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North Huskies vs Harrison Warriors - at Bundrant Stadium Sep 01, 2023

Game Stats    Game Recap   

Offense

Team Stats

Defensive Stats

Game Recap

HUSKY LINES OVERWHELM WARRIORS IN 40 POINT WIN

North’s overwhelming strength in both the offensive and defensive lines overwhelmed the Harrison Warriors in a 52-12 victory at Bundrant Stadium.  Simply put, the game’s statistics can be summarized perfectly with just two entries:

• The kickoff team was on the field eight times in the game.

• The punt team never took the field once.

These are the nights that a coaching staff dreams of—be they sweet dreams or nightmares depending upon the point of view.

GAME DECIDED IN 2 MINUTES AND 25 SECONDS

The disparity between the Husky defensive line and their Warrior opponents was on display from the onset.  After a Harrison return man bobbled the opening kickoff and then ran, inexplicably, sideways across the field rather than straight ahead, the visitors were starting from their 8-yard line.  A first play blitz by junior Luke Grayson yielded a six-yard quarterback sack in combination with senior Jayden Hazelwood.  Now at their 2-yard line, things got no better for the Warriors on the second play when Grayson again blitzed up the middle and sacked the quarterback for a safety.  One minute six seconds into the game, North led 2-0

The ensuing free-kick initially bounced over the head of junior Jason Rucker and he retrieved it at the North 23.  Unlike his Harrison counterpart, Rucker came straight forward after retrieving the ball.  He took advantage of a screening block by senior Keonta Barton, angled to his left where seniors Hunter Fulkerson and Kaleb Vashon opened a crease in the Harrison coverage, and then won the 70-yard foot race to the end zone.  Risking an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, he turned back and waved to his nearest opponent as he crossed the 15-yard line.  The infraction went un-noticed and one minute seventeen seconds into the game, North led 8-0.

Almost unbelievably, the Harrison kickoff return man again scooped up a ball and began running sideways on the field rather than straight forward.  For the second time in 90 seconds of play, senior Alex Heck dropped the hapless runner inside the ten-yard line.  A different quarterback was inserted into the game and he handed off to a running back who was quickly corralled in the backfield by senior Kaleb Harris and Hazelwood.  There was no escaping and the next line of scrimmage was the two-yard line.  This time it was Kaleb Vashon who blitzed up the middle and dropped the quarterback for another safety.  It marked the first game in North’s nearly 70-year history that the Huskies recorded two safeties in one game.  Two minutes and twenty-five seconds into the game, North led 10-0.

Harrison would never recover.

McKINNEY’S BIG DAY

All-purpose sophomore ‘Q’ Pauley returned the free kick 20 yards to the Harrison 36.  In the game, Pauley would make his presence felt with returns, a blocked-punt, several tackles, and yards gained rushing and displayed both quickness and a ‘nose-for-the-ball.’  As good as his game was in his limited role, senior Sam McKinney had one of the best games of his career.  Leading the team downfield with precision passes, on his third completion of the drive he tossed a perfectly placed ball to Hunter Skelton that the junior hauled in at the one-yard line.  McKinney then pushed over from the one behind a tremendous block by junior Brady Reeves that drove two defenders backwards and nearly out of the end zone.

On the day, the three-year starting quarterback would distribute the ball between seven receivers for 137 yards passing, one touchdown, and run for 65 yards on just 6 carries and score two touchdowns.  He led the team to six touchdowns in the nine possessions he was on the field.  His first touchdown made the score 16-0 and the game was barley five minutes old at that point.

NO STOPPING THE D-LINE

If there is a consistent strength in the 2023 Huskies, it must be the defensive line.  The next possession typified the game.  After a return man finally brought the ball straight forward and Pauley stopped him at the 20, the Warriors’ offense had some breathing room to operate in.

But not for long.

1. Grayson smacked a receiver so hard it knocked the ball out of his grasp and turned an 11-yard gain into an incomplete pass on first down.

2. Seniors Tim Dixon and Mojo Shaffer wrestled a hapless runner to the ground for a two-yard loss on second down

3. Hazelwood pancaked the offensive lineman in front of him on third down, snagged the running back with one arm, spun him into Vashon, and the linebacker then stripped the ball from him resulting in another loss on the play.

This possession could pretty accurately describe all but two of Harrison’s eleven drives in the game.

THE WARRIORS GET ON THE BOARD

McKinney continued to lead the Huskies downfield with well placed passes.  On this drive, in particular, Luke Grayson was his favorite target.  Twice the junior would slip out of the backfield after brushing a lineman as though he was blocking.  McKinney would then drop back further to avoid the defender that Grayson’s apparently ineffective block let through.  After yielding three yards, the quarterback lofted the ball over the defender into Grayson’s hands and for his part, the junior receiver required three defenders to stop his forward motion.  The first time he caught the ball, it picked up 11 yards. 

North ran the same play just a few seconds later and the Warrior’s again fell for the ruse.  This time it required four defenders to halt Grayson’s forward progress after a 25-yard gain and it set up first and goal from the 9-yard line.  Unfortunately, a pass was dropped in the end zone and then a holding penalty effectively killed the drive.  The Warriors took over at their 14.

It’s tough to defend all-out speed—Jason Rucker would prove this time and again in this game.  If there was one weapon Harrison had in its arsenal, it was speed.  A combination of a short pass completion and a North penalty gave Harrison a first down at their 40-yard line.  Hazelwood promptly dropped a runner for a five-yard loss and it looked like the 40 might be the ‘high water’ mark of the Warriors’ night.

The Harrison quarterback possesses great speed—nearly equal to Rucker’s.  When he got outside the end on the next play, there was no defender who could catch him.  65 yards later, the Warrior’s got on the score board on the first play of the second quarter.  Kaleb Harris leapt high and blocked the extra point and the score was 16-6.

McKINNEY RESPONDS

It took the Huskies just three minutes to respond.  Kicking away from Rucker, the Warrior kickoff went out of bounds and North started at the 35.  A combination of short passes to senior Luke Petitt and Grayson yielded first downs.  Messrs. Dixon, Reeves, Hazelwood, and juniors Cooper Minton and Ben Brasher opened holes that yielded 26 yards on three carries by Rucker.  Looking at first and goal from the ten, a pair of new faces were introduced into the devastation that the offensive line was reeking upon the Warrior front seven.  Juniors Ty Acuff and Aiden Wargel were inserted into the line and their presence was immediately felt.

Wargel stood the defender up in front of him and Dixon did his customary displacement of his opponent all the way to the end zone.  Rucker made a cut off Wargel’s hip and dashed to the one-yard line.  On second and goal from the one, Acuff mashed the nose tackle from his center position, Wargel collapsed and sealed off the right side of the defense, and Dixon relocated the end to the high jump area behind the end zone.  Rucker danced into the end zone untouched.  The Huskies went up 23-6 with senior Alex Hess’ extra point kick.

MISCUES ACCOUNT FOR ANOTHER WARRIOR SCORE

If McKinney played his best game, it wasn’t without one flaw.  He tossed an interception at the Harrison 20-yard line.  It was difficult to discern whether there was confusion on the part of the receiver or the quarterback, but there were no North players in the vicinity of the throw.  A Warrior snared the pass and only Rucker’s great closing speed allowed him to keep the defender from reaching the end zone.  A pass interference penalty against the Huskies two plays later gave Harrison a first and goal opportunity which they converted just two plays later (but not before Harris again sacked the quarterback for a loss on first down).  Alex Heck intercepted the two-point conversion pass and North led 23-12.

RUCKER IS A SPEED DEMON WITH A FOOTBALL

On the night, Jason Rucker’s line score would read 9 carries for 82 yards (a 9.1 average per carry), one reception for 31 yards, and one kickoff return for a 77-yard touchdown.  That is eleven ‘touches’ of the ball in the game for ONE HUNDRED NINETY YARDS of offense.  He averaged over 17 yards every time he touched the ball in the game AND had a touchdown saving tackle against an interception return. 

On second and ten from the North 42-yard line with three minutes to play in the half, the fleet footed junior put on what was possibly his best display of running in the game.  On the snap, Cooper Minton (playing left guard) pulled and waylaid the defensive end on the right side.  Dixon displayed a set of ‘wheels’ of his own by following Minton, turning up field and pancaking the safety at the 50-yard line before Rucker could catch up to him.  Rucker, having taken a handoff from McKinney, cut behind Minton and followed Dixon into the open.  When Dixon took out the safety, the cornerback was still poised to tackle the ball carrier.

Jason Rucker, in basketball parlance ‘broke the defender’s ankles’ with a juke step side-to-side move that left the cornerback laying face down on the football field.  One remaining defender was deeper in the field than Rucker at that point and had an angle that would allow him to stop the runner.  The defender leapt onto Rucker’s back at the 33-yard line in an effort to bring him down.

The extra weight on his back may have slowed Jason, but he continued to move forward.  It wasn’t until a second Warrior caught up and was able to force him out of bounds that the play ended.  After the 38-yard gain, it took North just three plays before Kaleb Harris took a short toss from McKinney, got a pair of massive blocks from Wargel and Dixon, and streaked into the endzone.  Hess’ kick made the score 30-12 and after that, Harrison was done for the evening.

SECOND HALF FLASH

When Harris and Hazelwood combined for North’s sixth quarterback sack of the first half, Harrison went into the locker room a beaten team.  When they came out senior Cainen Northington twisted the knife on the first play of the second half.

After North recovered an on-sides kick by Harrison at the 45-yard line, senior Delshan Davis snapped the ball and then laid out the nose tackle.  Hazelwood and Dixon demolished the left side of the defense and senior Kasey Hospelhorn came in from his slot position to seal off the linebacker.  Rucker provided a screening block on the free safety and Northington made the most of his blocking.  Cutting up field behind the carnage that the offensive line had made and in-between Hospelhorn and Rucker’s blocks, Northington then showed his amazing field of view by spotting defenders in time to angle away from them.  Edging toward the sideline in an ever-narrowing field, he out maneuvered two defenders and then out ran a third on his way to a 45-yard touchdown run.  He would only carry the ball three times in the game but gained 61 yards while doing so.

SCORING IN A HURRY

After sophomore Ricky White blocked a punt at the Warrior 36, McKinney ran the ball in from the 17-yard line just four plays later.  Fewer than four minutes had gone off the clock and it was apparent that we were heading toward a ‘running clock’ conclusion to the game.  Hess’ kick gave North a 45-12 lead.  Dixon and Harris combined for yet another in an endless stream of quarterback sacks and a short punt gave North the ball at midfield.  A McKinney to Rucker pass gained 31 yards to the 11 and junior Avier Mitchell scored on a 10-yard run.  Sophomore guard Mike Epps and junior Zethan Colon walled off the left side of the defense and Cooper Minton and Aiden Wargel split the defense in half with a double team that took out the middle linebacker and the nose tackle so that Mitchell’s run to the end zone went unscathed.  Hess’ kick made the score 52-12, the running clock kicked in, and not even eight minutes had been played in the third quarter.

UNDERCLASSMEN REPRESENT

As is the case in a 40-point blowout, it is important to get a chance to look at how much the underclassmen bring to the table.  In this game, beside the contribution made by regular junior starters like Grayson, Rucker, Beshear, and the rest, it was tremendous to see ‘next year’s’ offensive line show its promise.  On defense, Pauley and fellow sophomore Ricky White made impressions.  If this game was any indicator, although the Huskies graduate a number of very talented seniors at the end of the year, there is reason to believe that North has anything but a bright future ahead of it.

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