, Mooney, and Dixon.

Like a scythe clearing wheat, the Sales brothers made a path back to the center of the field for ‘Cape’ to follow.  Presswood had a single defender to beat—he left that man laying face down on the carpet at the Wildcat 40 and zipped to the end zone.  North trailed 16-14 with 5:54 to play.  “High Tide’ had been reached.

HUSKIES LOSE THE FIELD POSITION GAME AND THE CONTEST

After Brody Tichenor nailed a runner for a loss on third and 1 at the Mater Dei 44 to stall the west-siders, their punt rolled dead at the North 5-yard line.  After a three-and-out, a Wildcat called for a fair catch at the North 38.  While the Husky defense stopped both running plays for no gain, the pass defense yielded three completions and the score was 23-14 as the game entered the fourth quarter.

Another three and out followed by a Mater Dei fair catch at their 40, produced field position for the Wildcats that they could convert.  Even though the drive stalled after gaining three first downs, they were able to kick a field goal and go up 26-14.  Their kickoff resulted in a touchback and North took over at their 20.

Trailing by 12 points with four minutes to play, the Huskies chose to go-for-it on fourth down and failed to convert.  Despite senior Luke Willis and junior Mitchell Happe holding a runner for no gain, Cale Johnson dropping a runner for loss, and Happe forcing a hurried throw out of bounds by the quarterback, Mater Dei was able to kick a field goal for their final score.  North lost 29-14.

LITTLE THINGS MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE

There is no joy in losing.  The statistics tell the story of a game between two evenly matched teams who, between them, only committed a single turnover.  It is often the special teams play that tells the difference in a game and this was one of them.  Field position (or the lack thereof) proved to be critical for a team with a sophomore quarterback making his first varsity start.   On four different occasions the Wildcats were in position to either return punts or fair catch them and keep a kick from rolling further into their territory.  Their offense benefited from the shorter fields to cover and their kicking team produced three field goals that dictated the outcome of the game.  North’s losing streak to Mater Dei has now reached thirteen games.

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