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North Huskies vs Castle Knights - at John Lidy Stadium Nov 3, 2023

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Game Recap

HUSKIES EXORCISE KNIGHTS 60-50 IN SECTIONAL TITLE GAME

The North Huskies kept a date with destiny and humbled the Castle Knights 60-50 in the 2023 5A Sectional Championship at John Lidy Field.  The victory marked the Huskies first Sectional title in 23 seasons and was also the first time in 20 years that North posted successive victories over Castle.  Any number of demons were exorcized in Paradise Friday night.

EARLY LEAD FAILS TO HOLD—AGAIN!

Much like the season opening contest at Castle, the Huskies jumped out to a significant early lead only to see the Knights claw back and take the lead away.  In August, North scored on their opening drive with a Jason Rucker run and then followed it up with a touchdown pass from Sam McKinney to James Mercer. 

In this game, the Huskies took the opening kickoff and drove 63 yards in eight plays with McKinney scoring from the one-yard line.  Senior Kasey Hospelhorn (who would have one of the best games a Husky defender has had in the last decade) recovered a Castle fumble at their 33 and McKinney then tossed a 33-yard touchdown pass to Mercer.  The game was less than five minutes old and North led 14-0.

Castle drove 61 yards on 11 plays when they took over and cut the margin in half.  Through the years, a pallor has hung over John Lidy Field when the Huskies play there—no lead is ever safe and success often breeds failure.

SIX MINUTES FROM HELL

It was almost as if a claw came down from the pallor and the ghost of John Lidy himself took control of the game.  A turn of events began with 45 seconds to play in the first quarter that would wither the spirit of most high school teams and it turned the blood of the Husky fans in the stands ice-cold.

North suffered a blocked punt that rolled into the end zone and was recovered by the Knights to tie the score at 14.

Less than two minutes later, Castle intercepted a pass at their 28 to stop a Husky drive in its tracks.

Ten seconds after Luke Grayson blocked a fourth down pass to stop a Castle drive at the North 38-yard line, the Huskies turned the ball right back to the Knights with a fumble.  Castle capitalized on the short field and went up 21-14 on a pass-off-a-double-reverse trick play.

Less than a minute later, North again fumbled the ball and left Castle with excellent field position.

Teams are not typically victorious in contests wherein they give up a blocked punt and three turnovers over the course of an entire game—let alone six minutes of play in the second quarter.

NO ORDINARY TEAM

Of course, the 2023 Huskies are no ordinary team.  Blessed with a line that comes closer to resembling the Green Bay Packers than it does a high school squad, a pair of running backs with uncommon footspeed, a sure handed deep threat receiver, a savvy three-year starter at quarterback, and a defensive leader with a nose for the football and the heart of a lion, these Huskies have reason to believe that no game is ever over until ‘they’ say it’s over.

This game was not over.

THE HEART OF A LION

Castle had the ball at midfield and all the momentum in the game had shifted their way.  What they did not have was a defensive leader like Kasey Hospelhorn.  Having already recovered a fumble that led to a North score, it fell to #25 to bolster Husky spirits after yet another turnover.

Some players just have that knack for being the first-to-the-ball.  They play the game with their head up and looking for opportunities to exploit the opponent’s weakness and bring them to their knees.  They buckle up their chin strap, spot holes in the offense, fly to the ball, and make heavy contact.  Kasey Hospelhorn is ‘that guy’ for North.  Playing middle linebacker in this game after having started a strong safety for most of this season, he resembled NFL Hall of Famer Brian Urlacher on the field Friday night.

On first down, he raced through an opening and dropped Castle’s biggest running back dead in his tracks in the backfield for a loss.  When Castle ultimately faced third and long, it was Hospelhorn who drifted back into space and defended against the receiver they were trying to throw a pass to.  Forced to punt on fourth down, Castle kicked the ball deep into North territory—into the hands of Hospelhorn.  Dancing past two defenders, he returned the ball out near midfield and gave the Huskies excellent field position.  The defender with the Heart of Lion had given North just the boost it needed and stopped Castle’s momentum.

THE WINGED FEET OF MERCURY

Enter Jason Rucker and the winged feet of Mercury.

No one does anything alone on a football field, but it takes special gifts to take an opportunity made possible by others and turn it into a highlight reel.  That’s just the sort of thing that Rucker is capable of doing.  On the very next play, senior Delshan Davis and junior Brady Reeves provided a significant opening in the defensive line—twice the width of Rucker.  That was more than the running back needed to sprint into the secondary with a full head of speed.  When one defender presented a barrier to his progress at the 40-yard line, Rucker performed a swivel with his hips that just doesn’t come naturally to most human beings.  The maneuver caused the defender to lose a step and then it was a footrace to the end zone.

Rucker loses just about the same number of foot races as the Roman deity Mercury did—which is to say ‘none.’

The Knights would learn this lesson over-and-over in the game.  North had tied the score at 21, ‘stopped the bleeding’ and looked to be back on level footing as the game went to halftime.

SECOND HALF

Certain facts about a game reveal the layer below the surface of how a contest played out—consider this one:  North possessed the ball NINE times in the second half of the game and only ONCE faced a third down situation.  During that same span, Castle would face ten ‘third-downs’ and the Husky defense would come through on seven of them.

But… the Knights were not going away without a fight.

On the first play of the second half, lightning struck in the form of a dive play up the middle that saw two North defenders inadvertently tackle one another rather than the runner.  Fewer than 15 seconds had elapsed and the Huskies again trailed in the game by 7 points.

RUCKER’S QUARTER

170 yards rushing and three touchdowns is considered All-Star level performance for a running back over the course of an entire game.  If a player can perform at that level over 48 minutes and do it consistently, that player will likely end up playing for a major college program.

Jason Rucker put up those numbers in the first FIVE MINUTES of the third quarter.  It was an assault the likes of which have not been seen at North since 2000 when they won their last Sectional with Husky Hall of Famer Derenzo Bushrod.

Riding Rucker’s blazing feet, North drove down field on five plays and he went the final 9 yards on a run up the middle.  Senior Mya Baggett booted the extra point straight through the uprights and North had tied the score.

TWO BIG PLAYS BACK-TO-BACK

Castle got a huge kickoff return and brought the ball out past the 50-yard line.  There was a quiet hush that came over the North stands—it appeared to be yet another chance for Castle to regain control of the game.

And then Kasey Hospelhorn turned back the tide with a fumble recovery.

North’s very first play was to run an outside-zone play to the left behind juniors Brady Reeves and ‘Big’ Ben Brasher.  McKinney made the correct choice when he saw the opening that Reeves and Brasher had put in the defense—there were no defenders on the line of scrimmage between the hashmark and the center of the field.  A span 20 feet wide was laid open when he handed the ball to Rucker.  15 yards down field a single defender closed on him and Rucker did a move that, to be kind, left the defender picking up various pieces of his undergarments off the turf.  From there it was a footrace to the end zone and, as has been cited previously, Rucker does not lose footraces.

North led 35-28 after Alex Hess’ extra point.

DÉJÀ VU ALL OVER AGAIN

Baseball Hall-of-Famer Yogi Berra once commented that watching Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris hitting back-to-back home runs in the 1961 season was like having “déjà vu all over again.”  Castle must have felt this way when junior Austin Bell stopped a Castle drive by tackling a receiver short of the first down and forcing the Knights to punt the ball back to Rucker and the Huskies. 

If they didn’t, they should have.

On North’s first play from scrimmage following the punt, McKinney handed the ball to Rucker to follow seniors Delshan Davis and Timothy Dixon to the right.  Davis blasted the outside linebacker hard enough to lay him out flat on his back and Dixon turned inside to stand up the defensive end and blow him backwards.  Ben Brasher had hustled out into the secondary from his tackle position and waylaid the safety.  The net effect of those blocks was another 20-foot-wide hole in the defense.  For Rucker, it was just another footrace.

No slick moves were required this time.  It was a 70-yard sprint in front of the assembled Castle Knight sidelines all the way to the end zone.    Only a bad placement on the extra point kick marred the perfection of the moment.  North led 41-28 less than two minutes of play after they had trailed Castle 28-21.

MERCER HAS REAL SKILLS

The defense posted another three-and-out for the Knights and the Huskies got the ball back at their 38.  When Rucker took a sweep around left end all the way to the Castle 32, it appeared to be a repeat performance of what occurred earlier.  The Huskies possess many weapons and this was an opportunity to utilize junior James Mercer.

Nowhere near as fast as Rucker, Mercer has real skills that make him an excellent target for Sam McKinney to throw to.  Six feet tall and a leaper, Mercer is blessed with great hands and the ability to develop separation between himself and defensive backs.  He runs great routes and is willing to go up to get a ball to catch it.  He came into the game averaging nearly 26 yards per catch and had established himself as the Huskies’ ‘deep threat’.

On first down at the 32, he sprinted past the cornerback and was open on a fly pattern.  McKinney’s foot appeared to slip on the atrocious turf (many plays would be impacted during the game by players slipping in the treacherous mud and loose turf at John Lidy field) and it was apparent that the pass was underthrown as a result.  Mercer possessed the awareness to stop his downfield momentum and go back to get the ball at the 12-yard line.  The loose turf caused the defender to slip as he realized the pass was underthrown and Mercer caught it as the two of them fell back toward the ball.

After a penalty forced North back five yards, McKinney dropped back to throw from a nasty patch of exposed mud near the 20-yard line and he laced a ball well ahead of Mercer as the receiver cut across the field at the five-yard line.  To catch the ball, it required Mercer to leave his feet and lunge forward toward the endzone.  With his body parallel to the ground, he hauled in the pass and landed with ball across the goal line.  It was his second touchdown of the game and North led 47-28.

PHANTOM FOUL

The Knights got a great kickoff return out to the North 48 but senior Joseph ‘Mojo’ Shaffer quickly dropped the quarterback for an 8-yard sack to push them back into their own dirt.   A runner picked up a handful of yards on second down when, across the field and behind the play, a flag was thrown for a 15-yard personal foul of some sort on the Huskies.  It had nothing to do with the play itself but it had the affect of giving Castle a first down at the North 30.  The pallor over John Lidy Field had struck again and on the following play a Statue of Liberty trick-play caught North unaware and resulted in a touchdown pass.  Castle had once again put themselves back in the game.

POUND FOR POUND

If there’s a tougher runner pound-for-pound this season in Evansville than senior Cainen Northington, that person hasn’t been seen on a playing field against the Huskies.  On this evening, #22 had his ups and downs, but when North needed to deliver a one-two punch to knock out the Knights, they could count on their leading rusher to get the job done.

After Rucker had a 40-yard kickoff return called back by a holding penalty, the Huskies took over at their 19.  When McKinney slipped on the turf on first down, the situation had the potential to get out of hand.  A punt from inside the 20 would likely give Castle the ball in North territory and a chance to make it a ‘one-score’ game.

That’s when the Huskies put the ball in Northington’s hands.

The play called was designed to go inside between Brasher and Reeves, but instead he cut it outside with a burst of lateral speed that was too fast for the inside linebacker to react to.  The outside linebacker, however, grabbed hold of Northington but, pound-for-pound, he was no match for the runner.  Shedding the tackler, he spotted Mercer screening the cornerback at the thirty and slanted his run to go behind Mercer’s block.  Breaking into the clear, a safety remained in his way at the 45, but the juke-step that Northington used left the defender laying on the ground wondering where his sense of balance had gone.  From there, no one was going to catch him and an 81-yard touchdown run was on the books.  The extra point missed wide-right but the lead was 18 points going into the fourth quarter.

FINAL STANZA

Castle battled back but ate up five minutes off the clock with a methodical 13 play drive.  The ghost of John Lidy reappeared at the goal line when a North defender deflected a pass up in the air to prevent a touchdown pass only to have the ball fall to the earth into the lap of a Castle receiver laying on the ground in the end zone.  A two-point conversion put the Knights within a touchdown-and-a-field-goal with eight minutes to play.

FIRST DOWN MARKER FREAK SHOW

After recovering an onsides kick in Castle territory, there were just six minutes remaining when North found themselves facing third-and-two at the Castle 40.  A McKinney run was close enough for a measurement—which meant it was likely less than a yard to go IF he hadn’t converted the first down.  When the chains were brought out and stretched to their full distance, it appeared that the markers showed North was still THREE YARDS SHORT of the first down. 

These things happen on the road at Paradise.

The turf again claimed a victim on fourth down when McKinney slipped in the middle of the field with no one around him.  It was Castle ball at their 40-yard line and plenty of time on the clock.

ONE LAST STAND

Re-enter Kasey Hospelhorn.  On first down, he dropped a runner at the line of scrimmage for no gain.  The clock kept running and realizing they needed two scores in five minutes, this play had the affect of forcing the Knights to forego running the ball for the rest of the game.  In the aerial barrage that followed, Castle moved into North territory with a first down but soon faced fourth and nine at the Husky 43.   If the Husky faithful were worried, they need not have been.  When Castle’s fastest back caught a pass in the flat and barreled toward the first down marker, it was Hospelhorn who forced him out of bounds a yard short.  Not even the ‘freak show’ first down markers could stretch far enough to give them a new set of downs.

#25 had delivered the finest game of his career when his team needed it most.  His personal line score read FIFTEEN tackles, a quarterback sack, three tackles for loss, TWO fumble recoveries, an interception, and a pair of punt returns that moved the Huskies out of the ‘danger zone’.

McKINNEY CLOSES THE SHOW

A Rucker sweep around right end picked up 30 yards and the Huskies had the ball at the Castle 34 when Sam McKinney decided to deliver the coup de grace to the Knights.  He rolled to his left on a run-pass-option play with Northington sprinting ahead of him.  Spotting an opening he tucked the ball under his arm and headed up field.  He used his shoulder to chuck off a linebacker and then spotted Mercer blocking a safety ahead of him.  Using the block as a cutting point, he dashed toward the flag at the end zone corner for a 34-yard touchdown run.  Maya Baggett split the uprights and North led 60-43 with just over two minutes to play.

Castle scored a meaningless touchdown in the game’s closing seconds and North had defeated the Knights TWICE on their home field in one season.  A celebration the likes of which the Green and White haven’t seen in decades took place because, once again, it was Husky time in Paradise.

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