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North 50 Bosse 18 - Enlow Field Aug 19, 2011

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Game Recap

NORTH ANSWERS QUESTIONS WITH 50-18 ROMP OVER BOSSE

There were a tremendous number of questions about the 2011 North Huskies varsity football team before the season began.  Amongst the greater quandaries were:

• The team would be led by a quarterback with barely a handful of varsity quarters of play under his belt. 

• Both offensive tackles had graduated and had to be replaced. 

• One of the best offensive guards to ever don the green and white had moved on after three years as two-way starter. 

• None of the returning receivers had caught as many as four passes at the varsity level. 

• The defensive end with the third highest career quarterback-sack total in school history was to be replaced with the only returning starting linebacker.

• Only one starter returned amongst the entire defensive backfield.

• Special teams play had haunted the Huskies for two seasons and not a single kicker, long snapper, or return man was back for 2011.

With just 12 returning lettermen to fill those gaps, it's a wonder that the coaching staff got much sleep over the summer.

To top things off, the Huskies were traveling to Enlow Field where the Bosse Bulldogs would be led by an athletic three-year starter at quarterback with a family 'axe-to-grind' versus North.   If ever there was a time when North's 14 year winning streak against Bosse appeared to be in doubt, 2011 seemed to be that season.

By the fourth quarter of Friday night's game, the 2011 Huskies had answered more questions than the computer on the TV game show "Jeopardy".

FIRST QUARTER

It was a gorgeous night for football at Enlow Stadium.  With game time temperatures in the mid-eighties and a clear sky, the teams had no problem warming up.  The suspect North offense began the game looking like they were on fire.

"Big" Mike Johnson got the starting nod at tailback and thundered into the left side of the line on his first carry and garnered a first down.  The Husky faithful got their first look at quarterback Max Mooney when he completed a third down pass to wide receiver Ty Pauley and moved North into Bosse territory.  Pauley followed up the reception with a nifty move on a counter reverse that gained 12 yards.  Two plays later, Mooney faked a handoff to a dive man and took the ball to the right for an 18 yard gain and a first down inside the 20 yard line.

It looked like the Huskies were destined to score on their first drive of the season and when wide receiver Brock Underwood broke open behind the Bulldog secondary on a fade route, the touchdown appeared certain.  Alas, the pass sailed over the head of the 6'4" junior and the drive stalled out at the 14.

The defense stepped up on the next two Bosse possessions and stopped the Bulldogs deep in their territory.  The untried, untested secondary batted away one pass and the new defensive ends contained the fast Bosse running backs.  In a game of field position, the North defensive front seven really shined on Bosse's second possession of the game.

On first down at the Bulldog 18, senior linebacker Brandon Dickens stopped a runner for a four yard loss on first down.  On second down, Johnson, playing his first game at defensive end after a switch from linebacker, slammed a Bosse runner to the ground for a two yard loss.  On third down, Dickens stopped the Bulldog quarterback cold at the line of scrimmage in a one-on-one situation.  When Bosse punted on fourth down, senior Jeff Burch got a hand on the kick and deflected it so that the punt went just 11 yards.  North took over at the Bosse 29 as the quarter ended.

SECOND QUARTER

Within ten seconds, the Huskies had their first score of the season.  Mooney took the snap and stepped quickly to his left.  Guard Damon Byars demolished the defensive tackle in front of him and the remaining Bosse defender had to choose between the quarterback or the tailback to whom Mooney was optioning the handoff.

The defensive end collapsed on the tailback.  Mooney pulled the ball back, tucked it under his arm, and streaked through the empty space left by the defensive end's decision.  The 5'11", 165 lb. junior streaked to the end zone and even out ran Bosse's best player for the last ten yards.  After freshman kicker Zac Turi split the uprights with the extra point, North led 7-0.

Bosse was not without weapons and put together a six play drive--all of them on the ground--and scored their first touchdown two minutes and twenty seconds later.  Byars, now playing defensive tackle, stopped the Bulldogs two-point extra point attempt cold and the Huskies led 7-6.

HOWELL'S FIRST BIG RETURN

A kickoff return doesn't have to go all the way back for a touchdown to give a team a boost.  After three seasons during which North seldom got a chance to start outside its thirty yard-line, it came as a pleasant surprise when junior Blake Howell took the ensuring kickoff and returned it 32 yards to the North 46.  With such good field position to start from, North drove the remaining 54 yards in eight plays for another score.  Fullback Duvante Lane toted the rock the final six yards on a 31 quick trap behind excellent interior line blocking from Byars, center Dylan Simmons, and guard Sam Jones.  North led 14-6 after Turi's second extra point kick.

Bosse showed some electricity of their own when a receiver stretched the field and got behind a North cornerback.  Within thirty seconds after North's score, the Bulldogs were again knocking on the door of North's end zone.  They finally scored on third and eleven when their quarterback kept a busted play alive by scrambling for time until a receiver could break free.  The Husky secondary redeemed itself by batting down the two-point pass attempt and the North lead was just two points with 4:42 to play in the half.

HOWELL'S SECOND BIG RETURN

A kickoff return for a touchdown can be a back-breaker to the team that gives it up.  On this night, the ensuing kick off and its 90 yard return for touchdown by Howell proved to be "the Back Breaker".  The 5'10", 180 lb sprinter took the ball at the ten yard line and burst straight up the field.  He threaded his way between two defenders, got a block at the 45, veered to his right, and out ran the Bulldog defenders to the end zone.  It was North's first kick return for a touchdown since 2006 (Brandon Stewart vs. Memorial) and the 7th longest such return in school history.

It was also the first points in a 36-0 run for the Huskies between that moment and the middle point of the fourth quarter. 

While Bosse put a scare into North shortly before the end of the half with a 53 yard catch-and-run, Byars again stepped up with a big play by stopping a third and goal run for no gain and effectively ended the Bulldogs chances to "come back".

SECOND HALF

Plain and simple, North "took no prisoners" in the third quarter of the game.  The kickoff coverage team swarmed a hapless Bulldog at the 10 yard line, forced a loose ball, and, though Bosse recovered, they were on their five yard line to start the half.  When linebacker Colton Lord stuffed a runner for a loss at the eight yard line to force fourth-and-seven, everyone in the stands knew Bosse was in trouble.

Following a punt, North took over at the Bulldog 42 and it was Ty Pauley's turn to shine again.  Mooney executed a flawless play-action fake that froze the defense and Pauley, playing in his first ever varsity football game, streaked past his defender on a corner pattern.  Mooney spotted the open receiver and Pauley hauled in the ball at the four.  Two plays later, Byars again abused the defender in front of him and Howell rambled into the end zone for his second score of the game.  Turi's kick made the score 28-12.

SAFETY

Turi then executed a near-perfect squib kick that the kick coverage team covered perfectly and Bosse was bottled up at their 13 to start their second possession.  Two plays later, a bad snap forced the hapless quarterback to chase the ball into the end zone and Lord pounced on the Bulldog for a two-point safety.  North led 30-12.

HOWELL'S THIRD BIG RETURN

Bosse went against "conventional wisdom" which says to punt the ball away after a safety and instead, they chose to kick off.

It was a bad decision for them as it turned out.

Having already kicked twice to Blake Howell with disastrous results, the Bulldogs tempted fate a third time.

With the same results.

If you don't learn from your mistakes, you're doomed to repeat them.  Bosse was doomed.

Howell fielded the kick at the North 28 with a full head of steam, blew a hole threw a cluster of Bulldog defenders, and streaked away to the end zone again.

On a night when there were plenty of "fast feet" on the grid iron, it was Blake Howell who showed he possessed the fastest feet of all.

In the span of one minute of play, Howell had scored his first rushing touchdown of the season, North had recorded its first safety in several seasons, and Howell had accomplished a feat never before recorded in the annals of Husky history.  He became the first player in 55 seasons to return TWO Kick Offs for touchdowns in a single game.

Zac Turi's fifth consecutive extra point kick made the game 37-12 and you could sense that this one was all over but the shouting.

HOWELL PLAYS DEFENSE

When Bosse came back out, they were down 25 points.  Everyone at Enlow Field knew that they would be throwing the ball.  On two of the next three plays, it was Howell at whom they threw.  They had as much luck throwing at him as they did kicking to him.  He batted both passes away and Bosse was force to punt yet again.

North took over at the 30 yard and wore down the Bulldogs with a grind-it-out drive that made it all the way down to the Bosse 8 yard line.  During the drive, an apparent 30 yard touchdown run by senior Roland Eldridge was called back by a holding penalty.  The drive yielded no points, however, as Mooney fumbled the ball away following a hard tackle at the eight.

On Bosse's next possession, Eldridge and defensive backfield team mate Jay'von Gilmore, also playing his first varsity football game, knocked away three consecutive passes to end a threat at the North 26.

FOURTH QUARTER

Nothing can beat the excitement of kick off returns for touchdowns.  One thing that comes close, however, is when a mobile quarterback finds a hole in the defense and exploits the weakness.  Max Mooney had the night's most electrifying play-from-scrimmage on just such a run.

North slid the dagger into the Bulldog's carcass on 2nd and six at the Bosse 44 yard line.  In an example of perfect decision making matched with quick feet and elusiveness, Mooney ran the option play to his left and broke free into the Bulldog secondary.  Outrunning and eluding defenders, he angled to the end zone flag and put North ahead by thirty points with his second score of the evening.  The tally gave him 105 yards rushing for the night and marked the first time a North quarterback had eclipsed that number since the opposing quarterback's brother was playing for the Huskies (2007).  In his first varsity game, Mooney answered many of the team's biggest questions with his mobility, running skills, toughness, and leadership.

A bevy of running backs carried the ball on an eight play, 85 yard drive later in the quarter that put North's final points on the board.  Sophomore Maalik Butler went the last yard on 2nd and goal and Turi's sixth extra point made the score 50-12.

Bosse got a meaningless late touchdown by leaving their starters in to play against North's JayVee defense.  The second and third string defense gave as good as they got and battled to the last seconds of the game.  The young defenders even held Bosse without a score after the Bulldogs had recovered a fumble at the North 25 with 1:22 to play.

CONCLUSION

While Bosse is hardly the standard by which North should judge themselves as a football team, following last Friday's good showing versus Jasper (a team which beat Memorial by 29 points last night) it would appear that the Huskies "can" be a good ball club.  The answers to the above questions at the start of this article "appear" to be:

• The quarterback situation looks to be in good hands.

• The new offensive tackles performed well enough that the night's only sack of the quarterback came on an outside blitz.

• Damon Byars' performance rivaled that of the graduated senior he replaced at left guard--and that guy made the Courier's All-Metro team.

• Pauley and Underwood got open often enough to believe that the receiver corps is in good hands.

• The defensive ends kept the most elusive runner in the city from getting outside and accounted for multiple stops in the backfield.

• The linebacker corps is in good hands with a rotation of five players who can spell one another without a performance level drop off.

• The new defensive backs can stay with receivers as well as know when to "knock it down" rather than go for the interception.

• And, above all else, the new place kicker, the outstanding kickoff coverage, and the historic kickoff returns would indicate that the "Special Teams" are truly special.

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