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North Huskies vs Harrison Warriors- at Romain Stadium Sept 9, 2016

Game Stats    Game Recap   

Offense

Team Stats

Defensive Stats

Game Recap

BIG PLAYS THE KEY IN HUSKIES LOSS TO HARRISON

The Huskies gave as good as they got Friday night.  One too many big plays allowed told the story in a 30-24 loss to Harrison.

SHAWN COANE EXPLODES!

Senior quarterback Shawn Coane played one of the greatest quarters of football North has ever seen.

That’s quite an opening remark, but it can be justified in examining the results.

 Coane took the opening kickoff and returned in 37 yards to the North 44.  On the first play from scrimmage he ran 37 yards to put the Huskies in field goal position—an opportunity Nem Gvozdic converted to give North a 3-0 lead.

After the Warriors went 70 yards on their first play and took the lead 7-3, Coane took the ensuing kickoff and returned it to the North 38.  Two plays later he ran 50 yards to the Harrison 4 yard line.  Senior Daniel Sellers scored a touchdown the play after that.

Harrison’s quarterback ran 46 yards for a score to retake the lead at 14-10 and Coane then gave North excellent field position with a kickoff return to the 42 yard line.  A holding penalty set the ball at the 32 but the extra yardage made little difference to the North captain.  He completed a short pass on first down, ran twelve yards on second down, and two plays later went 48 yards on a keeper around right end for North’s second touchdown and a 17-14 lead. 

When the defense stiffened, Harrison punted the ball and Coane returned the kick 21 yards to the Warrior 44 yard line.

Coane’s stat line for one quarter of play read: 

1.       six carries for 147 yards rushing for 4 first downs and a touchdown (over 24 yards per carry!)

2.       completing two of four passing attempts for 13 yards and a first down

3.       three kickoffs returned for an average of 25 yards each

4.       a punt return of 21 yards. 

That is 256 all-purpose yards, five first downs, 6 points, and four kicks returned to near midfield in just twelve minutes of play.

There have been few such displays of all-round offensive brilliance in a single quarter of play in the annals of North football.

SECOND QUARTER MISSED OPPORTUNITIES

The Husky defense was mauled in the first half as Harrison scored on four of its five possessions.  Simultaneously, North’s offense failed to convert a field goal opportunity from 24 yards and then fumbled in Harrison territory on its next possession.  The inability to convert those two key possessions proved costly.

Following the missed field goal, Harrison drove down and took the lead 21-17 on a seven play drive.  After the fumble, the Warriors strung together three first downs and kicked a 22 yard field goal to go up 24-17.

ONE MORE SCORE BEFORE HALF

Senior D’amonte Sylvain returned the ensuing kickoff 28 yards to the 42 but it appeared that the tide might be turning on North’s ‘scoring machine’.  An option right on second down lost yardage.  A jet sweep reverse only picked up two yards.  The Huskies faced 4^th down and six at their 46.  Coane lined up to punt, took the snap, read the coverage, and raced around end.  He was initially hit well short of the first down marker but refused to go down.  Twisting forward for every inch, he made the first down.  The measurement showed just the tip of the football ahead of the marker.

Coane then raced around left end behind a crushing block by senior Reid McIntire and picked up another 13 yards.  A few plays later, with the clock ticking away the final minute of the half, Coane again stretched and converted a fourth down and one at the 14 by just the force of his legs driving a pile of players forward.

He spiked the ball at the thirteen to stop the clock with under 20 seconds to go and two plays later hit senior Tyreak Cogdell in the end zone with a 13 yard touchdown pass.  Gvozdic’s kick made the score 24 all at halftime.

BOTH DEFENSES RISE TO THE OCCASION

Where the first half was a ‘track meet’, the second half was a defensive struggle for field position.  Junior linebacker Andrew Hendrickson set the tone by dropping a Harrison runner for a three yard loss on the half’s first play.  Senior Cage Street kept up the theme by tackling a runner short of the first down on third and long.

The Huskies and Warriors exchanged punts throughout the remainder of the quarter and well into the fourth.  North’s defensive line began to assert itself as junior Eric McClain and senior Kaleb McTier stopped multiple plays at or near the line of scrimmage.

ONE LAST BIG PLAY

While the Huskies bottled up Harrison’s high-octane offense throughout the game’s second half, one play decided the outcome.  A defensive secondary lapse in the fourth quarter on second and ten at the Warriors’ own 11 yard line ended up being the difference maker.  Harrison ran a wheel route to the right where in three receivers line up wide and the inside man delays and streaks to the outside.  The route is designed to put pressure on the defensive backs to make quick choices and to make them correctly.

North’s backs failed to do so and Harrison’s speedy slot receiver went 89 yards for a touchdown.  They missed the extra point but led 30-24.

But for that single lapse, the defense continued to hold Harrison deep in their territory, but the Huskies’ final two possessions were poorly executed and the game finished with that score.

LESSONS LEARNED

A tale of two halves of football revealed North as a team capable of making big plays.  It also revealed North as a team prone to giving them up.  Memorial and Harrison both recorded multiple offensive plays over 40 yards in length.  Whether they came about as a result of opponents gambling and guessing correctly on plays designed to exploit tactical weaknesses or they came about as a result of poor execution, the next several opponents on the schedule are capable of similar displays of offense. 

Consistency in the North passing game is not progressing quickly and the emphasis on fourth down conversions to sustain drives is a strategy that is fraught with peril.  To date, the Huskies have been extremely successful on fourth down.  While that’s good as long as it can be sustained, the better alternative may be to balance the offensive threat opposing teams must face.

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