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North vs Harrison Warriors - at Romain Stadium Sep 7, 2012

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Offense

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Game Recap

HOWELL LIFTS HUSKIES OVER HARRISON 41-34

In a game that featured 75 points scored, nearly 800 yards of total offense, and a 24 hour delay, it would be difficult to point to one set of moments that turned the tide in a football game.  Looking back upon North’s 41-34 Friday/Saturday night victory over Harrison, there was one particular set of events, however, that deserves mention and it involved Austin Payne, a little heralded, steady, junior ball player, putting himself in the right places at the right moments.

The headlines will bear out that running back Blake Howell had one of the greatest games in North Husky football history.  His 31 carry, 317 yard, 4 touchdown performance ranks as the third highest rushing performance in school history.  All the more remarkable is the fact that he had a 66 yard touchdown called back due to penalty or he would have broken the school record by nearly 50 yards!

Howell moved into seventh on the All-Time career rushing leaders list and needs just 25 more to pass Dion Pendleton, Jr. for sixth place.  He now has 164 career points scored and his next touchdown will propel him into sixth place on the All-Time points scored list as well.  Howell now rates with “All-Decade” players Derenzo Bushrod (00’s) and Cornell Garrett (70’s) as the only three men to ever gain as many as 300 yards rushing in one game.

OPENING DRIVE

The Huskies breezed down the field  on their first possession of the game.  Howell ran for consecutive first downs on each of his first two carries and DuVante Lane busted up the middle for 23 yards on North’s third play.  “Big” Mike Johnson ‘toted the rock’  into the end zone from the two and the Huskies led 7-0 with 9:49 to play in the first quarter.  Most impressively, they drove 70 yards on 6 plays and never ran the ball outside of either guard.  They were dominating the line of scrimmage and doing it impressively.

BIG PLAY, BIG DISAPPOINTMENT

North’s defense then stopped Harrison at their 36 and forced a punt.  With the ball sitting at the North 34, the Husky line again opened up a hole in the center of the defense on first down.  Center Dylan Simmons and guard Antwan Ogburn  severed the defensive line cleanly on a “Cut Back” play and Howell slid into the opening.  With the linebackers cut off from interior pursuit, the senior running back dashed through the middle of the defense and sprinted toward the end zone.  The only player with a chance to stop him was Harrison’s All-City defensive back and City champion sprinter.  Howell deployed a stutter step at the ten, lowered a shoulder, and bowled the speedster over on his way to the end zone.

A penalty flag for holding negated the 66 yard scoring run, but it was a thing of beauty nonetheless.

Two plays later the Warriors intercepted a pass at the 29 and ran it back for a touchdown.  Instead of a 14-0 lead barely 5 minutes into the game, North was now in a tie game.

LONG DRIVE RETURNS THE MOMENTUM TO THE HUSKIES

The Huskies dusted off the disappointment and promptly drove the ball back down the field against the Warriors.  The biggest play occurred when North was faced with forth and two at their 42 and chose to ‘go for it’.   If the gamble failed, Harrison would have a “short field” ahead of them and a chance to take a lead in the contest.  Blake Howell took the handoff out of the “I” formation on a play called “24 lead”.  It calls for Howell to run ‘off tackle’ between guard Dylan Powell and tackle Logan Mullen.  It is a play that has easily accounted for over one-hundred yards of rushing in the season’s first three games.

It is a “Bread & Butter” play for any run-oriented offense.  A team counts on the “strong side” of its offensive line to win the battle of the trenches and reliably gain three or four yards every time the play is called.

North did better than that on fourth down.  Howell went 25 yards to the Harrison 33.

It was a night when every member of the Husky offense was contributing to the blocking scheme.  Two plays later, wide receivers Mitchell Jenkins and Brock Underwood both took out members of the Harrison secondary with excellent blocks and Howell gained 12 yards on a sweep.  When the Huskies were facing 3^rd and 2 at the 13, it was Ogburn who sprinted out ahead of Howell on another sweep and pancaked one defender and then pushed another all the way into the end zone.  Howell dashed in to give the Huskies a 14-7 lead with 1:53 to play in the quarter.

WARRIORS ARE EXPLOSIVE

Harrison is a better ball club than they were the last several seasons.    They are not a ‘great’ ball club and they very nearly squashed their chances on their next possession by drawing a 15 yard penalty after gaining a first down at midfield. 

They are still explosive, however, and despite being faced with a “first-and-twenty-five” at the 33 rather than 1^st and 10 at the 48, it posed them little problem.  Their star sprinter broke no fewer than three tackles as he sprinted 67 yards for a touchdown that tied the score on the first play of the second quarter.

DEFENSE TIGHTENS UP

Most of the second quarter was spent with the teams exchanging punts.  The reasons for the exchanges were quite different, however.  For their part, North committed a drive-halting penalty on one possession and dropped a certain first down pass on another.

Harrison’s issues, however, were far from self-inflicted.

On their next possession, linebacker Du’Vante Lane blitzed and threw the star sprinter for a six yard loss that stalled one drive.  On the following Warrior possession, Antwan Ogburn dropped the scrambling sprinter for a 19 yard loss and ruined the drive.

DRIVE TO NOWHERE

North’s final possession of the half (and the night) started at the North 38 following another Harrison punt.   The Huskies ran the “Cut Back” play that had led to the 66 yard nullified-score in the first quarter.  The results were similar as Howell went 56 yards to the Harrison six.  This time there was no flag and the Huskies had 1^st and goal with just moments to play in the half.  Unfortunately, they were unable to score and quarterback Max Mooney was drug down on the one on fourth down.

TWENTY-TWO HOUR DELAY FOR THE SECOND HALF

With radar displaying a serious storm front imminently approaching Evansville, officials temporarily suspended play until the following day at 6pm.  The two teams reconvened at Romain Stadium under sunny skies with the second half kickoff.

AUSTIN PAYNE DELIVERS

There are moments upon which a game hinges but the impact isn’t felt until much later.  The first ten minutes of the “second day/second half” proved to be some of “those” moments.

Kicker Sam Daywalt delivered his seventh “Touchback” out of twelve kick offs in which he has kicked deep rather than squib.  That 58% more than doubles the next best such percentage by a North kicker over the last five seasons. 

Harrison faced third down and five yards to go from their 25 and looked to have an open receiver beyond the first down marker.  As the Warrior quarterback delivered the ball to the receiver, cornerback Austin Payne streaked in and broke up the certain first down and forced Harrison to punt.

North had little success with the ball on their possession and Chase Whitler punted the ball back to the Warriors from mid-field.  The ball bounced inside the 15 yard line and racing down to cover the ball for North was Payne.  He gauged the ball’s path and aligned himself between the end zone and the ball and downed it inside the one yard line.  Payne’s ‘heads up’ play effectively hemmed Harrison in with horrible field position barely a foot in front of their own end zone.

DEFENSIVE STONE WALL

Senior Bruce Crider stopped a Warrior for no gain on first down.  Dylan Simmons and Maalik Butler teamed up to do the same on second down.  Whitler broke up a pass on third down and Harrison was forced to punt from their end zone.   Whitler then fielded the punt and returned it to the 18 yard line.

Payne’s break-up of the 3^rd down pass on the first possession and then downing of the ball on the one had ultimately set up a short field that the Huskies immediately capitalized upon.   North again called for a “24 Lead” play and Howell scooted 18 yards for a touchdown.  North led 21-14.

PAYNE DELIVERS AGAIN

When they got the ball back, Harrison immediately went to the air.  Once again, it was Austin Payne who impacted the game.  Stepping into the flight of the ball, Payne intercepted the pass in front of the Harrison sidelines and returned it to the Warrior’s 40 yard line.  Faced with another “short field”, the Huskies made quick work of the Warriors. Barely three minutes later, quarterback Max Mooney kept the ball on an option play and ran in from the five yard line to give North a 28-14 lead.

Payne’s “heady” ten minutes of play had been instrumental in building a two touchdown 3^rd quarter lead that would prove oh-so-valuable in the game’s final seconds. 

THE WARRIORS FIGHT BACK

Harrison is not without weapons.  They have numerous fleet footed backs and receivers.  The Warriors strung together their best drive of the night as the third quarter wound down and, despite Daywalt’s 8^th touchback kickoff of the season, went 80 yards in 10 plays.  Their star sprinter went the final 14 yards on the first play of the fourth quarter.   A North encroachment penalty on the extra point kick put the ball at the 1 ½ yard line and Harrison decided to “go for two”.  They failed in the attempt when defensive back Curran Davis provided the final push to keep a runner out of the end zone.  Harrison had pulled within 28-20 after the touchdown.

FOURTH QUARTER

For their part, the Huskies were just revving up on offense.  Steadily gaining five or more yards on most plays, the offensive line had the Warrior defense back on their heels.  The ball rested at the Warrior 42 as Mooney lined the Huskies up in the “Show-Gun” offense.  Having run the “I” formation most of the evening, the “Show-Gun” offered a variety of offensive options—and the Warriors were not ready for the option that came their way.

Howell was lined up as a wing back and came back toward Mooney on the snap.  He took a hand-off in a reverse-style to the right hand side of the offense.  Sensing an opening in the interior of the line, he broke off the reverse and instead cut inside.  He broke through the line and zipped 42 yards to the end zone.  Harrison’s City champion sprinter gave up on the play and simply watched as Howell strode into the end zone untouched.  After kicker Zac Turi’s fifth extra point kick of the evening, North led 35-20.

ANOTHER DEFENSIVE STAND

Turi then executed a picture-perfect “squib” kickoff (his specialty) and Harrison was hemmed in at their 17 and trailing by 15 with 9 minutes to play.  They gained a first down at the 28, but Howell (playing linebacker) blitzed on first down and stopped the sprinter for a one-yard loss.  Harrison got seven yards on second down, but Whitler’s great open field tackle on third-and-four stopped a receiver a yard short of the first down marker.

Harrison sensed that the game had reached its most critical moment and called time out.  They returned to the field and lined up in a power formation and prepared to “go for it” on fourth down.  Attempting to run off tackle, they made the mistake of running right at end “Big” Mike Johnson.  Johnson shed the first blocker and met the runner head on.  Linebacker Maalik Butler then arrived and provided the extra impetus that stopped the runner’s forward momentum and North had the ball back on downs.

HOWELL’S ENCORE PERFORMANCE

North handed the ball to Blake Howell three straight times.  A first down option play lost a yard.  A second down hand off nearly got stopped in the back field, but the senior expertly shed a tackler and turned it into a five yard gain.  The third play was the “charm.” 

On a weak side sweep, Howell took the ball six yards behind the line of scrimmage, followed Johnson and a lineman around end, got a block from a wide receiver, and flew 32 yards for the decisive touchdown in the game.  North led 41-20 with just 4:15 to play.

SPECIAL TEAMS DEBACLE

The problems began with the extra point.  The snap was high and it caused the holder to have to rise up out of his stance to field it.  By the time he could set it back down, the rush was on him and there was no chance to attempt the kick.

On the kickoff, rather than having Turi ‘squib’ another kick, North kicked deep to the Warrior’s sprinter and he went 88 yards for a touchdown.  The extra point made the score 41-27 with 4:04 to play.

Harrison attempted an “on-side” kick and North was ready with the “hands” team up front to field it.  Unfortunately, the ball bounced high and then bounced off a “hands” team member’s shoulder pads and into the waiting arms of a Warrior defender.   Harrison’s sprinter handled the ball on all eight plays—as a runner on six plays, a quarterback on another, and a receiver on another—and the Warrior’s cut the lead to 41-34 with just 2:33 to play.

Harrison attempted another “on-side” kick and this time the ball went through a “hands” team members knees and was recovered by the Warriors at the 47.  Harrison converted a fourth-and-four at the North 41 to sustain the drive with under a minute to play.  They converted a second fourth down at the 14 when their quarterback broke through outside containment and ran to the four yard line.

North survived three incomplete pass attempts into the end zone in the game’s final eleven seconds and won the game 41-34.

THE HUSKIES ARE 3-1

Regardless of how close the games have been, the Huskies are 3-1 after four games for the first time in five seasons.  In the game that they lost, they led with 50 seconds to play.  Each week continues to give the inexperienced defensive backfield opportunities to prove themselves.  Chase Whitler, Curran Davis, and Austin Payne each contributed greatly to this week’s win with individual plays that denied Harrison opportunities to change the outcome.  Justin Lockett and Whitler provided key plays against Memorial deep in North territory that preserved that victory.

The Husky defensive backfield is no longer green.  They are becoming a source of strength for the 2012 Huskies and this week, no player exemplified the heads up, hands-on style of play that it takes to win more than Austin Payne.

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