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1992 NHS Season Statistics--SECTIONAL CHAMPS

Evansville Courier & Press Newspapers ALL CITY/METRO Selections

RESULTS

SCORING

PASSING

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

RUSHING

RECEIVING

SEASON HIGHLIGHTS

It had been 15 years since North had last been considered a football power house.  Fifteen years without a state wide ranking and fifteen arduous seasons toiling for little recognition.

That string would come to an end in 1992.

Not since the ’77 club had come within 10 points of an undefeated season had North witnessed a “contender” for a post-season appearance.  That ’77 club had featured a city-best passing attack, a solid offensive line, team speed, and a defense that was renowned for its high take-away ratio.

The ’92 club proved to be all that and then some.  It wasn’t apparent, however, from the start.

Coming off an 0-9 season, no one had North ranked among the top teams in the area during the pre-season.  Despite returning nearly 20 starters, the Huskies were picked to finish either last or next-to-last in the city race by both papers and when they laid an egg on opening night against Bosse, the predictions appeared correct.

In the season’s second contest, however, against Harrison, the North offensive line of OT’s Taurus Tomlinson and John Wehr, OG’s Brad Ames and David Ramsey, and C Todd Conley began to flex their muscle.  Opening holes against a Warrior ball club that had beaten North convincingly the previous season, the line enabled RB Rodney Gibson to make an impact on city newspaper scribes.  Gibson’s speed and agility were apparent when he ran for three scores and the papers called his performance “electrifying”.  When all-purpose FB Buster Grayson added two more touchdowns on the ground, North had scored as many rushing TD’s in its first two games as it had the entire previous season.  With QB Ben Kunkel shredding Harrison on 12 of 15 passing for 139 yards, the Huskies were becoming a force to be reckoned with.

The following week against Mater Dei, it was the Kunkel to WR Taron Polk connection that would spark the Huskies to victory.  Recalling the ’77 team’s aerial blitz of John King to Stoner Gray, Kunkel would find Polk six times on the night, twice setting up scores to insure a close 14-12 win.  It was LB Allen Patterson who sealed the victory when his game saving tackle on 4^th and goal and three minutes to play stalled the Wildcats’ final drive.

If the Harrison game was the offense’s “coming out” party, it was the Castle game that put RB Rodney Gibson on a path to one of the great seasons in North history.  Against the Knights, Gibson ran for two TD’s and 256 yards on only 22 carries.  Stable-mate Cory Floyd ran for another 75 yards on only 12 carries as the Huskies put Castle down 24-14 and notched their third consecutive win.

After turnovers cost North any chance at victory against Memorial, the Huskies journeyed to Reitz Bowl hoping to become the first North team to ever win back-to-back games on the Panthers’ home field.  When the dust had cleared, not only had the Huskies won, but they had inflicted the largest victory margin on Reitz in school history—26 ponts.  Not since the potent ’63 club broke the Panthers’ 21 game city win streak at Bosse Field had North flexed such muscle.  With Kunkel throwing for 145 yards in the game, opponents were baffled as to whether the Huskies would attack by land or by air.  What they knew for certain was that North football was back.

RB Rodney Gibson ground out 131 yards and threw a touchdown pass versus Heritage Hills in a 21-14 win. Both he and FB Buster Grayson extended their streak of games with at least one touchdown to seven the following week in a victory over Central.  The 21-13 victory over Central was the first of Coach Mike Wilson’s career and broke a string of six consecutive losses to the Huskies’ north side rival.

By the time Sectionals rolled around, North was in high gear.  Gibson and Grayson kept their consecutive games scored streak alive when they both scored twice in a 49-7 pounding of Bedford North Lawrence. 

In the second round, Rodney Gibson ran for 141 yards and a score, but it was QB-K Ben Kunkel who lit up the scoreboard with three rushing touchdowns, four extra points kicked, a touchdown pass thrown (to Buster Grayson), 151 yards passing, and he even caught two point conversion.  The Highlanders of Floyd Central never knew what hit them as North advanced to the championship game with a 42-22 victory that wasn’t as close as the score would indicate.

North rolled into the 5A Sectional Title game on a mission.  In 35 years of football history, no Husky team had ever won a post-season title.  North was on a five game win streak, its longest such since ’77, and if they could win the Title game versus Harrison, they would equal 1977’s longest win streak and lay claim to the school’s first Sectional Championship.

North did not disappoint.

RB Buster Grayson took center stage and ran for 131 tough yards and scored two of North’s three touchdowns in a 20-7 victory.  QB Ben Kunkel found Allen Patterson for a short touchdown throw and kicked two extra points in the contest.

In just four campaigns, Coach Mike Wilson had led a program that had gone 5-61 in the seven seasons prior to his arrival to the top of the toughest Sectional in southern Indiana.  It was just the first in a series of milestones that would follow over the next decade.

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

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