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North Huskies vs Bloomington South - at Panthers Stadium Nov 10, 2023

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Game Recap

PANTHERS DASH HUSKY HOPES IN 42-21 DECISION

The North Huskies' storybook season ended with a 42-21 defeat in the Regional Final against Bloomington South.  The Panthers broke open a tight 14-14 ball game with a pair of touchdowns on fourth down plays and North chased the scoreboard the rest of the contest.

FIRST POSSESSION TOUCHDOWN

As they had in four of their last five games, the Husky offense came out full of steam, marching steadily down field on six plays that brought them to the South 44-yard line.  Cainen Northington took a handoff on a play that appeared to be an ‘inside zone’—the senior running back, however, chose to take an outside path that led to daylight.  Igniting the rockets once he got clear of the line of scrimmage, Northington went 44 yards to give the Huskies a 7-0 lead less than three minutes after the opening kickoff.

ANOTHER ‘TRACK MEET’?

Fresh off a Sectional Championship game that saw 110 points scored between the two teams, the Husky faithful were wondering if the Regional might be a repeat performance.  The Panthers, led by an All-Conference starter at quarterback, quickly went to the air and connected on a 55-yard pass that moved the ball to the Husky 18-yard line.  Another pass took them to the one and a dive play tied the score at 7 before four minutes were gone in the game.

GREAT FIELD POSITION FOR SOUTH

The Huskies were plagued by short punts throughout the game and when South took over the next time at the North 41, it took them just two plays to score.  Their nimble quarterback escaped a fierce Husky pass rush and connected on a 14-yard completion to the North 27.  When he appeared trapped on the ensuing play, he avoided two defenders, took off up the middle, angled away from the linebackers, and ran all the way to the end zone.  North trailed 14-7 with five minutes to play in the first quarter.

ANSWERING THE CALL

Where the opening salvos had been quick-hitting, fast-paced attacks by both teams, North took the kickoff and went back to the basics.  What followed was vintage 2023 North Husky football:  pound the defense with a healthy dose of power running.  Northington picked up 11 yards on first down and then quarterback Sam McKinney alternated a pair of short passes with a pair of runs as the Huskies drove into Bloomington territory.  It appeared that the drive might stall when North faced fourth-and-two at the 45-yard line.

The Huskies went ‘heavy’ and inserted lineman Jayden Hazelwood at H-back beside fullback Luke Grayson.  Senior Kaleb Harris came in to play tailback and took the handoff from McKinney.  Two massive linemen, ‘Big’ Ben Brasher and Timothy Dixon, were lined up at left guard and tackle which meant that the Huskies were concentrating over 1,000 pounds of ‘North’s finest’ blockers ahead of Harris.  Their combined firepower split open a seam in the South defense and Harris bulled his way forward for seven yards and a first down.

North repeated the performance when the club faced third down at the 31 and the play worked even better—Harris gained 14 yards to the 17.  The Huskies capped off a 13 play, SEVEN minute and twenty second drive with a nifty pass from McKinney to Jason Rucker.  McKinney ran a ‘naked’ bootleg to the left and South blitzed a linebacker from the right.  Just when it seemed like the blitzer would blow up the play, the senior quarterback planted his back foot and lobbed the ball over the top of the linebacker towards Rucker.  The pass floated in the air and Rucker came back to catch it, stopped on a dime, cut to his right, and raced into the end zone to tie the score at 14 all.

FOURTH DOWN SCORE

Six minutes remained in the half when Bloomington South fielded a punt near midfield.  What followed was a steady dose of running plays that ate up most of the clock as they battered away at the Husky defense.  Slowly and methodically, the Panthers made their way to the Husky 10 with first-and-goal.  The next three plays saw North’s line take the biggest blows that South had to offer—Hazelwood, Harris, Dixon, and Brasher all combined for tackles on three straight runs.  Finally, it was fourth down at the one with 35 seconds remaining in the half.

The Huskies called a timeout and prepared their defense for the biggest play of the game.  The call was a Run-Pass Option to the left and although Kaleb Vashon got a rush on the quarterback and forced him to pitch the ball wide, the South runner angled to the flag at the corner of the goal line and Bloomington led 21-14 at half.

SECOND HALF

ANOTHER FOURTH DOWN SCORE

The Panthers received the second half kickoff and threw three consecutive passes to arrive at the North 28.  From there, however, the Husky defense tightened.  Senior Mojo Shaffer stopped a screen play for no gain on first down, junior Matthew Pegram broke up a pass on second down, and senior Keonta Barton got a hand on a pass and deflected it for another incompletion on third down.  It was fourth-and-ten at the 28 and it looked as though the Huskies might ‘dodge a bullet’.

Hazelwood and Harris ran a ‘twist’ pass rush—Harris charges inside and Hazelwood loops around behind him to the outside.  The tactic has had devastating effects on offensive lines throughout the season and when the quarterback moved outside to avoid Harris’ heavy rush, it appeared that Hazelwood might end the play with a sack.  A timely shove from the offensive lineman pushed Hazelwood deeper into the backfield than intended, the quarterback escaped and tossed a 28-yard touchdown pass.   North trailed by two scores on fourth-down plays that could have very likely resulted in turnovers. 

The Husky offense failed to record a first down in the third quarter and when a short punt yielded a Bloomington possession at the North 44 late in the period, it took the Panthers just four plays to score.  Trailing by three touchdowns entering the fourth quarter, the Husky offense had one more chance to rally—and they did so in an ‘epic’ fashion.

MERCER SETS A RECORD

A North fumble to start the final period had given Bloomington excellent field position, but the Husky defense held and forced a punt.  Operating from their own 13-yard line, North needed a ‘big’ play to get back in the ball game.

James Mercer provided the big play.

In fact, it was the longest touchdown pass reception in North football history.

Mercer lined up wide to the left and ran a post pattern.  Racing past the cornerback, he drew double coverage from Bloomington’s deep safety.  McKinney then did his part—standing on the five-yard line, he planted his back foot and delivered a perfect spiral over the head of the safety and into the hands of Mercer at the 45-yard line.  The ball flew 40 yards in the air as though it was on a frozen rope straight to the junior receiver’s hands. 

But that was just the start of the fireworks.

While the safety had lost his momentum by reaching up to try and deflect the pass, the cornerback had caught up and was nearly touching Mercer’s back.  A foot race ensued worthy of a story book.  Separated by inches, Mercer zigged and zagged in an effort to avoid the grasp of the cornerback.  At the 20-yard line, the defender lunged and got a taste of nothing but cleats and turf as Mercer streaked to the end zone with an 87-yard touchdown reception.

NOT TO BE

Unfortunately, there were no other late game heroics to save the Huskies.  The two fourth-down scores from earlier in the game had put too big of a gap in the score to be overcome.  After senior Alex Hess booted the kickoff completely out of the end zone for a touchback, Bloomington took over at their 20.  From there, they proceeded to bang away on a 12-play drive that both ate up a substantial portion of the clock and sealed North’s fate in a 42-21 loss.

The statistics told a different story than the score—this was a much closer game than a three-touchdown loss.  But for the pair of fourth-down touchdowns—on plays that narrowly missed going the Huskies’ way instead of the Panthers’—this was a one score game decided with three minutes to play.

Regardless, the North Huskies finish the season as 5A Sectional Champions and a team that gave a very good accounting of themselves against the top ranked 5A team in Indiana.

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