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North 21 Castle 24 - Central Stadium Sep 17, 2010

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No single play can ever cost a team a game.  No single play can ever win a game for a team.  Likewise, no win or loss can ever be solely credited to the offense or the defense.

It takes a team to play a football game and it is “the team” that wins or loses.

Ironically, both the offense and the defense played well for the Huskies in Friday night’s narrow 24-21 loss to Castle at Central Stadium.

If there was a weak point in North’s game, it was the “Special Teams” play of the Huskies.

To say that the special team units played poorly is like saying the Titanic had a “leak”.  It’s like saying the Hindenberg had a “landing problem”.

The problems that the Special Teams had on Friday night could only be described as “catastrophic” in nature.

1^ST QUARTER

The game’s first play set the tone for the night.  Despite another long kickoff from K David Patton that very nearly led to a touchback, the Castle return man hauled in the kick at the Castle ½ yard line.  Sprinting up near the 20, the Knight returner caught a block and veered to his left toward the North side line.

Unfortunately for the Huskies, their outside containment had already committed to the center of the field and the Castle runner got past them.  Turning up field, only one player remained as a last line of defense and the Knight return man put a nifty move on the kicker and soared past him on his way to a 99 yard touchdown.

13 seconds into the game, North trailed 6-0.

The offense took the ball following the kickoff in reasonably good field position and proceeded to move smartly downfield before stalling out at the Castle 38.  The punting unit was brought on and again the special team unit failed to perform as the Huskies’ punt only traveled 8 yards.

The defense came up big and held the Knights to ‘three and out’ when LB Taylor May and DE Devin Rios stuffed the diminutive Castle running back for a loss on third down.  Castle punted away and North again took over in comparatively good field position.

Relying mostly on the passing game, North drove deep into Castle territory.  On the drive’s biggest play, QB Luke Blankenship executed a crafty play action fake handoff to a running back, spun around, planted his back foot, and arced a spiral pass to TE Drew Waters.  The sophomore caught the pass at the Castle 31 and rambled another 11 yards before being hauled down at the 20.

When the drive stalled at the 18, the field goal unit came out to make an attempt from the 25 yard line.  Unfortunately the kick sailed wide left and North came away with nothing to show for the nearly 5 minute possession.

2^ND QUARTER

The defense made another nice stand and quickly got the ball back in North’s hands at midfield.  Using the running game in larger doses on the ensuing drive, the Huskies again drove the ball deep into Castle territory.  It wasn’t until an odd reverse-misdirection play lost substantial yardage at the Knights’ 23 that the drive bogged down.

Facing 3^rd and long at the 23, a hook pattern pass to Blair Underwood fell incomplete.  Looking at a near 40 yard field goal attempt, the North coaches instead elected to try a 4^th down pass over the middle to WR Caleb Kinnaird.  The ball sailed just over the receiver’s outstretched hands and yet another long drive into Castle territory came up empty.

Castle responded by putting together a short drive that included their only first down of the half, but ultimately the defense responded.  Facing 3^rd down and 2 yards to go at the 50 yard line, North’s coaches called for a blitz play by the defense and LB Kyle Holland and DB Richard Compton dropped Castle’s running back for a loss.

With Castle punting on 4^th down from midfield, it was easy to assume that the Huskies would take over deep in their own territory.  As the high arcing punt came down into DB DeWayne Williams hands, the Husky return man surged forward.  With a running start, he nearly hurdled one Knight defender and took off on a jaunt through the others before being dragged down near the 45 yard line.

Unfortunately, the special teams unit failed again.  This time the failure was in the form of a penalty flag.  A needless blocking-in-the-back call on a North player behind the runner negated the return and rather than starting the drive at midfield, the Huskies were forced to begin from the shadow of their own goal post at the ten yard line.

As a result, even though North strung together multiple first downs and moved the ball to the Castle 38 before stalling, they were not in field position to capitalize on the yards they gained.  No points were forthcoming for the 11 play drive and they were forced to punt.

And again the special teams unit failed to perform.

This time it was North’s fourth blocked punt of the season and Castle recovered it a North’s  seventeen.  It took an interception by LB Kyle Holland at the North 10 yard line to prevent the special teams’ debacle from being parleyed into points by the Knights.

Going into halftime, North had outgained Castle by more than 120 yards in total offense, forced turnovers on defense, held the Knights’ vaunted rushing game to just 30 yards on 11 carries, and generated 10 first downs to just one for their opponent.

And the Huskies had nothing to show for their domination of the game other than trailing six to nothing.

SECOND HALF

The first two plays of the second half did little to generate optimism on the part of the large Homecoming crowd.  On the opening kickoff, the North special teams debacle continued as the return man muffed the catch and the ball rambled around loose on the field.  A collective sigh of relief arose when a green jersey out maneuvered a host of white shirts to recover the muffed return.

On the first play from scrimmage, however, the North running back fumbled the ball after a five yard gain and Castle was presented with a scoring opportunity.

And, once again, it was the defense who rose to the occasion and stymied the Knights.  DB Ryan Wickham hammered the Castle running back for a loss on first down.  LB Taylor May made a big hit on a slant pass and stopped the receiver for no gain on second down.  Seniors Damien Jackson and Austin Moll combined to sack the quarterback for a 6 yard loss on third down and Castle was forced to settle for a long field goal attempt.

And they missed it.

But, again the special teams unit broke down.

A roughing-the-kicker penalty gave Castle a second chance at the field goal attempt from closer range.  This time the Knights made good and led 9 to nothing.

DeWayne Williams floated under the ensuing kickoff and this time, the blocking was clean and the return was North’s longest of the year.  With a clear field ahead and some blockers around him, Williams made it into Castle territory before he was brought down.

With the special teams finally providing a lift to the offense, North generated yet another text-book drive.  Running almost exclusively behind the left side of the line, four different runners hammered away at the Knight defense on the 49 yard drive. 

On 3^rd and 2 at the 31 yard line, RB Mike Johnson sliced through a hole between left guard and tackle and broke away from two defenders on his way to the 18 yard line.  Sophomore Blake Howell ripped off another ten yards through the same hole on the next play and soon the Huskies were knocking on the goal line door.

The Husky brain trust reversed their direction on second and goal from the two and sent RB Richard Compton around right end.   Guard Damon Byers and tackle Austin Moll drove back the Castle line and Compton slanted past the defense untouched into the end zone for North’s first score of the evening.  With 5:19 left in the third quarter,  Patton’s extra point kick made the score 9-7.

Patton’s kick off pinned the Knights back inside their 30 and the defense continued its domination.  Moll sacked the quarterback on second down and forced an intentional grounding penalty.  Looking at third and long, Castle passed and the North secondary easily defended the play.

The special teams unit managed to return the favor, so to speak, to Castle on the next play.  With ends Devin Rios and Austin Moll putting a fierce rush on the punter, Rios got a hand on the ball and blocked the punt.  Damon Byers came up with the loose ball and returned it to the eight yard line.

Two plays later and barely 90 seconds since his last score, Compton ran behind T Jarrod Hawkins and G Damien Jackson and rambled into the end zone to give the Huskies the lead.  Patton’s extra point made the score 14-9 with 3:35 to play in the third quarter.

4^TH QUARTER

North ‘squibbed’ the next kick off.  It didn’t appear to be an on-side kick, but it didn’t exactly look like a squib kick—it looked like something in between.  Either way, Castle took over at its 33 yard line and proceeded to put together their first good drive of the game.

Relying almost exclusively on handoffs to their tailback, the Knights traveled all the way to North’s 22 early in the fourth quarter.  Facing 3^rd and 2, it appeared that Castle was surging to get the lead back and to wrestle control of the game away from the Huskies.

Going to ‘the well’ again, Castle handed the ball to their little tailback for his twenty-second carry of the game.  This time, however, Damien Jackson was waiting for him with outstretched arms.  Having blown through the Knight line, Jackson mauled the running back and forced a fumble seven yards behind the line of scrimmage.  Kyle Holland pounced on the loose ball as it rolled near the 30 and returned it to the North 42.

Hawkins and Jackson again blew away the left side of the Castle defense and Compton broke loose around left end.  Well into the Knights’ secondary, the quick footed running back then cut back, forced a defender to miss, and angled across the field to the right.  He was all the way down to the Castle 19 before he was tackled.

It was “Big” Mike Johnson’s turn to shine on the next play.  Running around right end, the sophomore ran into the first defender barely a yard past the line of scrimmage.  Shrugging off one would-be tackler, he stiff armed another, twisted free of a third, and then barreled straight toward the end zone.  When yet another defender confronted him inside the five yard line, “Big” Mike simply ran him down and put North ahead by another touchdown.  Patton’s third extra point of the game gave North a 21-9 lead with 10:40 to play in the game.

Once the special teams play had solidified and started contributing to the effort midway through the third quarter, North had moved from a 9 point deficit to a 12 point lead in a matter of seven minutes of play.

North again squibbed its kickoff and Castle took over at their 35 yard line.  A short pass completion, a quarterback scramble, and a successful draw play had the Knights at midfield in no time.  Damien Jackson again answered the call and sacked the Castle quarterback to cancel the threat and when North downed the Knights’ punt at the Husky 27 with 8:37 to play, it appeared that a long drive could seal the game for the Green and White.

THE FATEFUL LAST FOUR MINUTES

North repeatedly handed the ball to running backs who slammed into the interior of the line behind center Sam Jones and the two guards (Jackson and Byers).  The Huskies rammed the ball out to midfield and ate up four minutes in doing so.

With the clock being North’s greatest ally, the Huskies had chosen to run the ball on every play.  Not wanting to risk the clock stopping, North had chosen to run the ball on 3^rd and 4 and come up short.

All effort was being made to run time off the clock.

When the drive stalled at the North 46, the punt team went out to push the Knights further back into their territory needing two touchdowns to tie.

Unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way because the special teams unit underperformed again. 

Lining up in punt formation, the entire exercise of keeping the clock running was rendered moot.  With too few players on the field and uncertain of their formation, the Husky punt team called time out with twenty seconds remaining on the play clock.

Those extra twenty seconds would come back to haunt the Huskies.

With the clock now stopped, the punt team finally lined up in formation with the correct number of players on the field.  Whether it was the rush, the snap, or just plain bad luck, the punt went out of bounds having traveled only a scant 13 yards.

With the ball at their 41, Castle’s quarterback ran for 10 yards against a spread out North defense.  North then blitzed and Castle completed a screen pass to the Husky 30 when two defenders missed tackles.

Two plays later a screen pass to the opposite side nearly resulted in a touchdown and set up first and goal from the two.  The Knights scored on the next play and now trailed 21-16 with 3:03 to play.

Caleb Kinnaird covered Castle’s onside kickoff attempt and it appeared that a first down or two might secure the victory for the Huskies.

And then North fumbled the ball.

Struggling to gain extra yardage, the North runner failed to wrap up the ball, and in his exertions to keep from going down, he put the ball on the ground.

Castle recovered at the North 34 and ran twice on their way to the North 22 yard line.  With the Knights lining up in an odd triple-short-right formation, the defense misread the play fake by the quarterback and yielded an 18 yard gain to set up first and goal from the four with just over a minute to play.

Running their patented “stretch” play, Castle made it to the two yard line on first down.  LB Duvante Lane slammed into the hole and stopped the runner for no gain on second down.

With the clock running, Castle lined up for third and goal and blasted away at the left side of the North defense.  It appeared that the runner would certainly score when diving in from the right side of the Husky defense came Jarrod Hawkins.  Hawkins’ big body deflected the slightly built Castle runner’s momentum and the big senior dropped the runner a foot shy of the end zone.

There were 19 seconds left on the clock.

Missed opportunities to run the clock came back to haunt the Huskies.

A penalty flag for offsides was waved off when a line judge announced that Castle had called time prior to the illegal motion.

Castle then ran the “stretch” play for the game winning touchdown, threw a 2 point conversion pass, and stopped a North “hook and ladder” play to end the ball game with a 24-21 score.

CONCLUSION

The Huskies played one of their best games of the season in a loss.  There are few “moral” victories in life.  This wasn’t one of them.

The defense time and again stepped up to the demands made of them.  The offense responded when given decent field position to work with.  North’s play wasn’t brilliant, but it certainly wasn’t sloppy.

This was a night and game in which the Huskies had every opportunity to walk away happy.  Unfortunately, it was the little things—those things that at the time seemed minor—that stood between them and victory. 

Coming away without points on either of their long first half drives into Castle territory cost North dearly at the end of the game.

Missed tackles on the final two drives by Castle cost North dearly at the end of the game.

Most glaring, however, of all the “little” things that plagued North on this evening, were the multiple failures of the special teams units to effectively deliver their purpose.

On this night, they were anything but special.

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