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1977 NHS Season Statistics

Evansville Courier & Press Newspapers ALL CITY/METRO Selections

last name first pos ht wt class paper note
Andress Jeff DB 5-11 170 Jr. Courier Honorable Mention
Burks Randy C 6-5 205 Sr. Courier & Press Both papers
Gray Stoner DB 6-3 180 Sr. Courier & Press DB - Courier  WR - Press
King John QB     Sr. Courier Special Mention
Paulson Hank DT 5-11 188 Sr. Courier & Press Both papers
Pence Steve TE 6-3 205 Sr. Courier & Press Both papers
Pendleton Mike RB     So. Courier Honorable Mention
Prange Eric WR     Sr. Courier Honorable Mention
Wilson Kevin P 5-9 165 Sr. Courier & Press Both papers

RESULTS

1977 Season  
Date  Opponent  Score
Aug. 26  Henderson County (Ky.) Win 23-22
Sep. 2  Vincennes Lincoln Win 25-7
Sep. 9  Evansville Memorial Win 26-12
Sep. 16  Evansville Harrison Win 20-12
Sep. 23  TH South Win 35-21
Sep. 30  Evansville Central Win 31-21
Oct. 6  Evansville Reitz Loss 10-17
Oct. 14  Evansville Bosse Win 21-7
Oct. 28  Evansville Mater Dei Loss 21-24

SCORING

player first pts TD PAT 1 XPM PAT 2 FG S
Gray Stoner 40 6 0 0 2 0 0
Pence Steve 36 6 0 0 0 0 0
Prange Eric 28 4 4 0 0 0 0
Thomas Larry 26 4 0 0 1 0 0
King John 24 4 0 0 0 0 0
Wilson Kevin 24 4 0 0 0 0 0
Andress Jeff 22 0 16 0 0 2 0
Adams Steve 12 2 0 0 0 0 0

PASSING

player first NCAA rtg Att Comp % TD TD/att Yds yd/att Int int/att
King John 162.0 51 28 54.9% 5 9.8% 549    10.8 4 7.8%
Adams Steve 135.6 65 30 46.2% 7 10.8% 584      9.0 7 10.8%
Gray Stoner      --     9 3 33.3% 1 11.1% 56      6.2 0 0.0%

Individual stats for rushing and receiving are unavailable at this time.

Highlights included: 1977 would stand as the answer to the question the 'The Last Great Football Team' North fielded for fifteen years.  Featuring a high powered, balanced offense and a hard hitting, big play defense, the '77 club came within a whisker of immortality as the first North Husky team to make the state playoffs. 

The offense was initially led by QB John King--his 162.0 passing rating for the five games he played still stands as the yardstick by which North QB's are compared.  His season ending knee injury against Terre Haute South opened the door for sophomore Steve Adams to take the reigns and with a talent laden offense surrounding him, Adams posted a 135.6 rating.

John King, in a string of four games, put together a highlight reel of come-from-behind victories and dominating performances.  In the season opener versus highly regarded Henderson County, having been sidelined in the second half with an injury, King came off the bench to lead the club on a thrilling 60 yard drive in the waning seconds.  Facing 4th and goal from the 8 yard line with only minutes to play, King found RB Kevin Wilson in the end zone for an 8 yard TD that pulled the Huskies within one.  Coach Wessel chose to go for two, and King then withstood a strong rush to hit versatile Wingback/DB Stoner Gray with the conversion that made the final score North 23 Colonels 22.

The following week, Gray provided the spark and King provided the legs as well as the arm to beat up on Vincennes 25-7.  Stoner Gray ran an inside-reverse 21 yards for a score, caught a 35 yard pass that went out of bounds on the one to set up a TD, and returned an interception 31 yards for a touchdown.  The North offensive line--consisting of tackles Gregg Knust and Wallace, guards M. Perkins and Steve Carlisle, and center Randy Burks--displayed the type of muscle up front that would power the offense throughout the season.  Surging ahead, they enabled King to sneak in twice for scores from the one yard line with little opposition.

Against a tough Memorial squad, the line opened a big hole up the middle that FB Larry Thomas blew through and then rambled 64 yards for a score to set the tone of the game.  Thomas would rush 17 times for 128 yards in the game, Stoner Gray would catch a 25 yard TD pass from King, the team would rack up 206 yards rushing, and Memorial would go down 26-12 to the Huskies.

Battling explosive Harrison in the season's fourth tilt, QB King would throw for nearly 200 yards including a 55 yard scoring toss to TE Steve Pence on the way to a 20-12 win.

It was during the fifth game versus Terre Haute South that the Huskies would lose King, fall behind, and then roar back to win.  Trailing 14-6 at half and having witnessed King's exit early in the second quarter, North called upon all of it's talented players to fill the gap.  TE Steve Pence grabbed scoring passes from both all-purpose all-star Stoner Gray and QB Steve Adams.  Pence finished the game with a record tying three TD receptions in a single game.  RB Kevin Wilson returned a punt 55 yards to ignite one drive, rushed for 115 yards, and ran in a two point conversion. North zoomed to a 5-0 start despite losing their starting quarterback.

In the 6th game against Central, Adams proved he could provide similar leadership that King had provided.  Standing only 5-9 and weighing 155 lbs, Adams was a smaller player than the man he replaced, but no less capable.  Versus the Bears, Adams ran 8 times for 43 yards and threw for 116.  He completed a 28 yard TD pass to WR Eric Prange and then played tough at linebacker on defense.  The defense came up big with a 31 yard Interception return for a TD by Stoner Gray and a fumble recovery by Gary HartigJeff Andress picked off one pass and then converted a 31 yard field goal along with four perfect extra point kicks.  The Bears went down 31-21 and North moved to a perfect 6-0.

All of which set up a dramatic Thursday night show down at Reitz Bowl versus the #1 ranked Panthers.  With both clubs undefeated, over 10,200 fans attended what would be the biggest city game of the season.  When Reitz zoomed to a 14-0 lead in the first half, the game looked like it could be over early. 

And then the Husky defense stiffened.

Defensively, Nathan Kemp's 6 solo tackles and 3 assists along with Stoner Gray's six stops gave the Huskie's offense time to regroup and get the club back in the ball game.  Spreading the ball around between all his receivers, Adams eventually found Eric Prange in the end zone for a 10 yard score.  Coupled with Jeff Andress' 30 yard field goal, the Huskies were back in the game and trailed by only 17-10 with minutes to go.

North football reached it's high-water mark for the next fifteen years when it drove the ball to the Reitz one-yard line with just over a minute to go.  On fourth and goal, Adams had Prange open for a brief second in the end zone.  It appeared as though the Huskie's would have an opportunity to either tie or take the lead.  At the last instant a Reitz defender got a hand on the ball and deflected it away.  North's dreams of a city championship ended on that play.

Over the season's final two games, North would average 225 yards per game rushing, Stoner Gray would score on both a 61 yard TD run and a 61 yard TD reception, Steve Adams would post a season high 215 yard passing versus Mater Dei, and Kevin Wilson would have a pair of 100 yard games rushing.  The season would stand as North's last great success until the 1992 club won the Sectional.

 RUSHING

player first Att Yds TD Avg
Thomas Larry     4  
King John     4  
Wilson Kevin     3  
Gray Stoner     2  
Adams Steve     2  

RECEIVING

player first Rec Yds TD Avg
Pence Steve     6  
Prange Eric     4  
Gray Stoner     2  
Wilson Kevin     1  

DEFENSE--2 pts each for solo, cause or recover fumble, sack, int, blk kick; 1 pt each for assist and tackle for loss

player first pts solo asst tfloss sac caus fum rec fum int blk kick Total Solo
Paulson Hank 136 55 24         1   55
Hyde Mike 132 50 30         1   50
Andress Jeff 95 36 19       1 1   36
Givens Glen 88 34 18       1     34
Adams Steve 97 32 29       1 1   32
Pendleton Mike 90 29 24       2 2   29
Belwood Mike 76 25 24       1     25
Hartig Gary 69 25 13       3     25
Binney Barry 65 25 15             25
Gray Stoner 61 21 11         4   21
Niemeier Larry 61 19 21       1     19
Kemp Nathan 40 18 4             18
Wilson Kevin 32 12 4       1 1   12
Perkins Mike 23 8 7             8
Thomas Larry 21 7 5       1     7
Prange Eric 17 5 5         1   5
Pence Steve 9 3 1       1     3
Lyles Billy 5 2 1             2
Carlile Steve 4 2               2
Hall Mark 4 2               2
Garrett Mark 2 1               1
Nicholson Steve 2 1               1
Stanfield John 2 1               1

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