1989 NHS Season Statistics
Evansville Courier & Press Newspapers ALL CITY/METRO Selections
| last name | first | pos | ht | wt | class | paper | note | |
| Habermel | Jason | DE | 6-4 | 218 | Sr. | Press, QB Club, All-SIAC 1st team | ||
| Huebner | Brian | QB | 6-1 | 155 | Jr. | Press, QB Club | ||
| Messel | Chad | DL | 5-10 | 226 | Sr. | Courier | ||
| Smith | Scott | OG | 5-10 | 190 | Sr. | Courier & Press, QB Club | Both papers |
RESULTS
| 1989 Season | ||
| Date | Opponent | Score |
| Aug. 26 | Evansville Bosse | Loss 6-20 |
| Sep. 1 | Castle | Loss 12-25 |
| Sep. 8 | Evansville Mater Dei | Win 14-7 |
| Sep. 15 | Evansville Central | Loss 0-28 |
| Sep. 22 | Evansville Memorial | Loss 8-19 |
| Sep. 29 | Evansville Reitz | Loss 20-38 |
| Oct. 6 | Heritage Hills | Win 44-14 |
| Oct. 14 | Evansville Harrison | Loss 21-24 |
| Oct. 20 | Vincennes Lincoln | Loss 7-14 |
SCORING
| player | first | pts | TD | PAT 1 | XPM | PAT 2 | FG | S | |
| Hale | Aaron | 38 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | |
| Armstead | Karl | 36 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Luckett | Stephan | 26 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | |
| Robertson | Vida | 12 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Huebner | Brian | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Nichols | Kirk | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Kunkel | Josh | 6 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Habermel | Jason | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
PASSING
| player | first | NCAA rtg | Att | Comp | % | TD | TD/att | Yds | yd/att | Int | int/att | |
| Huebner | Brian | 91.5 | 157 | 65 | 41.4% | 5 | 3.2% | 1002 | 6.4 | 11 | 7.0% |
RUSHING
| player | first | Att | Yds | TD | Avg | |
| Armstead | Karl | 97 | 500 | 6 | 5.2 | |
| Luckett | Stephan | 77 | 341 | 0 | 4.4 | |
| Nichols | Kirk | 26 | 124 | 1 | 4.8 | |
| Robertson | Vida | 10 | 41 | 1 | 4.1 |
RECEIVING
| player | first | Rec | Yds | TD | Avg | |
| Hale | Aaron | 16 | 336 | 5 | 21.0 | |
| Pike | Carlo | 16 | 246 | 0 | 15.4 | |
| Luckett | Stephan | 11 | 128 | 3 | 11.6 | |
| Armstead | Karl | 9 | 102 | 0 | 11.3 | |
| Goebel | David | 5 | 59 | 0 | 11.8 | |
| Robertson | Vida | 2 | 68 | 1 | 34.0 | |
| Nichols | Kirk | 2 | -5 | 0 | -2.5 |
SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
Having won only five games in its previous seven seasons, North football was being referred to by the local newspapers as “Agony High” when new head coach Mike Wilson took over the program. Wilson had built a successful program at Olney, Illinois’ East Richland High School and taken a winless program to 52 wins against 33 losses during his nine year stay.
He faced a similar task at North High School.
There was no small amount of irony in the fact that his first appearance on the sidelines for North came against a Bosse football team that had as its head coach Husky legend Mike Madriaga. The Bulldogs’ defensive coordinator was North alum Scott Riley, the son of former North coach Morris Riley. It was a baptism by fire as the Bulldogs won 20-6. QB Brian Huebner ushered in the “Wilson Era” with a 17 yard TD pass to wideout Aaron Hale.
The following week North played Castle even for the first three quarters only to give up two fourth quarter scores that made the result 12-25. The defense, however, displayed the type of muscle that would give a glimpse of good things to come the following week.
When the Huskies took the field versus Mater Dei in week three, North had not won a city football game since 1986. With running backs Karl Armstead and Karl Nichols providing a touchdown each, North led Mater Dei 14-7 late in the fourth quarter. When the Wildcats moved the ball to the Husky six yard line for first and goal with less than a minute to play, most folks in the stands believed a North collapse was imminent. On second down, DB Hank Wheeler made a great play to bat down a pass from an open receiver’s hands. On third down, Nichols came up and made a one-on-one tackle at the 4 yard line to stop a runner from scoring. On the crucial fourth down play it was Karl Nichols who again came up big and knocked down a pass in the end zone to preserve the Huskies first city win in eighteen tries.
The euphoria was short lived, however, when Central tried to run up the score against North. Ahead 28-0 with a minute to go in the game, the Bears threw three long passes and called time outs to try and increase their lead. Central assistant coaches were displeased that they had been turned down for the North head coaching position and felt compelled to take out their ire on Husky players. Even the Evansville papers referred to the attempt as ‘bush league’.
Following a trio of losses, it was the defense that would once again contribute to North’s second win of the season—a total which surpassed any season since 1981. Against Heritage Hills, DB Hank Wheeler picked off a pair of passes on a night that saw the Huskies intercept the Patriots SEVEN times. DB Vida Robertson returned one of the seven 55 yards for a touchdown as North scored it’s highest point total since 1976!
When WR Aaron Hale hauled in a 47 yard scoring pass from QB Brian Huebner versus Harrison the following week, it signaled North’s high water mark of the season. Leading 21-14 with six minutes to play, the Warriors scored late to force overtime and then won in overtime.
In the sectional game versus 7th ranked Vincennes, North nearly pulled off the upset. Trailing 7-14, the Huskies took over the ball with only minutes left in the game. Having advanced to the Vincennes 29 with 1:27 to play, QB Brian Huebner rolled to his right on 4th down and five yards to go for a first down. Stretching for the first down as he was tackled right in front of the North coaches, it appeared that the ball came down well ahead of the chains. The officials, however, marked the ball short of the 25 and the Huskies dreams were dashed.
The ’89 club laid the foundation for the following season which would prove to be North’s first winning season in twelve years.
DEFENSE--2 pts each for solo, cause or recover fumble, sack, int, blk kick; 1 pt each for assist and tackle for loss
No Defensive Statistics are available at this time.