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North Huskies vs Harrison Warriors - at Bundrant Stadium Sept 11 2015

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Game Recap

TURNOVERS TELL STORY IN 34-26 LOSS TO HARRISON

Despite a huge advantage in time of possession and benefiting from over 140 yards in penalties by their opponent, turnovers turned the tide against the Huskies in a 34-26 loss to Harrison Friday night.  North played even with the Warriors into the fourth quarter and lost to their east side opponent for the first time in ten seasons.

EARLY LEAD

Harrison marched to the North 9 yard line on their first possession, but the Husky defense stiffened and junior Shawn Coane deflected a pass in the end zone on fourth down to cause a turnover on downs.  North then drove 91 yards on 9 plays to take a 6-0 lead.  Coane’s 34 yard run was the critical offensive play in the drive, but the Huskies also benefitted from three Harrison penalties totaling 23 yards.

PASSING GAME ARRIVES

The two squads were tied at 6 as the game moved into the second quarter.  North faced second an long near midfield when quarterback Aaron Curtis connected with junior Daniel Sellers on a short pass over the middle.  Sellers then raced towards the visitor sideline and turned up field.  With a full head of steam, he made his way to the 5 yard line before being forced out of bounds.   Two plays later, Coane ran the ball in from the two yard line and Thomas Samuel’s extra point gave North a 13-6 lead.

TURNOVER RESULTS IN WARRIOR TD

The Husky defense was facing a three-year starter at quarterback.  The Harrison senior was named All-Metro in 2014 and has a bevy of fleet footed wide receivers to choose from.  The North pass coverage effectively neutralized the Warriors’ passing game throughout the night and the next possession was an example.  When Harrison made it into North territory, Curtis defended a third-and-four pass play causing an incompletion and senior Matthew Gray did the same on fourth down.

North took over at the 45 but a Harrison blitz up the middle got to the quarterback, stripped the ball, and recovered the fumble.  After another incomplete pass on first down, the Warriors then ran the ball on five straight plays and turned the turnover into six points.

WARRIORS SELF-DESTRUCT

A short kick gave the Huskies the ball at their 36 and then they received the benefit of two Harrison personal fouls on consecutive plays.  The penalties moved the ball to the Warrior 27 and from there it was short work for the offense.  Curtis tossed a 10 yard touchdown pass to Sellers to give the Huskies a 20-12 halftime lead.

SECOND HALF

North caught Harrison by surprise on the opening kickoff of the second half by kicking ‘on-sides’.   The Huskies recovered and had the ball at midfield.  An off-sides penalty forced a second kick and Harrison reaped the benefit of the ‘do-over’.  Fielding the ball at the 38, the Warrior return man broke straight up the middle untouched and went 62 yards for a touchdown.  A two point pass tied the score at 20.

North’s first play from scrimmage was a deep pass over the middle that a Harrison defender intercepted and took to the end zone for a 41 yard touchdown return.  The extra point made it a 27-20 lead for the east-siders and in the span of 26 seconds North had lost control of the ball game.

STREET WAGES WAR

After the Huskies went ‘3 and Out’ on their next possession, it fell to junior linebacker Cage Street to wage a personal war against the Warrior offense.  When Harrison took over at the 32, they marched the ball up field in small chunks.  For twelve plays they battered away at the Husky defense and on eight of those plays it fell to Street to make the tackle and prevent larger Warrior gains.  Their drive took them all the way to the North 4 yard line and on fourth-and-goal, it again fell to Street to answer the call.  As a Warrior receiver raced along the goal line, Street caught up with him and managed to deflect a pass in the end zone that would have otherwise been a touchdown. 

North got the ball back with a chance to tie the score although nearly the entire field lay between them and the Warrior end zone.

LOST OPPORTUNITY

Faced with third-and-twelve at the 6, Curtis again hooked up with Sellers to move the ball out to the 25 yard line on a 19 yard catch-and-run.  Two more running plays set up another third down situation and yet again Harrison was flagged for a personal foul.  Senior Trevor McDowell carried three straight times to put the ball into Warrior territory, but the Huskies faced fourth-down-and-five in what proved to be the pivotal play of the game.

Curtis took the snap and had plenty of time to throw the ball.  A receiver broke into the open well beyond the first down marker and he delivered the ball to him.  Unfortunately the pass was dropped and Harrison took over on downs.  North never recovered from that lost opportunity.

FOURTH QUARTER

Harrison made the most of a short field and pretty much forsook the passing game.  They ate up clock and looked as though they were running ‘downhill’ as they put together a 9 play drive.  Street made four more tackles as the defense tried to stem the tide, but it was for naught as Harrison scored with 8 minutes remaining.  Another extra point kick gave them a two touchdown lead at 34-20.

Their defense stopped the Huskies on the next possession, the Warriors ate up clock before punting the ball back to North, and the Huskies were left with barely four minutes to play.  They made the most of them and scored a final touchdown on Coane’s 8 yard run with 2 minutes to play.  Harrison ran out the clock after that and the game was over.

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