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North Huskies vs Princeton Tigers - at Tiger Stadium Aug 23, 2019

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Offense

Team Stats

Defensive Stats

Game Recap

HUSKIES OVERWHELM PRINCETON 49-7

The sense of change was palpable when the Huskies arrived on the field for pre-game warm ups Friday night at Princeton.  The drills were conducted in a fashion that spoke of intensity and discipline.  The new white uniforms were accompanied by helmets that stayed on heads between drills.  The coaches were all dressed in matching attire of khaki pants and North-Green collared shirts.

The dozen cheerleaders were there early and preparing before empty stands--practicing for the 'real' show that would come an hour later.  The North faithful showed up in full throng.  There were more people in the visitor's stands thirty minutes before kickoff than there were there for Princeton.

The student body showed up in what had to be record numbers for an away game.  Dressed in farmer duds, Daisy-Duke shorts, straw hats, and plenty of checkered flannel shirts, the crowd was repeating the cheerleader chants before the coin toss.

There was a whole new 'vibe' to the Huskies--and this was a road game.

DEFENSE OPENS STRONG

The prior week at the Jasper scrimmage, North's front seven on defense stole the show.  Across the front, the Huskies opened with sophomore TJ Hankins, junior Gage Sales, and seniors Alex Smith and JT Skinner.  At linebackers an all-senior crew of Tanner Jackson, Tyler Gillman, and Nick Ireland provided support.  The defensive backfield was manned by juniors Brody Tichenor and Capoleton Presswood alongside seniors James Butler and Almonzo Anderson.

The impact of the combined years of experience was apparent in the first possession and the athleticism of several of those players was on display.

Butler and Tichenor came up and made big hits in run support.  When Princeton’s quarterback got outside on a run, Gillman ran him down to hold the damage to a first down.  The defense then stiffened and when the Tigers faced third and four at the forty, Hankins—the youngest player in the group—made an exceptionally athletic play to stop the quarterback for no-gain.

THE OFFENSE IS BIG AND EXPERIENCED

Ask any coach what they pray for most and they will tell you “execution from both lines and the weapons behind them to take advantage of that execution”.

On this night, the Huskies displayed a variety of weapons the likes of which North hasn’t seen in years.

The offensive line is big by high school standards.  Junior center Mauricos Mayes is flanked by a pair of returning guards:  three year starter Gage Sales and returning starter Adam Goebel.  These three interior linemen can match up in size with any line North will face this season.  Another returning starter, Jacob Guest mans one tackle and sophomore Gunnar Sales holds down the other flank.  They are joined by returning starter Alex Smith at tight end.

Friday night, these six players owned the line of scrimmage.

The thing about the Husky running game was the great success it enjoyed on the evening running the ball outside.  Certainly, sophomore quarterback Ethan Brawdy was afforded plenty of time to throw the ball when he dropped back to pass, but it was when he tossed the ball outside that the fireworks were fully on display.

LET THE FIREWORKS BEGIN

Brawdy twice drew the Tigers off-sides with deceptive snap counts and the Huskies were near midfield before they ran a play from scrimmage.  On first down from the 41, he handed the ball to third year starter Dylan McKinney on a sweep to the left and, as would be the case throughout the evening, a Husky wide receiver opened up the outside with a well-executed block.

This is one of the areas where the influence of new assistant coaches was apparent.  Consistently throughout the game, a North runner would make it outside and turn up field and the Husky receiver corps would neutralize their defender.  This freed the runner to cut off their block and get into the secondary for big gains.  On this play McKinney ran into Princeton territory before stepping out of bounds.

The next three plays saw Brawdy stand untouched and unhurried as he tossed short passes to McKinney, Smith, and Skinner that resulted in first downs.  When the ball went inside the ten, it was Skinner who got the call to run.  On second and goal, the Sales brothers sealed off the left side of the defense and Smith turned his defender around backwards.  Brawdy threw his hands up in the touchdown signal while Skinner was still three yards behind the line of scrimmage.  Brawdy could see the wide open lane to the end zone from his vantage point behind Skinner and the big senior bolted in for a score untouched.

Senior Alex Ozete split the uprights on the first of five perfect extra point kicks in the first half and the Huskies led 7-0 barely five minutes into the game.

DEFENSIVE FRONT STYMIES THE TIGERS

On the ensuing possession, the rangy toughness of the defensive front seven was well on display.  Hankins and Jackson sacked the quarterback on second down.  Skinner flew in and had hands on the quarterback as he rushed to release the ball and caused the pass to fall incomplete.  Princeton looked demoralized when they backed up to punt and the first stanza still had four minutes to play.

PRESSWOOD MAKES HIS PRESENCE FELT

With the ball at the North 40, the Huskies ran up field with McKinney and took advantage of another offside penalty by Princeton.  The ball rested at the Tigers’ 35 when junior Capoleton Presswood touched the ball for the first time in the game.

North has seen its share of fleet footed running backs through the years.  Dylan McKinney has excelled at the job for three seasons.  Before him, there have been legendary runners whose names you see on plaques and banners in the gymnasium.  The lasting image of North football is that of a green and white clad tailback streaking down the sideline, outdistancing defenders on his way to the end zone.

Capoleton Presswood looks to be made of that same type of ‘star dust’.  Brawdy lined up in the shotgun with the diminutive junior flanked to his right.  On the snap, Presswood ran a short flair pass rout to his right and the quarterback hit him mid-stride with the ball.

If anyone in the city possesses faster feet and better balance than Presswood, it would be surprising.  Where McKinney is a slashing style runner who makes great use of his straight-line speed and high knee action, Presswood can spin, turn, keep his balance, and accelerate.

He caught the ball, tucked it under his arm, and immediately cut on a dime up field.  At the 25, in another display of downfield blocking by a wide receiver, sophomore Angus Davis sealed off the remaining defender and Presswood zipped behind him on his way to the end zone.  The 35 yard touchdown pass was the first of Brawdy’s career as well as Presswood’s.  North led 14-0 with 3:10 to play in the quarter.

SECOND QUARTER DOMINATION/HIGHLIGHT FILM

If Princeton was overwhelmed in the first quarter, they were dazed and left behind in the second.  On the ensuing kickoff, sophomore Mitchell Happe stripped the return man of the ball and senior Shawn McPherson snatched the fumble.  Following a 34 yard pass reception by Alex Smith in which he carried a defender on his back 15 yards before going down at the 3, Brawdy executed a beautiful fake handoff and scampered to his left into the end zone.  That made the score 21-0.

When Princeton's offense seemed to find some rhythm, J.T. Skinner and company found a way to ‘deflect’ it.  When the Tigers made it to midfield at the 9:00 mark, Skinner rushed in with his arms high and deflected a pass into the waiting arms of senior Nick Ireland.  The heady senior cradled the ball and ran to the 25.

Two plays later, Dylan McKinney came in motion on a “jet sweep” and took a toss from Brawdy.  Presswood nailed the linebacker with a perfect screening block and McKinney cut outside and took off for pay dirt.  The score went to 28-0 with 5:46 to go in the half.

DEFENSE AGAIN ‘SKINS’ THE TIGERS

A Tiger receiver got open in the secondary and when he was brought down at the 30, the Huskies found themselves defending their goal for the first time in the game.  Skinner flew in and sacked the quarterback on first down and it appeared the drive would be halted before the threat could worsen.  A 15 yard face mask penalty against North on the next play changed that circumstance.

Hankins rushed in from his end position on first down to block a pass and Brody Tichenor came up to stuff a runner at the line of scrimmage on second down.  Everything looked to be under control.  Unfortunately, a pass interference penalty on third down kept Tiger hopes alive.

Now facing a first and ten situation at their 11 yard line, the defense buckled down.  On first down, Gage Sales stopped a runner dead in his tracks.  On second down, Nolan Bottoms wrapped up the quarterback and forced a fumble.  The Tigers recovered behind the line of scrimmage and it set up third and eleven.  A receiver flashed open on a fade pass to the right and it appeared that the Tigers might finally score.

That is… until Skinner dashed in and again nearly sacked the quarterback.  The hurried throw sailed harmlessly out of bounds.  A fourth down pass play saw Tichenor and Butler double team the receiver and the quarterback tossed the ball over the receiver’s head out of bounds.

THE SPIRIT BREAKER

In most games, there comes a moment when you can see the life go out of one club or the other.  Having made it to the nine and come up empty, the Tigers needed to make a stand in order to get back in the ball game.  The North offensive line took the life out of Princeton over the next ten plays. 

With Skinner carrying the ball on second down, Gage Sales bowled over the middle linebacker with a pancake block.  Skinner got into the secondary and rambled 28 yards in front of the Husky bench. 

When a penalty forced a First and Twenty situation on the Huskies, Princeton blitzed with North in shotgun formation.  The line needed no help, no assistance accounting for the extra defenders and Brawdy easily hit McKinney with a pass behind the blitzers.  Smith laid out a downfield defender and the Huskies now had a manageable Second and Two facing them.

Twice more penalties would force North into long down and distance situations that could have seemingly given Princeton some momentum.  Each time a different Husky rose to the occasion.  Most promising was the sight of a pair of sophomores coming up big on first and 15 at the 47 yard line.

With Princeton blitzing on nearly every play, the call for a counter play came in.  T.J. Hankins was in at a running back position and as most of the offense swept right, he came left and took and inside handoff into the line against the flow of the defense.  Picking up sophomore Gunnar Sales as a lead blocker, Hankins made it to the 34 as the clock wound down on the half.

Three plays later Brawdy hit Presswood in stride with a pass at the 20 yard line and the junior running back raced to the end zone with just 23 seconds left in the half.  North led 35-0 and the game was essentially over.

SECOND HALF PLAYED WITH RUNNING CLOCK

Not to discount the great play of the Huskies in the second half, it is hard to put it in context.  There is the image of the Sales brothers in a zone blocking scheme walling off the left side of the interior so that Presswood could zip untouched into the Princeton secondary on his way to the end zone.

There was the moment where Brawdy rolled to his left on third and eight and managed to throw back across his body to complete a pass in the center of the field to McKinney for a 21 yard gain.

The final touchdown saw Gunnar Sales again blow out the end on the left side so that Presswood could ramble untouched into the secondary.  On that same play, yet another Husky wide receiver selflessly threw his body between the runner and the defender at the 15 allowing Presswood to cut back and score the final North touchdown that made the score 49-0.

Those moments were to be savored.  They came against opponents who were well aware that they were outmanned, outclassed, and outgunned.

It certainly was something to watch as it occurred.

North was ‘back’.

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