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North Huskies vs Jasper Wildcats - at Jerry Brewer Stadium Oct 8, 2023

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Game Recap

TURNOVERS DOOM HUSKIES IN 35-14 LOSS TO JASPER

After jumping out to a 21-7 lead with under five minutes to play in the first half, the North Huskies gave up 28 unanswered points in a 35-21 loss to the Jasper Wildcats.  The key play came in the fourth quarter when the Wildcats blocked a North punt and recovered the ball at the Husky 1 yard line.

TURNOVERS TELL THE STORY

Few football teams can overcome four turnovers in a single game.  While Jasper turned the ball over twice early in the game—both times leading to North touchdowns—they took better care of the football in the second quarter and gradually regained control of the game.

In North’s prior two losses, penalties played a huge role in the outcomes.  On the road at Jerry Brewer Stadium, the Huskies were whistled for holding and it negated a huge run from scrimmage on the first play of the game.  After that penalty, however, North was never called for an infraction the rest of the game.  Where previous losses had seen the Green and White accumulate over 100 yards in penalties, this contest ended with North having an infraction advantage of 1 penalty for 9 yards versus 6 for 30 yards against the Wildcats.

“AIR” HUSKIES COME OUT THROWING

When that lone penalty backed the Huskies up to their nine-yard line facing first-and-19 in the game’s opening seconds, senior Sam McKinney quickly opened an aerial assault on the Wildcat secondary.  He tossed a dart downfield to senior Lucas Pettit for 31 yards on the very next play and moments later picked up 22 more yards on a catch-and-run to wide-open junior Hunter Skelton.  In rapid fashion, North had the ball at the Wildcat 25, but the drive ultimately stalled there.

HARRIS SETS ANOTHER RECORD

The Wildcats run a version of the Naval Academy’s offense that involves an intricate series of fakes and maneuvers in the backfield before handing the ball off.  After a pair of such ‘option’ runs picked up a first down, Jasper faked a handoff and the quarterback rolled to his right to look for a receiver.  Unfortunately for him, his series of maneuvers had taken up enough time that senior Kaleb Harris—who is exceptionally fast for a defensive lineman—had time to pursue him from the left side of the defense and capture the hapless quarterback from behind.  That tackle ran Harris’ season total of Sacks to 13.5 and set North’s all-time single season record.  Harris had set the Career North record in last week’s contest and is now the undisputed ‘King Of Sacks’ in Husky history.

When a high snap from center forced Jasper’s punter to run to evade a group of Huskies, he got outside the end and rambled to the North 42 before he could be brought down.  It appeared the Wildcats might be threatening to put together a drive until senior Mojo Shaffer stormed through the line and tackled the Jasper quarterback for his third sack of the season.  Facing third and long and having felt the force of the Husky pass rush, Jasper opted to run a quarterback option play to the left side of the field.  Harris caught up to the play, mauled the quarterback again, and stripped the ball from him as he fell.  Junior Austin Bell was there to recover the fumble and the Huskies took possession in Jasper territory.

DIXON TAKES OUT THE SIDE

McKinney and Skelton repeated the pass play that had gained 22 yards on North’s first possession and this time the play picked up 23 yards to the Jasper 21.  With North playing this contest without their leading rusher for the season due to a suspension, it fell to the offensive line to pick up the slack and make opportunities for Husky runners.  When someone speaks of such tasks, for the last several years the Huskies have relied upon senior Timothy Dixon to open those doors and hold them ‘wide open’ for North’s rushers.  After earning a starting position as a freshman, Dixon went on to earn All-City, All-Conference, All-Metro, and Underclassman All-State as a sophomore.  He repeated all those honors again as a junior, and, by all appearances, is well on his way to doing so again as a senior.

With first and ten at the 21, McKinney lined up in the shotgun formation, and on the snap faked a handoff to junior Jason Rucker to the right.  With North faking a run in that direction, junior Aiden Wargel at right guard and Dixon, in his customary tackle position, pulled to their left and began running the opposite direction from the apparent ‘flow’ of the play.  McKinney tucked the ball in and followed the two linemen to the left.

Wargel screened off the end and Dixon, who is incredibly quick for a player of his stature, led McKinney into an opening in the line.  Dixon slammed into the linebacker and gave the runner an opening that carried him to the five-yard line.  With first-and-goal at the five, McKinney handed the ball to Rucker and, this time, Dixon displayed the technique that has earned him so many post season honors.  With one single block, he removed the entire right side of the Jasper defensive line.  He slammed into the end who then dominoed into the linebacker.  With junior Avier Mitchell leading Rucker to the now gaping opening in the Wildcat defense, Mitchell chipped away at the end as well and Rucker streaked into the end zone unscathed.  Alex Hess’ kick made the score 7-0.

ANOTHER QUICK SCORE

Hess’ high kickoff resembled a punt more than a kickoff and Jasper mishandled the ball.  Senior Keonta Barton zoomed in to take advantage of the bobble and recovered it at the Jasper 17.  A Rucker run put the ball at the five and once again, Dixon’s now-legendary prowess at tackle was on display.  With Kaleb Harris lined up at tailback behind junior Luke Grayson at fullback, Dixon plowed into the lineman ahead of him and forced the tackle into the defender that sophomore Ty Acuff was blocking next to him.  Dixon and Acuff effectively walled off the interior of the defense from any possibility of pursuing the play. 

Harris had taken the handoff and followed Grayson into the line.  For his part, Grayson did his customary workman like block that neutralized a defender who had penetrated from the outside and Harris now had a clear path to the goal line.  Senior Maya Baggett’s kick gave the Huskies a 14-0 lead twelve minutes into the game.

JASPER ANSWERS

The Jasper offense found its footing and as the game rolled into the second period, their ‘option’ offense began to prove effective against the Huskies.  They built an 8 play 84-yard drive that ended with a 13-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open receiver in the end zone and the lead was cut to 14-7.  The second quarter proved to be a mixed bag for Husky hopes.

North’s next possession witnessed their first turnover when a high snap yielded a fumble at the North 44.  The defense held Jasper to a ‘four and out’ but the exchange from center would prove to be troubling for the Huskies for the remainder of the game.  Whether it was the cold weather combined with 15-20 mph winds or just poor execution, North would utilize four different players at center during the game and as the contest wore on, whether it was the quarterback under center or in the shotgun, or a long snap on a kick, the exchange frequently resulted in bobbles or drops. 

The exchange between center and quarterback is vital to the ‘timing’ for an offensive play.  Even when it does not result in a fumble, if the snap is outside of a 2 foot by 2-foot square, the quarterback’s attention is removed from the action-and-reactions of the defense and his focus becomes simply securing the football.  This distraction affects the quarterback’s ability to locate receivers, complete fakes and the necessary maneuvers required to run an effective offense.

If football is a game of inches, it starts with the 24-inch square in which the quarterback or a kicker must receive the ball.

ONCE MORE TO THE END ZONE

Senior Kasey Hospelhorn sniffed out a razzle-dazzle ‘school yard’ play by Jasper on fourth-and-eight and dropped the runner short of the first down marker.   The North offense took over with 8:10 to play in the half.  The drive proved to be North’s last productive series of the game. 

With junior James Mercer running a ‘drag’ route over the middle, McKinney zipped him a pass that netted a first down at the Jasper 36.  Three plays later, the Jasper defense was prepared for a screen pass to Mercer on third-and-thirteen.  Without an option to throw-to, McKinney was facing a pass rush from three of Jasper’s four defensive linemen.

The fourth defender, however, was the nose tackle in front of Ty Acuff.  After snapping the ball from center, Acuff had pancaked his defender into the ground and was laying on top of him.  McKinney was quickly being encircled by both defensive ends and as well as the left tackle.  The only corridor for flight open to him was straight up the middle and over the top of Acuff.

He took it.

27 yards down field he was run out of bounds at the Jasper 12-yard line.  Two plays later, Harris was hit by a defender as he took the handoff from McKinney but managed to spin and shake the would-be tackler off.  Three more Wildcats would take turns attempting to tackle the 6’3” 220-pound end-turned-running-back.  None of them would prove to be any more successful than the last.  Harris made it to the end zone and North reached its ‘high water mark’ of the game at 21-7

STOP THE ‘DIVE’ BACK

Conventional wisdom holds that to stop the triple option offense, a defense must stop it ‘from the inside out’—that means taking away ‘options’ from the option offense.  The options begin with the ‘dive’ back coming straight forward into the line.  If that player has nowhere to run, a defense can string out the option along the line of scrimmage and apply greater numbers of defenders to contain it.

For the rest of the second quarter, North did a poor job of stopping the dive back in the Jasper triple-option offense.  With four minutes and thirty seconds left in the half, Jasper’s dive back went up the middle for 52 yards and a touchdown.  Their kicker missed the extra point and North’s lead was down to 21-13.

An exchange of punts gave North the ball at their 37-yard line with 45 seconds remaining in the half.  17 seconds later, the Huskies’ second turnover of the quarter occurred with an interception at the Jasper 21.  On their first play, the Jasper ‘dive back’ again broke through the line and went 68 yards to the North 11.  The Huskies were intent on making up for that deficiency and instead gave up an 11-yard touchdown pass to another wide-open receiver.  A two-point conversion tied the score at 21 at half.

SECOND HALF

After intermission, Jasper had another runner break through and go for 75 yards and a touchdown on their second play.  After the kick put the Wildcats up 28-21, the Huskies tossed another interception.  The defense stood up for the remainder of the quarter but the damage had been done and as the period wound down a pair of bad plays doomed Husky chances of a comeback.

The first occurred at the North 36 with 11 seconds to play in the third quarter.  With the quarterback under center, a bad exchange resulted in slow timing on a play that depends upon precise-fast-timing.  As a result, Rucker performed a miracle to keep a toss from rolling free in the backfield but was tackled for a six-yard loss. The play effectively ended North’s chances at a first down and the Huskies lined up to punt three plays later.  The snap was off-line and the punter had to scramble to his left to catch it.  The lost-second proved to be enough time for a defender to break through and block the kick.

When Jasper tackled the punter at the North one-yard line, they scored on the first play and went up 35-21.  Though the Huskies would continue to battle and deny Jasper any success in the fourth quarter, North suffered a pair of quarterback sacks at crucial moments that ended any chances of a comeback.

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