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North 12 Reitz 49 - Reitz Bowl Oct 1, 2010

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Game Recap

HUSKIES JOIN A LONG LIST OF DISAPPOINTED VISITORS AT REITZ BOWL LOSING 49-12

North entered Reitz Bowl as the last team to have defeated the Reitz Panthers in their home confines (2006, 29-26).  They exited the Bowl as yet another in a long list of aspiring but unsuccessful visitors on the wrong side of a 49-12 score.

FIRST QUARTER

The game started beautifully for the Huskies.  For a change, the other team jumped offsides on first down and the Huskies quickly gained another first down when RB Richard Compton banged through a hole off left guard for 19 yards.

With the ball in Reitz territory and barely a minute gone in the game, Compton carried three more times to bring the line of scrimmage to the Panther 20.  When WR Brock Hardin caught a five yard out pass on the left hand sideline, it set up 3^rd and 5 at the 15.

A blitz up the middle by the Panthers’ middle linebacker resulted in a six yard loss and brought up 4^th and 11 at the 21.  If the defense is blitzing heavily, it’s common football practice to call screen passes to use their momentum against the defenders.  The receiver takes in a short pass just after the defenders have run by him and then has open space ahead of him.

That assumes, of course, that the rushing defenders don’t get to the quarterback too quickly.

Several times during the evening North would attempt to execute a middle screen against Reitz’ blitzing defense—and every time the rush would prove so relentless that North’s quarterback barely had time to release the ball before being hit.

Fourth and eleven at the 21 was simply the first of many disappointing, poorly executed screen passes that would haunt the Huskies Friday night.

BYERS BIG HIT

With North having driven over 50 yards on its first possession, Reitz had to have been surprised by the intensity of the Huskies’ early play.  Their first play on offense had to bring the Panthers a surprising result as well.

Lining up in their spread offense and quarterbacked by a candidate for Indiana Mr. Football honors, the blue and gray line was looking to unleash their long strike offense from the get go.  The Panthers have the reputation of a big play team with multiple weapons at their disposal.

When their quarterback set up on first down, he could not have foreseen the huge rush that DE Damon Byers would put on him.  Twisting around the offensive tackle, Byers grabbed the quarterback and slung him to the ground for a seven yard loss.

It was just the first of many times that the Husky defense would solve the Reitz offensive line and put a significant rush on the Panther QB.  Unfortunately, it was the only time in the game that the defense would ever capture their prize.

And on 2^nd and 17, the failure to capture the quarterback paid off as a dividend for Reitz.

Scrambling to avoid a rush, Reitz’ QB bought time for his receivers to lengthen their patterns downfield and then he heaved a throw 40 yards where the Panthers’ big, All-Metro wide receiver had put some space between himself and North’s cornerback.  Hauling the ball in, he gave Reitz a first down at the North 36.

The following play saw more of the same.  With North chasing the QB around the backfield, he again gained time for his receivers to break free of coverage and whipped a 36 yard scoring strike into the corner of the end zone.

In just over one minute of play and despite a ferocious rush that forced the Panther offense to improvise, Reitz had gone the length of the field and North trailed 7-0 at the 6:11 mark in the first quarter.

The pattern would repeat itself.

Following a North ‘three-and-out’, a fourteen yard punt gave Reitz the ball at the Husky 32 yard line.  Banging away with three different runners, Reitz soon found themselves with first and goal at the nine.

North’s defense again made the going tough.  On first-and-goal, Husky DB DeWayne Williams forced an incompletion in the right hand corner of the end zone.  On second down LB Kyle Holland shot through a gap and sacked the Panther running back for a loss at the 12.

On third down, the line again forced Reitz’ quarterback to seek space outside the pocket to avoid the rush.  Again the agile QB roamed, eluded the rush, and gave his receiver time to break free.

The result was another touchdown with a mis-match between a linebacker covering a wide receiver as the coverage broke down.

Reitz led 14-0 with 2:14 to play in the quarter.

SECOND QUARTER

Earlier in the game, on North’s third play in fact, the Huskies had been called for an Illegal Motion penalty.  The IHSAA rules claim that “llegal motion fouls are simultaneous with the snap” which is to say that the whistle is blown at the time of the infraction, the play is declared dead, and the penalty is assessed before play can proceed.

That’s the way the officials did it in the first quarter, but not in the second quarter.

With North having moved the ball out near midfield and facing 2^nd and 9, Coach Wilson called for the “Wildcat Formation” wherein Compton lines up in the shotgun and brings RB Blake Howell in motion.  It’s a play designed to create options in the running game and get the ball into the hands of the runner more quickly and with multiple routes through the line of scrimmage.

Howell came in motion and Compton took the snap.  Surveying the situation, the running back chose to keep the ball, threaded his way inside the end, quickly juked outside the linebacker, and then streaked past the Reitz sideline on his way to an apparent 52 yard touchdown.

Unfortunately, about the time that Compton was ten yards past the line of scrimmage, the backfield judge chose to throw his penalty flag.

The play was called back and the penalty was described as Illegal Motion.

Unlike the first quarter, the whistle was not blown at the time of the infraction and the play was not declared dead.  The official waited until the runner had broken free for a touchdown to announce the penalty.

The timing of the events was not lost on either the visiting stands or the North sideline.

On 2^nd down, the Wildcat Formation was stopped for a loss by a blitz and on 3^rd down, North completed an inside screen in the face of a blitz, but it was held for negative yards.

Reitz, benefitting from North’s 16 yard punt, utilized their All-Metro receiver in three different ways on their next possession:  as a receiver, he caught two passes for 14 yards; as a runner, he ran for 14 yards, and as a blocker, he walled off North’s interior pursuit on the Panthers’ ten yard scoring run.

Reitz led 21-0 when they kicked off to the Huskies with 7:02 to play in the half.

HUSKIES BREAK THROUGH

Richard Compton settled under the kick at the thirteen and lit the afterburners on his way back up field.  The Panthers had to play the angle on him at midfield or he would have run all the way to the end zone.

With the ball in Reitz territory, it appeared that North's drive would stall before it got started.  After two Wildcat plays lost two yards, it set up 3^rd and 12 at the 48.  QB Luke Blankenship came under a heavy rush and overthrew Compton on third down, but the Reitz defense did not break off after he threw the ball.  The Panthers received a 15 yard Roughing-The-Passer penalty and North was in business with first and ten at the 33.

Compton took a pitch and ran 12 yards on a sweep around right end.  A run for no gain and an incomplete pass intended for FB Ryan Wickham brought up third down and long at the 21.

This time Blankenship got the blocking he was looking for and had time to find Compton open on a flair route on the left hand side.  The quick footed senior tail back gathered in the ball and raced down to the seven yard line before being brought down.

After a first down run lost two yards,  Blankenship dropped back to pass on second down.  He was quickly flushed from the pocket and rolled to his right.  FB Duvante Lane had run a hook route into the right hand side of the defense and Blankenship threw a strike to the open receiver as he neared the far sideline.  Lane wrapped his hands around the ball, stepped into the end zone, and North had its first score of the evening with 6:51 to play in the half.

The extra point kick went wide left and the Huskies trailed 21-6.

As the half began to wind down, Reitz  moved into scoring position on a quarterback draw play that gained 30 yards through the heart of the Husky defense.  A pass over the middle brought the ball to the North 15 and it appeared another score was imminent. 

When a runner burst into the open, the North defensive backs converged around him near the goal line and the ball squirted free.  Compton fell on the ball in the end zone for a touchback and the half ended shortly thereafter.

SECOND HALF

The third quarter was a mauling.

Following an attempted on-sides kick by North that ultimately went out of bounds, Reitz faced a comparatively short field and went 57 yards for a touchdown on five running plays.  Only DT Damien Jackson’s four yard tackle for loss momentarily slowed the freight train.

North fell victim to another short punt following its next possession and the Panthers took over at the Husky 39.  Jackson’s pass rush forced a hurried throw on first down that resulted in an incompletion, but Reitz accounted for Jackson with an extra blocker on each of the next two downs and scored for the second time in less than two minutes of play.  The score was 35-6 and not even five minutes had expired in the half.

North’s next possession would finally display some fireworks.  With the line of scrimmage at the 31, Richard Compton again lined up in the Wildcat Formation.  He faked a handoff to Howell and slid to his right before diving into the line.  Stepping between tackle and end, he darted into the Reitz secondary.  At the 35, Compton pirouetted and cut left toward the sideline.  40 yards down field, the Panther defense finally made contact with him and brought him down at the 17 for a 53 yard gain.

Another Wildcat handoff to Howell lost yards on 1^st down, but WR DeWayne Williams gained them back on a reverse play on 2^nd down.  Facing 3^rd and 10, QB Luke Blankenship re-entered the game and hit WR Caleb Kinnaird on a slant pass over the middle for the Huskies final score of the night.  A running two point conversion attempt failed and North trailed 35-12.

Reitz responded to North's challenge by calling upon their ‘Prime Time’ players and their scrambling quarterback once again, after having been flushed from the pocket and forced to roll to his left, launched a deep strike to their biggest wide receiver.  53 yards later, the Huskies found themselves in the familiar situation of defending in front of their own goal posts.  The Panthers were not to be denied (despite apparently fumbling the ball forward for positive yardage) and three plays later found the end zone for the sixth time in the game.

CONCLUSION

The Huskies got beat by a faster team with plenty of “star” quality.  It was no shame—there are plenty of teams that have been beaten by the Panthers the last couple seasons.  The Huskies continued to battle into the fourth quarter and even managed a late drive that went deep into Reitz territory.

There were some things to be proud of—like the ability to pass rush—and there were some things to take away—like a need for better tackling.

Facing a long road trip to Detroit this week, the Huskies have played better than their record the last three games.  Perhaps this will be the week in which the ball begins to bounce their way and unfortunate breaks become fortuitous gains.

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