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North Huskies vs Castle Knights - at Bundrant Stadium Aug 21, 2020

Game Stats    Game Recap   

Offense

Team Stats

Defensive Stats

Game Recap

HUSKIES MANHANDLE KNIGHTS IN 14-7 VICTORY

In the end, the game was not as close as the score.  When North beat Castle 14-7 Friday night, the dominance was so complete that only a lightning delay could forestall the inevitable.  After yielding a first play touchdown run to the Knights, the Husky lines so manhandled their opponents, so completely disrupted the Castle game plan, that the end result was never in doubt.  The only thing in doubt was whether North could keep from self-destructing with penalties and dropped passes before they could reassume the lead.

As evidence of that domination, consider this:  after yielding the Knights a first play score from deep in their own territory, North's defense only gave up a single first down in the next TWENTY-THREE minutes of the game--and that came on a questionable running-into-the-punter penalty so it's not the same as a play run from scrimmage.  During that same time frame, the Huskies rang up NINE first downs and 157 yards of offense.  The only thing stopping the North offense were penalties and sloppy handling of the football. 

In effect, the Huskies steam-rolled the Knights in the first half of the football game.

FIRST QUARTER

North's first series opened with a text book example of Husky dominance.  The starting offensive line consists of two hold-overs from 2019, the Sales brothers, on the left side but features three new starters on the right.  A trio of juniors are featured with Kaleb Lowe at center, Mitchell Happe at right guard, and Garrett Mooney at right tackle.

The game's first play called for Happe to pull to his left and draw the defender in front of him with him momentarily.  When the deception works, a quick handoff to senior Cape Presswood follows and the rest of the play is dependent on Mooney at tackle to "own" his man and block him to his outside.

If everything goes according to plan, it opens up a hole in the line for Presswood to extort.

Happe pulled and the defender stepped right behind him.  The left side of the line sealed any penetration and quarterback Ethan Brawdy quickly fed the ball to Presswood.  Presswood zoomed past the defender following Happe and Mooney completely manhandled the remaining defender by using a combination of strength and technique to essentially eliminate him from the play.

Presswood rocketed into the secondary and the play might have ended with a nice seven yard gain if junior wide receiver Angus Davis had not arrived with a perfectly timed block on the safety.  Suddenly the runner had an open field and what could have been a nice gain became a Great Gain of 20 yards before defenders could force him out of bounds.

Unfortunately, a mishandled pitch killed the drive a few plays later in Castle territory and forced a punt by Brawdy which went out of bounds at the Knights' 11 yard line

EVEN A BLIND SQUIRREL SOMETIMES FINDS A NUT

On their first play from scrimmage after the punt, Castle scored on an 89 yard run.  That sounds like they dominated.  They did not.  North had three players converge on the runner at the line of scrimmage and all three collided with the runner.  Unfortunately, none of the three brought the runner down. 

Given that the three players designated to protect that portion of the field were all in one place at the same time, the play should have died with zero yards gained and resulted in  second down and ten.  A deft spin by the runner produced a situation where there were no defenders left to contain him in the middle of the field and he sprinted to a touchdown.

THE LINE CONTINUES TO DOMINATE

An example of North's dominance continued with their next possession.  Following a screen pass that yielded a first down at the 34 yard line, Ethan Brawdy got a chance to show off his running skills thanks to the biggest player on offense and the smallest.  Senior Gage Sales stands 6' 2" and weighs nearly 270 pounds and is a four year starter in North's offensive line.  He has already won All-City, All-Conference, and All-Metro honors and rates as one of the best linemen to ever wear the green and white. Senior Capoleton Presswood is generously recorded at 5'9" in the printed roster but is a blazing fast, chiseled physical specimen with a heart the size of a lion's.  The two young men served as Captains during the coin-toss.

On this play, they showed their prowess.

With Brawdy lined up in the shot gun, the play looked to be designed as a quarterback draw, certainly a designated run play of some kind.  On the snap, Sales stood his man straight up at the line of scrimmage and can-openered him into another zip code.  It was an effective demonstration of technique blocking and brute strength as if it were a demonstration film on YouTube--and he performed it against a defender who stood 6'2" tall and weighed 285 pounds.

As Sales destroyed the man in front of him, Castle's linebacker blitzed from his position directly between the center and guard and aimed straight for Brawdy.  The linebacker was the same player who had scored the touchdown earlier in the game--no slouch athlete in his own right.

Without hesitating, Presswood nailed the blitzer with a technique-perfect block of his own, drove the defender from his feet, and nullified the threat to Brawdy.  The nimble footed quarterback wasted no time in getting through the opening left by Sales' masterful swath of destruction and raced 30 yards into Castle territory.

The drive stalled there and forced another Brawdy punt, this one downed at the Castle one yard line.

THE FRONT SEVEN IS STRONG

Having been burned their first time out, it fell to the defense to seize the opportunity presented by Brawdy pinning the Knights up at their one yard line.  Just as before, defenders were in the right place at the right moment--only this time the execution was spot on.

If the evidence of North's off-season commitment to Coach Billy Hewig's strength and conditioning program is to be found anywhere, it can be found on this possession.  Castle possesses a HUGE offensive line and, in the pre-season write ups in the paper and elsewhere, that line was pronounced to be their greatest strength in 2020.

On their first two plays from the one, it was sophomore linebacker Cale Johnson who stood tallest and strongest. 

Up against a line that averages 6'2" 275 lbs. per man and has played together for two seasons, the Husky defenders so successfully kept their blockers from controlling them that the Knights went nowhere.

Johnson, listed at 5'10" and 160 lbs, and a wide receiver on offense, is a first year starter at linebacker.  On first down, with the play coming directly at him, he benefited from his teammates ability to control their portion of the field.  "All" that remained for the sophomore was to shed a pulling offensive guard who outweighed him by seventy pounds and then execute a tackle on a running back with a full head of steam.

The results of the off-season shown brightly as he did precisely that.

On second and 10 from the one, the offense flip-flopped its formation and Johnson was lined up on the opposite side of the field from where he had been on first down.  Castle ran at him again.

The result was nearly a safety as the runner was awarded his 'forward progress' to the six-inch line after Johnson dropped him in the end zone.

A roughing the kicker penalty on fourth-and-forever gave the Knights their only first down of the first half.

It just set them up for further disappointment.

After a holding call set the Knights back at their 8 yard line, the defensive front seven bottled up a pair of runs for short gains.  Faced with third and 10, Castle dropped back to attempt their first pass of the game with nearly 11 minutes already played.

They needn't have bothered.

In what would prove to be a foreshadowing of events to come, the veteran Castle center was so bothered by Gage Sales' play at defensive nose-tackle that he launched a snap into the backfield that forced the quarterback to have to reach up for the ball.  Sales and junior T.J. Hankins so overwhelmed their would be blockers that the combination of high snap and pass rush forced the quarterback to flee the pocket where he was quickly snared by first year starter Garrett Mooney who sacked him for a loss.

North's defensive front seven "owned" the Knights in the first half.

SECOND QUARTER LIGHTNING

The game continued in similar fashion until the Huskies took over at their 37 with seven minutes to play in the half.  Brawdy showed a "connection" with tall junior wide receiver Cameron Gelhausen and found him on back to back plays for gains of 11 and 33 yards.  North hammered away at the Castle defense and the Knights' frustration began to show when they were whistled for an Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalty that brought up first and goal to go.

And then lightning struck.

Literally.

What had been picturesque bright mauve and magenta clouds as the sun was setting on a warm evening gave way to heat lightning in the distance and then produced prominent strikes just east of Bundrant Stadium.

Play was halted for 52 minutes with the Huskies at the Castle four yard line.

After the delay, it was another kind of lightning that struck--this time in the form of sophomore Jaylonn Mitchell.  Slightly built but blazing fast, he hand signaled to Brawdy at the line of scrimmage that his path across the anticipated defense looked to be open.  Brawdy took the signal, read the defense, and delivered a perfect strike to Mitchell for North's first score of the game with 1:42 remaining.

The extra point kick was blocked by a strong rush up the middle and North trailed at half 7-6.

THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK--SORT OF

Where the first half had gone entirely North's way, despite recovering an on-sides kick to start the second half, the Huskies were not as effective in the third quarter.  Castle, on the other hand, had benefited greatly from the long lightning delay and halftime to make adjustments up front that "seemed" to be effective.

In truth, they hammered away at the Husky defense, but again, in reflection of North's off-season preparation and commitment to strength and conditioning, the only team that the "hammering" wore out was the Knights.

Their first possession consisted of seven running plays and two passes.  It generated a pair of first downs and ran five minutes off the clock.  It ended when a pair of already familiar faces teaming up together on fourth and three at the Husky 35.

On certain plays, Sales moves to the defensive position between guard and tackle rather than head up on the center.  Coming out of a timeout (the Knights knew this would be a crucial play and called time out to prepare despite being just 6 minutes into the second half), Castle determined to run behind the strength of their line in order to gain the first down.

Their trust was misplaced as Sales nullified their line on the snap.  The play called for a lead fullback to kick out the linebacker and allow the running back to squeeze inside of the defender for the necessary yardage to keep the drive alive.

Cale Johnson once again shed his would-be blocker (the lead fullback) and drove the runner into the pile created by Sale's surge.  The big senior lent a hand and the two defenders stopped the runner short of the first down marker.

DENIED... AGAIN.

Despite a pair of nice gains through the air, a North drive was stalled by an interception at the Castle one yard line.  The Knights then began a hammer-and-tongs approach in order to eat up time and wear down the Husky defense.  Ten straight running plays carried the game into the fourth quarter and put Castle at the North 38 with 11 minutes to play.

On second and two, North linebacker and three year starter, Brody Tichenor, stunted from the outside on a blitz.  T.J. Hankins performed a nifty stutter step move first to his left and then drove to his right.  The move caught his blocker by surprise and Hankins zoomed into the backfield where he nearly took the handoff between the Knight quarterback to the running back.  The running back spun outside while in Hankins' grasp and into the arms of Tichenor.  The two brought the runner down for a five yard loss.

After a timeout, on third and seven, Castle ran a screen play that was correctly diagnosed by Cale Johnson, who grabbed the runner by the ankles and very nearly brought him down on his own before Sales arrived from inside pursuit and hit the receiver like a ton of bricks.

The Knights, having run 12 plays over seven minutes were denied again and in doing so, were never able to recover.  Their stamina was gone.  Their strength was diminished.  They were no longer capable of producing their desired results because they were up against an opponent that was ready for 'CRUNCH' time.

THE BIG BREAK

Given their field position when their drive stalled, the Knights were able to punt and bottle up the Huskies inside their ten yard line.  After North put together a couple of first downs to work their way out of danger, an ill-fated pass out of punt formation at the 40 had the effect of giving the ball back to Castle where they had left off before.

On first and ten from the North 40, Gage Sales burst past the center, rolling him backwards, and tackled a runner for a five yard loss.  Johnson dropped a runner after a short gain on second and fifteen.

On third and twelve, Sales' omnipresence was weighing heavily on Castle's center's mind.  Lined up in shot gun formation, the snap appeared to come before the quarterback was ready and sailed past his head.  The ball bounced behind him and a pursuit to the football as it rolled and tumbled 24 yards came to an end with Brody Tichenor on top of it.

North had their big break.  That ball was at Castle's 14 yard line and five minutes of play remained.

BRAWDY FINISHES THE SHOW

A holding penalty on first down negated a Presswood run to the two yard line and as a result, North faced faced first and 18 at the 22 yard line (holding is a 'spot' foul).  Senior Robert Pollard ran a post rout from his left outside wide receiver spot and Brawdy put the ball where it needed to be as he had plenty of time to throw.  Tackled as he caught the ball, the senior receiver cradled the ball to his chest and North was back at the two yard line with first and goal-to-go.

On the next play, it was Presswood's opportunity to combine with the other Sales brother, junior tackle Gunnar Sales, to open a way for the winning score.  On a play called Q-Lead, Brawdy takes the snap on a designed running play off Gunnar Sale's left hip.  Gunnar did not disappoint.

On the snap, the 6'1" 260 lb. tackle drove his defender straight down the goal line.  He moved his defender as well as the next one a good five yards down the goal line and had the play run long enough, he might have driven them all the way to Elberfeld.

It fell to Presswood to take on the lone remaining defender and just as he had earlier, the senior running back used his leverage and his pound-for-pound greater strength to slice open a clear path for Brawdy to run to the end zone.

North lead 12-7.

The Huskies went for two points and repeated the play from their earlier score.  A receiver went in motion to draw the defense to the right.  Mitchell, lined up in the right hand slot, cut back against the grain of the defense in the end zone, and raised his arm to signal his availability.

Brawdy, for his part, had such excellent protection that he could wait, allow the play to develop, and toss a perfect spiral to Mitchell.

North won 14-7.

A TEAM WITH THREE KEY INGREDIENTS

This has been an off-season like no other.  It is not known how other teams grappled with the challenges presented by the pandemic.  What is known for certain is that Coach Paridaen and his staff made the most of a bad situation in a way that many might have hoped for, but few could have been certain of.

This Husky ball club has the desire to win.

This Husky ball club believes it can win.

This Husky ball club is prepared to win.

That has not always been the historical case at Bundrant Stadium.

The stronger team won Friday night.

The confident team won Friday night.

This is a club populated with starters that are mostly underclassmen.  There are not a proportionately high percentage of seniors.  What they all have in common is that they have now grown up in the North Youth football program.  They have played together at Junior High.  They have been led by a staff that has a vision for success, a plan to achieve it, and most of all, has buy-in from the team that if they follow that plan, they will win.

North football is once again a healthy football program built upon the terrific leadership of a coach, his staff, and all the support personnel who combine to make it work.

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