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North 6 Mater Dei 34 - Reitz Bowl Evansville Sep. 23, 2006

Game Stats    Game Recap   

Offense     

OFFENSIVE LINE BLOCKING RATINGS

        Trapp              Allgood           Hawkins          Price                Turner             Lewis              Hopkinson

        69%                    73%                79%            68%                  70%                73%               75%

Defense

Game Recap

The Huskies met their match Friday night.  It came in the form of a second quarter aerial assault from which they never fully recovered and left them tied for second in the SIAC battle.

In spite of a weather delay that forced not only the scheduled start time to be moved back six hours, but also caused a game to be played on the sodden Reitz Bowl field just prior to the start of the North - Mater Dei game, the Huskies got off to a solid start.  When Mater Dei won the toss and deferred to the second half, North controlled the first quarter of the ball game.

While the opening possession resulted in a "three and out", North's defense prevailed with LB Clinton Brown stopping a Wildcat running back short of a first down on the ensuing Mater Dei opportunity.  When DB Ryan Parkman returned the Mater Dei punt to near midfield, things started to open up for the Husky offense.

After attempting two option plays first to the right and then to the left, QB Dion Pendleton looked deep to his right on third down.  In a play familiar to Husky fans, WR Brandon Stewart checked up inside the five yard line and leapt high in the air to beat his defender to the ball.  With first and goal, consecutive handoffs to HB Larry Merriweather put North up front 6 - 0.  Little did anyone know at the time that it would be the last points the Huskies would score all night.

With a light mist of rain falling, the extra point attempt sailed wide left and North proceeded to kick off to the Wildcats.  Early in the possession, Mater Dei ran a counter play designed to use the momentum of the hard-rushing Huskies against themselves and the play worked for 30 yards.  With the Wildcat quarterback routinely calling his own number, Mater Dei soon had a first down inside the North 35 yard line.

In what would be one of the few North stands of the night, LB Larry Merriweather hit a Mater Dei running back low as he came through the line and spun the back heels over head on third and six.  Mater Dei elected to go for a first down rather than kick on fourth down and when the burly Wildcat QB charged into the line for the fourth time on the drive, DT Matt Hawkins shucked a double team block and hurled the runner to the ground.

That would prove to be the high-water mark for the night as things turned out.

With North unable to complete its repertoire of long passes and the option running game bottled up by continuous inside blitzes from the defense, the most valuable player for the Huskies became punter Mitch Parker.  Nine times he was forced onto the slippery field and nine times he delivered long booming punts that forced the Wildcats to work for their points.

In the second quarter, the Wildcats worked overtime for their points and delivered 21 of them.  Long passes and trick plays were the hallmark of the Mater Dei offense as time and again North defenders either bit on fakes or found themselves scrambling for good footing.  In either event, the Huskies' last good opportunity to get back in the ball game came with four minutes to go in the half. 

Working with an offense geared to shorter, possession style passes, QB Dion Pendleton repeatedly found Larry Merriweather open for quick catches on the left hand side.  Three times Merriweather took five yard opportunities and turned them into fifteen yard pick ups.  North found itself deep in Mater Dei country with less than a minute to play in the first half and a chance to pull back within a touchdown at half time.

Two passes bounced off the hands of receivers, a run play went nowhere, and on fourth down QB Pendleton attempted a pass to WR Darrion Fletcher that came up empty.  Mater Dei took over on downs and ran out the first half clock by taking a knee and went into the locker room with a 21-6 lead.

SECOND HALF

 The third quarter settled into a defensive battle and punt exchanges until Mater Dei finally broke a receiver open and set up a scoring dive from the one yard line with only a minute to go in the quarter.  The Wildcat faithful smelled blood on the water as the game went to the fourth quarter and they were sitting on a three touchdown lead.

North's offense proved unable to solve the Wildcat defensive scheme in the fourth quarter as well and the time of possession was dominated by a Mater Dei offense now dedicated to the ground game.  Following the Wildcats' 300 yard aerial display of the first three quarters, their fourth quarter running game simply wore out whatever Husky hopes were left.  When the final gun sounded the tally was Mater Dei 34 - North 6.

On the night, North only ran for 69 yards, watched as two-thirds of their passes fell incomplete, and on defense seldom managed to put pressure on the Wildcat QB.  Coming out of a game in which the common belief was the that the Huskies were bigger, faster, and deeper than their Wildcat opponents, the disappointment running through the stands was heartfelt.

Entering next Friday's match versus Reitz (again at The Bowl), the best thing to be said for the Mater Dei game is that North emerges healthy and without serious injury.

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