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North Huskies vs Terre Haute South Braves- at South Vigo Aug 22 2014

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Game Recap

INEXPERIENCE SHOWS IN 47-15 LOSS TO SOUTH VIGO

The North Huskies fell victim to a lack of experience in Friday night’s 47-15 shellacking at the hands of the Terre Haute South Braves.  North dropped its first season opener in 18 seasons and suffered its worst opening night defeat since a 38-0 loss to begin the 1990 season.

Coming up against a foe that featured a three year starter at quarterback and an abnormally big group of defensive linemen, the Huskies could ill afford to make mental mistakes.  Playing on the road after taking a two-hour bus ride narrowed their margin for error even further.  The Huskies fell victim to nearly every pitfall that might have befallen them.

EARLY DISASTERS REPEATED

On the game’s first play from scrimmage, a “wheel route” pass coverage was mis-read and the result was a 65 yard touchdown for the Braves.

On North’s first possession, after making a first down, the ball was fumbled and turned over.  Another coverage mistake on South Vigo’s first play resulted in a 30 yard completion and a first and goal situation from the North 9.  The Braves went up two scores in the game’s opening three minutes of play.

A fumbled snap on third down (that North recovered) effectively ended North’s second possession.  When the Braves busted the ball up the middle for a 25 yard gain on their next ensuing play from scrimmage, it put them across midfield.  Another coverage mistake resulted in a 44 yard touchdown pass shortly thereafter.  The Huskies were down by 20 points and barely seven minutes were gone in the game.

Things never improved after that until the score reached 47-0 and Terre Haute South began to substitute liberally.  The Huskies were able to drive for a score early in the fourth quarter against the Braves’ second string defense when junior Trevor McDowell ran in from the three yard line.  As both teams played their junior-varsity squads, junior Sterling Armstrong recovered a fumble at the South 23 yard line.  Eight plays later, junior Corbin Greathouse put in a spectacular effort to score North’s other touchdown and bring about the final to 47-15

In reality, the game was not even as close as the 32 point margin of difference.

HAVE TO MAKE RAPID IMPROVEMENT

It is a football truism that every team sees its greatest improvement between weeks one and two.  That will have to be the case for the Huskies.

The interior offensive line did not look confident in either its reads against the defensive front that opposed them or in their execution of the blocks that were asked of them.  In the offensive backfield, the reads on when to handoff and when to run led to many missed opportunities. 

The defensive backfield lacked cohesiveness as a unit and was not crisp to the ball when opportunities presented themselves.  The decision making on coverage against outside receivers did not appear to improve as the game went on—the Braves’ quarterback was a perfect 5 for 5 for 122 yards and two touchdowns in the second half alone.

This is a team that was far from ready for its season opener.  Henderson County arrives at Bundrant Stadium Friday night.  Kentucky high school rules allow for practice to begin earlier in the summer than Indiana, so it is reasonable to assume that the Colonels will be even better prepared than the Braves were.  Husky football faces an important week of practice following Friday night’s discouraging performance.

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