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North Huskies vs Memorial Tigers - at Bundrant Stadium Sep 5, 2014

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Game Recap

TURNOVERS TELL TALE AGAINST TIGERS IN 28-6 LOSS

Horrific ball handling robbed the Huskies of a chance at their first victory Friday night in a 28-6 loss to Memorial.  The visiting Tigers were presented with “short fields” on three occasions by virtue of Husky fumbles and in the case of the fourth fumble, the recovering Tiger scampered 30 yards for a touchdown.  When the Husky offense did manage to drive deep into Memorial territory, more often than not mental errors and miscues contributed to North’s inability to score than their opponent.

OPENING DRIVE

Memorial opened the game with a 14 play drive to the Husky seven yard line.  Three times in the drive, it appeared that North might hold on third down but the Tigers are fortunate to have an All-City caliber tailback who managed to convert all three 3^rd down opportunities.  Holding the ball for over five minutes, they were closing in on the goal line when senior Trais Lowe pried the ball away from a runner and lightning rod sophomore linebacker Cage Street recovered the loose ball.

It appeared that the defense had bent without breaking and Street, having already proved to be an aggressive, opportunistic player in the season’s first two games, gave the Huskies exactly the “lift” that the team needed.  North’s offense took over at the seven yard line.

The Huskies fumbled the ball right back to the Tigers when an interior offensive lineman missed a block and a North runner was blindsided just as he took a handoff.  The savage hit knocked the runner from his feet as well as knocking the ball out, Memorial recovered, and the Tigers scored two plays later to make it 7-0.

TURNOVER NUMBER TWO.

Once again the Huskies got a lift when Trevor McDowell fielded the ensuing kickoff, found space behind the blocking wedge, and made his way to the 41 yard line.  With the ball near midfield, the Huskies could not have asked for more from their special teams to give them a chance to “answer” the Tigers first score.

A North runner then fumbled the ball on the very first play after an eight yard gain.

Memorial took over at midfield, converted another pair of critical third downs, and took the lead 14-0.

SECOND QUARTER STALLS

The Husky offense was not over matched by the Tigers.  When North wasn’t fumbling, they were advancing the ball.  Following another good kickoff return, the Huskies began their next drive at the 40 yard line.  Driving steadily downfield on running plays, the Green and White were able to punch the ball inside Memorial’s twenty yard line.   The Tigers’ defense stiffened and it set up fourth down and short at the 18 yard line.

What ensued was the stuff of nightmares.

With North deciding to forego a Field Goal opportunity and instead attempt to convert the fourth down, the Huskies lined up in their characteristic ‘Flex Bone’ double-wing formation with the quarterback under center.  Regardless of whatever play was called in the huddle, both wing backs started in motion at the same time and the ball was snapped—an act which sent penalty flags flying.

Two players moving at one time is not an issue so long as both players assume set positions prior to the snap of the ball.  Therefore, there is no infraction until after the ball is snapped which means an illegal shift is not a dead ball foul.  No whistle blows the play dead as a result of the infraction.

Unfortunately, the North players failed to “Play To The Whistle”—a cardinal lesson in football.  Eleven players clad in Blue & White played to the whistle, the North quarterback was touched ‘down’ nine yards behind the line of scrimmage as he attempted to hand the ball to the official, and Memorial turned down the penalty.  They took over the ball at the 24 yard line.

ANOTHER STALLED DRIVE

Without a short field in front of them, the Tigers were overmatched by the Husky defense and forced to punt.  North again had great field position and took over at their 47.  Within six plays, the Huskies were again knocking on the door of Memorial’s end zone.  Running the ball outside in the Veer as they steadily moved downfield, upon attaining the 20 yard line, the Huskies switched up and tried to run inside.  Two of the next three plays netted negative yardage as the Tiger defensive tackles nearly took the handoff in the backfield and, yet again, the Huskies were faced with a fourth down decision in front of Memorial’s goal posts.

Choosing to ‘go for it’ again, the play ended in disaster when an attempted pass slipped out of the passer’s hands and was graciously ruled an incomplete pass rather than a fumble.  Memorial had dodged another bullet at the hands of the Husky offense.

JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT IT WAS SAFE…

The theme from “Jaws” could have been playing when North took the field to start the second half, because the turnover monster was lurking in the shallows.    On North’s second play from scrimmage, the ball squirted loose on a counter running play, a Memorial defender scooped it up, and ran 30 yards for a score to make it 21-0.

With North having done an excellent job of returning kickoffs, the Tigers chose to squib kick the ball and the Huskies took over at the 36 yard line.  The decision worked out well for Memorial because they ended up with excellent field position when yet another North runner committed the teams’ fourth fumble of the evening on their first play after the kickoff.  An errant pitch on a “jet sweep” was picked up by the Husky running back but left him ill-positioned to deal with the huge blow administered by a Tiger linebacker and the ball was once again loose on the field.  Memorial recovered inside the North 40 yard line, and despite a staunch effort by the defense, the Tigers went up 28-0.

Despite there being 18 minutes of game time left, the game was, for all intents and purposes, over at that point.

THE DEFENSE IMPROVED

A take away from this game was the comparatively good play of the defense.  For the first time this season, the Huskies held an opponent under 100 yards passing.  The linebacker corps has proven to be effective against the run and held Memorial to an average of just 3.9 yards per carry—despite the Tigers fielding one of the best running backs in the city.  The defense forced a pair of turnovers in the game, one of which allowed the Huskies to get their only score of the evening.  One concern, however, was watching veteran defensive linemen commit four encroachment/offside penalties—more is typically expected from multi-year starters.

The offense is an entirely different story.  Momentary glimpses of what can be accomplished in the Flex Bone are negated by the inconsistency of the inside running game.  The interior offensive line has difficulty in preventing the defensive tackles from penetrating and disrupting the flow of the offense.  Even dive plays have become problematic at best.

Entering a road contest with Harrison, a team that the Huskies have beaten nine straight times, this used to be one of those spots on the schedule where the Husky faithful felt a win was imminent.  In 2013, the Husky defense had to force a fumble on their one yard line to keep the Warriors from going up two scores in the fourth quarter.  The offense then had to convert a 99 yard drive with the game winning touchdown scored in the final seconds of the game.

In light of the season’s first three contests, there is no reason to believe that Friday night’s game won’t be another epic struggle.

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