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North Huskies vs Castle Knights - at Bundrant Stadium Aug 23, 2024

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Offense

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Defensive Stats

Game Recap

OPPORTUNISTIC KNIGHTS BEAT HUSKIES 14-11

The North Huskies failed to capitalize on multiple opportunities in a 14-11 opening night loss to the Castle Knights.  Despite dominating the time of possession, first downs, yards gained, and plays run, North miscues and the failure to seize control of the game when the opportunities presented themselves proved fatal to Husky chances.

FIRST QUARTER MISSED OPPORTUNITIES

The defense opened the game with a show of strength.  Seniors Zethan Colon and Luke Grayson dropped a Castle runner for a short gain before junior Ricky White, Jr. showed amazing speed to the ball to bring down a runner in the open field.  Senior Ethan Bowden and junior ‘Q’ Pauley then held the quarterback to a one-yard gain on third and four to force a Castle punt.

North’s offense showed a combination of first-night jitters and glimpses of brilliance.  A fumbled snap quickly pinned the Huskies back on their five-yard line before quarterback Jacob Tenbarge was able to toss a screen pass to senior Jordan Rucker on third and 19.  With three linemen in front of him, Rucker zoomed 22 yards for a first down.

The Huskies looked poised to pick up another first down a few plays later when Tenbarge connected with a wide receiver just past the first down marker.  The play turned sour when the receiver spun and had the ball knocked loose for a fumble that lost four yards before sophomore Ben Smith could fall on the ball.  Faced with fourth and long, the Huskies sent in senior Avier Mitchell to punt.

CASTLE MUFFS ONE

Mitchell’s punt was a high one but went just 20 yards and as it came down, an overly enthusiastic Castle blocker managed to let the ball hit him on the ankle making it a loose ball.  Senior Ethan Bowden quickly recovered the ball at midfield.

North had a fresh set of downs and was in position to take advantage of a short field to score the game’s opening points.

Unfortunately, they failed to take advantage of the opportunity when a runner swept wide to the left on third down and, during a struggle to avoid a tackle, lost control of the football and the ensuing fumble rolled all the way back to North’s 36-yard line before senior Grant Happe could fall on it.

THE DEFENSE STANDS STRONG AGAIN

Castle again muffed the ensuing punt from Mitchell but managed to fall on the ball at their 35-yard line.  After having tested North’s run defense in the first possession, the Knights went to the air on their second one.  The results were no different.  Senior Matthew Pegram sniffed out a wide receiver screen and slammed the runner to the ground for a four-yard loss.  Junior Darian Walker then perfectly defended a pass 15 yards down field on second down and Castle’s quarterback through the ball over everyone’s head as he attempted a deep pass down the middle.

PLAYERS MAKE PLAYS

There’s an old adage in sports that says, very simply, in big moments “players make plays.”  In this game, it was the Castle players who seemed to make the plays at the biggest moments.  When North moved the ball out to midfield and again looked to be in position to put points on the board, it was a Castle linebacker who stepped up in the moment.  As North’s quarterback faded back to throw a screen pass, the Knight correctly read the play and jumped up for the ball.  Catching it with his full momentum headed toward the North end zone, he ran nearly 50 yards for a touchdown.  The extra point gave Castle a 7-0 lead as the first quarter ended.

THE DRIVE TO NOWHERE

The second quarter mirrored a line out of a Charles Dickens novel:  It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.  For their part, the Huskies accomplished something that few teams in history have ever done—on one single drive, North converted FOUR CONSECUTIVE fourth down opportunities.  That feat is so rare that most fans could watch a lifetime of games and never see that happen.

As a result, North possessed the ball from the first play of the second quarter until the next to last play of the half.  They ran 22 offensive plays and moved the ball to the Castle three-yard line.  Luke Grayson picked up the first fourth down conversion with a tough yard on fourth-and-one at the 36.  Tenbarge ran for seven yards on a quarterback draw on fourth-and-six at the 32.  The Knights committed pass interference on fourth-and-14 at the 29.  Junior Cole McBride skimmed across the four-yard line to catch a pass on fourth-and-three at the 7. 

With first and goal to go from the four, it appeared North was a cinch to put points on the board, but it was not to be the case.  A pair of Rucker runs went nowhere on first and second downs.  The Huskies used their final time out of the half with 21 seconds remaining and facing third-and-three.  With no more time outs, the situation dictated that North attempt a pass—to run the ball and come up short of the goal line would mean the clock would run out before another play could be called.

Coming out of the time out, the Huskies lined up in the ‘wildcat’ formation with Avier Mitchell as the only player in the backfield.  Two receivers were split wide to the left and three receivers were bunched together wide to the right.  On the snap, Mitchell threw the ball to Rucker on the right side, but… a Castle defender ‘made a play’ and tipped the pass away incomplete.

On fourth down, the North staff—having witnessed four consecutive fourth-down conversions—passed up a field goal opportunity and chose to run the ball with Grayson into the line.  Castle has a defensive tackle who has signed a Division 1 commitment to the University of Cincinnati.  He made a play and stopped the runner for a two-yard loss.  22 plays and 11 minutes and 48 seconds of possession resulted in zero points for the Huskies.

SECOND HALF

The Huskies received the second half kickoff and took over at their 33-yard line after a Rucker return.  Back-to-back running plays by Avier Mitchell quickly moved the ball across midfield and the Huskies were again on the move.  When Tenbarge hit senior Hunter Skelton with an 18-yard pass, North was knocking on Castle’s door.  A steady dose of Mitchell runs delivered the ball to the four-yard line setting up first-and-goal-to go.  Unfortunately, North’s quarterback was sacked for a six-yard loss and, despite Mitchell picking those yards back up on the next play with a run, a low snap from center resulted in a four-yard loss on third down.  This time, North elected to kick a field goal and sophomore Derek Kirsch converted a 27 yard opportunity.

After 20 minutes of possession and having run 35 offensive plays in that time to just one for Castle, North still trailed 7-3.

ANOTHER STAND BY THE DEFENSE

With their All-City tailback running on fresh legs from standing on the sidelines for so long, the Knights rammed the ball into North territory on four straight handoffs.  But then, the defense dug in and made a stand.  With the ball at North’s 31, Darian Walker defended another pass on first down, junior Baron Briscoe tackled a runner for loss on second down, and senior James Back stormed into the backfield to sack the quarterback for an 8-yard loss.  The Knights punted from the North 40.

FOURTH QUARTER

After a Husky three and out, the Knights regained the ball after a punt rolled out of bounds at midfield.  Again the Knights hammered away at the North defense with their big running back.  They marched all the way to the North 15 before their quarterback committed a Personal Foul out-of-bounds after a running play and moved the ball back to the 30.  When Ethan Bowden dropped the running back at the 21 on third down, it set up fourth-and-eight at the Husky 21 with six minutes to play.  A Husky stop here would potentially set up a game winning drive opportunity for North.

And then a player made a play.

For Castle.

A well-covered senior receiver snagged a ball away from a North defender and then slipped not one but two tackles on his way to the end zone.  Castle led 14-3 with 5:59 to play.

ONE LAST DRIVE

Up two scores with little time left, the Knights moved their defensive backs into deep coverage to prevent a long pass.  North took advantage of the tactic and through a total of eight passes ‘Underneath’ the Castle defense and moved down the field.  A seven-yard pass to junior Evan Garrett produced a first-and-goal-to-go at the one-yard line with under two minutes to play.  Two plays later, Tenbarge tossed a touchdown pass to Hunter Skelton to make the score 14-9 with 1:29 to go in the game.  A pass to Rucker produced a two-point conversion and North trailed 14-11 and needed to recover an on-sides kick to have a chance to win or tie the game.

Central’s star linebacker made a play on the kickoff and snuffed out North’s hopes.

In the end, this was game that went to the team that took advantage of opportunities when they presented themselves. 

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