NORTH FOOTBALL VS. NEW ALBANY | ||||||||||
RUSHING | ||||||||||
NO. | NAME | RUSHES | YARDS | AVG. | FUMBLES | FUM. LOST | TD'S | EXTRA PTS. | TOTAL POINTS | LONGEST |
24 | Meriweather | 10 | 116 | 11.6 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 45 |
2 | Pendleton | 11 | 73 | 6.6 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 29 |
25 | Carlile | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
1 | Jackson | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
33 | Clements | 13 | 33 | 2.5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
35 | Broerman | 4 | 6 | 1.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
21 | Johnston | 4 | 5 | 1.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
44 | 242 | 5.5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 24 | 45 | ||
PASSING | ||||||||||
NO. | NAME | COMP. | ATT. | COMP.% | YARDS | AVG. COMP | TD'S | INT. | LONGEST | |
2 | Pendleton | 8 | 10 | 80.0% | 177 | 22.1 | 2 | 0 | 51 | |
15 | Whitler | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
8 | 11 | 72.7% | 177 | 22.1 | 2 | 1 | 51 | |||
PASS RECEPTIONS | ||||||||||
NO. | NAME | REC. | YARDS | AVG. | FUMBLES | FUM. LOST | TD'S | EXTRA PTS. | TOTAL POINTS | LONGEST |
6 | Parkman | 1 | 35 | 35.0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 35 |
80 | Parker | 5 | 89 | 17.8 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 34 |
12 | Rushing | 1 | 2 | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
1 | Jackson | 1 | 51 | 51.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 51 |
8 | 177 | 22.1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 51 | ||
KICKS | HAD | TOTAL | ||||||||
NO. | NAME | TYPE | ATT. | MADE | YARDS | AVG. | BLKED. | FG | EX. POINTS | POINTS |
8 | Meador | PAT | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 6 | ||
8 | Meador | Kickoff | 7 | 279 | 39.9 | |||||
Defense Scored | 0 | |||||||||
TEAM TOTALS | ||||||||||
First Downs | 18 | |||||||||
Rushing Yards | 242 | All Purpose Yards | ||||||||
Rush Attemps | 44 | Name | Rush | Rec. | Return | Total | TD's/Pts. | |||
Avg. Yds Per Rush | 5.5 | Jackson | 4 | 51 | 12 | 67 | 0/0 | |||
Passing Yards | 177 | Pendleton | 73 | 0 | 6 | 79 | 2/12 | |||
Completed | 8 | |||||||||
Attempted | 11 | |||||||||
Completion % | 72.7% | |||||||||
Avg. Yds Per Comp. | 22.1 | |||||||||
Total Yards | 419 | |||||||||
Plays | 55 | Returns | ||||||||
Avg. Yds Per Play | 7.6 | Name | Type of Kick | No. of Returns | Yd's | Avg. | Fair Caught | TD's/Pts. | ||
Turnovers | 1 | Jackson | KO R | 1 | 12 | 12 | 0 | 0/0 | ||
Fumbles | 1 | Pendleton | INT R | 1 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0/0 | ||
Fumbles Lost | 0 | |||||||||
Interceptions | 1 | |||||||||
Total Points | 42 | |||||||||
PAT's (att./made) | 6 | 6 | ||||||||
Punts/Avg. | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Kickoffs/Avg. | 7 | 39.9 |
Offensive line blocking scores:
Allgood Tomlin Foster Douglas Borman Kuhlenhoelter
Defense
New Albany | ||||||||||
Name | Solo | Assist | TFL | SAC | C-Fumble | R-Fumble | Deflection | Int | Blk Punt | Points |
Markie Johnson | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Ryan Bailey | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Marcus Garrett | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
Quintez Todd | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Travis Carlisle | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Brent Williams | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
George Quarles | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Cameron Clements | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Clinton Brown | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Larry Meriweather | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Justin Rushing | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Stephen Jackson | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 |
Mitch Parker | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Dion Pendleton | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
Ryan Parkman | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Tyler Wilke | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Jacob Embry | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Drew Hawkins | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
Alan George | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Zac Herman | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Ben Green | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Kit Aldridge | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Ty Carter | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Tony Mendoza | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
Ryan Hufford | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
Lucas Kaffenberger | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Randall Tomlin | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
James Marion | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Cameron Whitler | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Dan Borman | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Ivan Irvine | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Tehnemberg | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Aaron Hale | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Total | 21 | 27 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 77 |
If asked, most coaches will tell you
that the benchmark of a 'good' football team is the ability to put
points on the board.
Ask that same coach what makes the difference between a good football team and a
'great' football team and he'll answer with one word:
"Defense."
It's absolutely essential that a good football team be able to score with
fluency. Sustaining long drives takes the legs out from under your opponent.
Long passes and amazing runs instill fear and take an opponent out of their game
plan.
But defense... good, solid, old-fashioned 'smashmouth' defense
destroys the opponent's will to win.
For the last month, the North Huskies have been playing good, solid,
old-fashioned 'smashmouth' defense.
If not for a trick play on fourth and 12 and a Husky fumble deep in our own
territory, Christian County wouldn't have seen the end zone once against
the first team defense.
Against Central, the starting defensive line and linebacker corps held
the Bears' all-everything running back to 37 yards on 15 carries. The Bears
wilted under the pressure and the score was 34-0 in the fourth quarter.
Jennings County's offense never got the number of the truck that ran over
them. Between George Quarles' three picks and Stephen Jackson's 9
solo tackles, the Panthers produced a meager three first downs in the first
three quarters of the game. The score was 28-0 when the starting defense came
off the field. Long before that point, the Jennings County faithful had started
dreading the long drive home.
NEW ALBANY TAKES THE FIELD
When New Albany took the field Friday night, there was a certain swagger in
their pre-game drills. Having averaged 34 points per game in their previous four
outings, the Bulldogs were confident that they would prevail in a high scoring,
run and gun style football game.
Their coach had told his local press that during the two weeks that his team had
to prepare for their 2nd round sectional match (they drew the bye in the first
round), he had installed some 'new wrinkles' for North. Less than an hour
after kickoff, the only noticeable wrinkles were the lines of worry on the
Bulldog faithful's faces as they watched the Huskies hold up their end of
the 'run and gun' football game.
For their part, the Bulldogs hit a wall.
A solid wall known as the Mean Green Defense.
Convinced of their ability to complete long passes against the Huskies, New
Albany came out throwing deep and throwing often. Two bombs fell harmless on
first and second downs, but the Bulldogs did manage a first down on the next
play.
It was then that Mean Green Defense made its first of many stands.
GREEN = MEAN
Playing in muddy, slippery conditions it would be easy to blame the wet ball for
the next three plays. On first, second, and third down a variety of handoffs,
pitches, and passes ended up with the ball on the ground and players scrambling
for possession.
But that's not what caused the errors.
On all three plays North linemen made quick and deep penetration into the
offensive backfield. The penetration forced the Bulldog quarterback to
alter his motion. Whether it was extending the ball as a handoff or trying to
maneuver thru a four-step drop to attempt a pass, Husky defenders were finding a
way to get better footing in the slop in the middle of the field than their
black and white clad counterparts.
Blowing past big but slow offensive linemen, the green defenders harassed
and harried the Bulldog backs into making mistakes. It was the anticipation of a
Husky in their face that caused all three plays to break down, not the
conditions.
HUSKIES SCORE FIRST... AND SECOND... AND
THIRD... AND SO ON...
None of this is to say that North is without a powerful offense capable of
lightning strikes and sustaining spirit killing drives. Especially
since they accomplished both feats upon fielding the Bulldogs' punt.
Starting from their own 32, the Huskies ran once to the right before attempting
a medium length fade pass to the wide side of the field on second down. WR
Mitch Parker hauled in the pass at the 40, broke free along the sideline in
front of the Husky bench, and rambled to the New Albany 35 before being brought
down.
It was a fine example of a 'lightning strike'.
What occurred after that was a 'spirit killer'.
North converted two third downs and took nine additional plays to cover the
final 35 yards as QB Dion Pendleton ran the last six yards himself. It
was a glimpse of what the rest of the night would look like--long passes
generating scoring opportunities and long drives sapping the last vestiges of
strength from an outmanned Bulldog defense.
DEFENSE SETS UP ANOTHER SCORE
When the Bulldogs bobbled the kickoff, New Albany was lucky to retain the ball
at their own 15 yard line. When LB George Quarles 'thumped' the
Bulldogs' highly regarded running back at the line of scrimmage on first down,
New Albany resolved to spend the rest of the possession throwing the ball.
Second down didn't fare much better as their quarterback came under heavy
pressure and slightly overthrew an open receiver in front of the Husky bench.
Faced with third and long, everyone in the stadium understood that the
next play would be another deep pass route.
The person who understood this fact the best was Dion Pendleton--now
playing safety. Initially it appeared that New Albany's QB would have plenty of
time to throw, but DE Randall Tomlin stripped his blocker and frantically
rushed in. With Tomlin approaching like a freight train, the quarterback
whipped the ball deep across the middle.
Pendleton, having read the play and camped in the center of the field,
glided to ball and there was a notable 'thud' as the ball smacked up
against his sternum. Reversing his direction, he picked up nine yards before
being tackled at the Bulldog 35 yard line.
IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED...
The Husky brain trust tried to quickly capitalize on the turnover. On first
down, Pendleton looked deep down the left hand side for WR Ryan
Parkman. Running what looked to be a fly pattern, Parkman had his man beaten
for what looked to be a sure touchdown only to have the ball either knocked away
or careen off his hands in the end zone.
North went with a reverse play for a three yard gain on second down and on third
and long, they went back to the well. On what looked to be a similar (if not
identical) call to first down, Pendleton this time hit Parkman
with a perfect pass three yards deep in the end zone. The Huskies led 14-0 and
it certainly sounded like the New Albany team bus began to warm up at that
point.
DEFENSE BENDS A BIT BUT EXTRACTS A PRICE
With junior Ben Green setting the tone on the ensuing kickoff with a
jarring tackle inside the Bulldog 20 yard line, the defense re-engaged their
brakes. While this drive would yield a first down for New Albany, every inch was
hard fought. The Bulldogs drove the ball to mid-field and looked to be on the
verge of getting back in the ball game.
They weren't.
With first down at the fifty, DT Marcus Garrett blasted past his man and
pounded the New Albany running back for a loss of four. On second down, a
ferocious pass rush yielded a holding penalty against the Bulldogs. Faced with
third and too-long-to-count, New Albany threw up a prayer.
It wasn't answered.
With their punter taking the snap inside the 15 yard line, Ryan Parkman
fielded the punt at the fifty. He side stepped one would be tackler and ran from
the right hash mark to the left hash before turning up field. Breaking one more
tackle at the thirty he streaked into the end zone. Unfortunately, a yellow flag
at the 49 for holding called the play back.
THAT PATENTED QUARTERBACK DRAW PLAY
Five plays later, though, Pendleton was back in the end zone following
one of his patented "quarterback-draw-up-the-middle-and-then-break-right-so-Justin-Rushing-can-destroy-the-cornerback-and-spring-you-outside"
runs that we have seen so many times in this magical season. It worked as well
on this occasion from the 29 yard line as it has the other ten times we've seen
him run it on third and long.
When Preston Meador kicked the third of his six successful extra-points,
the score was 21-0 and there was barely three minutes gone in the second
quarter.
THE LAST HURRAH
With a good kickoff return, the Bulldogs got their only good starting field
position of the night at their own forty yard line. A first down run generated
another first down out past midfield. A third down pass completion advanced the
ball inside the North 25.
At that point, the Husky line again began to get the better of New Albany. The
Bulldogs attempted four consecutive passes. Four times the Husky rush forced the
quarterback to move, to shift, to roll, and to evade. Four times Husky defensive
backs batted away ball--the final one occurring as CB Mitch Parker made
up ground at the last instant to knock a fourth down pass out of bounds.
When the drive stalled, New Albany was done. It was 'all over but the
shouting' as they say here in southern Indiana.
MAKING SOME NOISE
Of course, some more 'shouting' was exactly what the North faithful had
in mind. Setting out from their own twenty yard line, the Huskies took the ball
relentlessly down the field. Where it appeared that the Bulldogs were struggling
with the wet footing, it appeared the Huskies were playing on roller skates.
Everything worked on this particular drive. A pass to Parker, a run with
Merriweather, a pass to Justin Rushing, a run by Pendleton--there
seemed little that New Albany could do to deflect a long scoring drive.
And in truth, therein lay the facts of the game. New Albany could neither
sustain a drive nor could they stop one.
And this drive ended with Pendleton tossing his second touchdown pass of
the half. This one went to WR Mitch Parker from 19 yards out. The kick
made it 28-0 and there was enough time left in the half for another score.
So North did just that.
BOMBS AWAY
When the Mean Green Defense forced a three-and-out on the
Bulldogs, North took over with less than two minutes to play before the break.
After a first down pass to Justin Rushing fell just out of his grasp,
Pendleton hooked up with a streaking Stephen Jackson down the left
hand side for a 51 yard completion. Two more running plays had the ball at the
at the three yard line and less than 30 seconds to play.
The Huskies usually call RB Larry Merriweather's number in these
situations. 39 times in his career he had answered that call with a touchdown.
When the Bulldogs lined up in their goal line defensive package, they positioned
a man head up on both sophomore center Andy Kuhlenhoelter and senior
tackle Cory Allgood. They placed a linebacker off the line of scrimmage
in front of left guard Mike Foster. On the snap, Foster and
Kuhlenhoelter double teamed the nose tackle and Allgood hooked the
tackle like a can opener.
The net effect of "The Allgood, Foster, & Kuhley Moving Company's"
efforts was to blow open a hole wide enough to drive a truck through. When
Stephen Jackson capitalized on the linebacker's mistake of playing too far
off the line of scrimmage, he plowed the defender past the back of the end zone.
Merriweather could have walked in for the fortieth rushing
touchdown of his career. Meador made the score 35-0 and with the
exception of an amazing 45 yard Merriweather touchdown run on the first
possession of the second half, there was little left to describe.
After the 45 yarder early in the 3rd quarter, Coach Wilson went to the bench. On
a sloppy field that had already claimed DE Travis Carlile to a high ankle
sprain, the Huskies took no chances with their starters. It was with no small
amount of enthusiasm that the sideline cheered the play of freshmen in the
fourth quarter as they battled to deny the Bulldogs first downs.
A CHAMPIONSHIP CALIBER CLUB
The glamour on this night belonged to the gaudy numbers put up by the offense.
42 offensive points, over 400 yards in total offense, six
touchdowns in just over one half of play, and a perfect 6 for 6 kicking
on a muddy field were the benchmarks of a 'good' team.
But if you were there and if you watched the game closely, you saw what made
this a 'great' team. You saw the most dominant performance by our
defense in the season to date.
Ask Bill Parcells or Mike Ditka. Read Vince Lombardi or Tony Dungy's books.
They'll tell you: Defense wins championships.
For the better part of a month, the Mean Green Defense has
performed like a group intent on making this club champions.
POST SCRIPT
Some folks perform under the lights without notice. They toil and work without
glamour, without mention. If you paid close attention to the game on Friday night
you noticed another detail about the game: no lost fumbles. In
fact, there was only one mishandled ball by the Huskies and that occurred when a
running back tried to carry while wearing mud smeared gloves on his hands--he
tossed them angrily to the sidelines after his bobble.
A special recognition ought to go to two guys who worked non-stop on the
sidelines to produce dry, easily gripped balls for the Husky offense on every
play of the game. Working a rotation of five balls at a time through an assembly
line process, managers Ben Grimm and Brian Grant provided North's
offense with clean, dry footballs on each and every play.
Where New Albany struggled with their grip and routinely bobbled balls, North
benefited from an experienced manager crew. It's another hallmark of
championship teams--everyone knows their role and they pay attention to
the little things.