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1996 NHS Season Statistics

Evansville Courier & Press Newspapers ALL CITY/METRO Selections

RESULTS

SCORING

PASSING

RUSHING

RECEIVING

SEASON HIGHLIGHTS

With the graduation of North’s most successful senior class in history, 1996 represented a rebuilding year for the Huskies.  Sporting a freshman quarterback for the first time in school history, North was anticipating bumps along the way.

They got them.

When QB Courtney Campbell led the Huskies to a third quarter 21-0 lead in the season opener versus Bosse, it appeared that the North powerhouse was still in tact.  Senior FB Casey Sellers had found pay dirt three times on short carries and the defense was holding the Bulldogs.

Then the wheels fell off.

With the score tied late in the fourth quarter, an ill-advised throw into the flat was picked off and returned 49 yards for the winning score.  What had started so well ended with a 21-28 loss.

Having committed five turnovers against Bosse, things were little better the second week versus Harrison.  After fumbling the ball away on the first possession, four more turnovers followed in a 3-35 loss.

Fumbles nearly cost the Huskies the game in week 3 against Mater Dei.  The third fumble of the game set up a situation where Mater Dei took the lead 20-17 with just 25 seconds to play.  The turnovers had negated young Campbell’s best game at quarterback.  He had gone 8 of 12 for 119 yards with two TD’s and, best of all, no interceptions.  Multi-purpose player Nick Barnes had caught three of the passes for 49 yards including a 31 yard scoring pass.

It was Barnes and the Mater Dei kicker who would rescue the Huskies.  After scoring to take the lead, the Mater Dei kicker misinterpreted his coach’s instructions and instead of squib kicking the ball (which would prevent a return), put his full foot into the effort.  With Barnes circling under the kick at his own 17, a wall of blockers formed in front of him, and the 5’11” 190lb receiver ran 83 yards to score the winning touchdown.

Inexperience cost the Huskies dearly in week 4 versus Castle.  With FB Casey Sellers enjoying his best game of the season by rushing for 194 yards and 2 TD’s on 27 carries, North was in position to tie the score on the final play of the game.

The previous three bouts between the two schools had been decided by 7 points or less and it appeared that this game was headed for overtime when the Huskies final possession carried them inside the Knights’ 10 yard line with less than a minute to play.  North called its final time out prior to third down and called a run play from the two yard line.  When the runner failed to score or get out of bounds, the North quarterback inexplicably downed the ball on fourth down to stop the clock.  The Huskies turned the ball over on downs and the game ended in a loss.

Playing their first game in the mud week 5 versus Memorial, it appeared that disaster would overtake the young Huskies early when they fumbled the ball away on their first play from scrimmage.  North recovered, however, and came back to score three second quarter touchdowns and win going away 21-7.  Casey Sellers recorded his third straight 100 yard rushing game and blocked a punt in the victory.

The offense seemed to gel in the rain and carried the momentum into the week six show down at Reitz Bowl.  With three consecutive wins over the Mighty Panthers in the Bowl, North was looking to make if four straight.  After again fumbling the ball away on their first play from scrimmage, the offense settled down and six times drove inside the Reitz 30 yard line. 

Unfortunately, only one of those drives ended in a touchdown (1 yard plunge by Sellers).  One ended with a 37 yard field goal by Jason McCutchan and the other four all ended in turnovers.  Reitz won 17-35.

Week 7 marked the end of North’s long string of games versus Mt. Vernon.  With North winning 49-0, it made a cumulative score of 137-14 over the last three games.  Sellers again broke the 100 yard mark, HB Ashur Hall ran for 118 yards and 2 TD’s on only 8 carries, and WR Derrick Payne produced 97 yards receiving (including a 51 yard TD).  The Huskies scored on each of their first seven possessions of the game before turning the game over to the bench in the third quarter.

The season’s biggest disappointment came against northside rival Central.  The winless Bears scored on their first possession of the game and then held on to win thanks to four North turnovers.  North was shut out for the first time in two seasons—although the last one had come at the hands of the state’s #1 team and not a winless rival.

The sectional draw versus Harrison appeared to be a mismatch based upon the week 2 beating that North had taken against the Warriors.  It turned out to be a measure of how much the Huskies had grown and an accurate assessment of how much they were their own worst enemies. 

The Huskies played well enough to beat a good Harrison ball club.  Three times they moved the ball to first and goal in the second quarter.  Unfortunately, on two of those possessions they turned the ball over on fumbles.  They never overcame the errors and wasted Casey Sellers tenth multi-touchdown game of his career by losing 21-28.

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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