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North Huskies vs Harrison Warriors - at Bundrant Stadium Sep 05, 2025

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Offense

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Game Recap

BEST OF NORTH ON DISPLAY IN 41-6 WIN OVER WARRIORS

The full pageantry of “the best that North High School has to offer” was on display at Bundrant Stadium during the Huskies’ 41-6 victory over the Harrison Warriors.  On a night which featured the induction of more than a dozen members of the historic Girls Golf program into the Noth Athletics Hall of Fame and the premiere of the award-winning North Band’s “eye popping” 2025 routine, the Huskies provided a highlight reel performance of their own on the grid iron.

DEFENSE CLEANS HOUSE

As has been the case for most of this season, the North defense made a statement on Harrison’s opening possession.  Once the Warriors strung together a pair of first downs and moved into North territory, senior Ricky White, Jr. made his presence felt—in sensational fashion.  On second down at mid-field, a Warrior runner came in motion and took the hand off on a jet sweep.  White anticipated the runner’s path and swept around the right end to nail the hapless ball carrier for a seven-yard loss.

Now facing third and long with the Warriors in a passing formation, the Husky defense ‘pinned their ears back’ and exploded off the line of scrimmage with the snap.  Junior Jeraden Copeland nearly grabbed the quarterback before he twisted away to escape the grasp.

It probably would have been gentler for the quarterback had he gone down then.

Instead, he evaded Copeland, spun blindly to his right, and before he was aware of his situation, he, too, fell victim to White’s presence and went down under force.

NO MATTER WHO CARRIES, THE O-LINE LEADS THE WAY

Facing an unenviable position of fourth-and-twenty-eight, Harrison punted the ball away and senior Cole McBride returned the kick all the way back within a yard or two of the line of scrimmage.  What followed was to be typical of the night’s progress for the Huskies: five different players carried the ball for North on a 50-yard touchdown drive.  No matter who North gave the ball to, the runner found openings to run through.

The seven-play drive culminated with juniors Jaxon Schmitt and Carson Conley executing a ‘cross block’ on the right side of the Warrior defense as McBride cut an intended ‘sweep’ short of the end and slid through the opening that their blocks created.  Senior ‘Q’ Pauley took care of the linebacker and McBride used his exceptional speed to zip straight into the end zone.  Following Stuart Land’s extra point, North led 7-0 with 3:51 to play in the first quarter.

WHAT?  WHITE “AGAIN?”

As the game rolled into the second quarter, Harrison had to be asking themselves if they would ever be able to contain “#5” for North.  With a first down at their 25, the Warriors attempted an option play along the line of scrimmage.  Ricky White, Jr. slid through an opening and dropped the quarterback for no-gain.  Facing second-and-long, the quarterback dropped back to pass on the next play and laced the ball out toward his intended receiver who was in the slot to the right.

White correctly read and jumped the pass route from his middle linebacker position and beat the receiver to the ball for an interception.  In perhaps his only ‘human’ moment of the game, the senior grew so excited at the open field ahead of him that he dropped the ball and had to fall on it rather than scoring a ‘pick six’.

His effort was not wasted because with the ball at the Harrison 18, it was just four plays later that Conley and Schmitt again performed their ‘cross block’ on the defensive left side and ‘Q’ Pauley followed sophomore Hunter McKinney’s block into the end zone to make the score 14-0 with 8:49 to play in the half.

ANOTHER SHORT FIELD, ANOTHER SCORE

After seniors Aman Kincaid and De’Amonte Layne combined to stop a ‘broken play punt’ by Harrison short of a first down, the Huskies again had the ball near ‘the red zone’.  This time sophomore guard Ike Elmer made his big presence felt in the offensive line.  On first down he bowled over the defender in front of him and cleared a path for McKinney to gain nine yards.  On second down, he combined with Schmitt on a ferocious double team that simply knocked over the right side of the Warrior defense and allowed McKinney a path to the nine-yard line.  Two plays later, junior quarterback Jayden Jones took the snap from under center, quickly dropped back two steps, and lobbed a pass over the heads of the defense (who were packed on the line of scrimmage) and into the waiting arms of Carson Conley—all alone in the back of the end zone.  North now led 21-0 with 5:13 to play before halftime.

TWO MINUTE DRILL—WORKS!

North next got the ball with barely two minutes left on the clock and standing at their 20-yard line.  It appeared they might have to punt the ball away when the first two plays came up well short of the first down.  On third-and-five, Jones lined up under center, took the snap, and bulled his way behind the force of junior center Zerin Wood and guard Ike Elmer to turn a quarterback sneak into a 13-yard gain.

With the ball near the North 40-yard line, the Huskies began a strategic use of their three remaining time outs as well as the boundary line to maneuver the ball steadily downfield.  A Warrior grew frustrated with North’s progress and was called for a blatant ‘roughing the passer’ penalty that moved the ball inside Harrison’s 30-yard line.  Senior Evan Garnett and McBride carried a pair of sweeps out-of-bounds that advanced the ball and stopped the clock at the Warrior 25 with under fifteen seconds to play.

Jones took the snap in shotgun formation and was forced to slide to his left to evade the pass rush.  Garnett had lined up split wide to the left and was running a post pattern toward the end zone.  The Warriors had committed their deep safety to the pass rush and the speedy Garnett had opened separation between himself and the cornerback.  Jones threw what was undoubtedly the prettiest pass of his young career from the 32-yard line and the perfect spiral hit Garnett in the hands five-yards deep in the end zone with seven seconds to play.  North went into halftime leading 28-0.

SECOND HALF

The Huskies started the second half sluggishly on both sides of the ball.  An uncharacteristic three-and-out by the offense began the third quarter but North received the benefit of a ‘muffed punt return’ by Harrison to get the ball back at the Warrior 44.  Two-minutes and thirty-seconds later, however, the Huskies returned the favor when their final pass of the game was intercepted and returned by the Warriors to the 46-yard line.

The Warriors put together their best drive of the game by moving inside the North 20 in nine plays.  Ultimately, their drive stalled and they were forced to attempt a field goal from the 27.  The kick went wide left and the Huskies took over.

McKINNEY SEALS THE WARRIORS’ FATE

If there were still any doubts as to whether the Warriors could battle their way back after putting together consecutive defensive and offensive efforts, sophomore Hunter McKinney and the offensive line sealed Harrison’s fate.  Following the missed field goal, North took over at their 20.  Two running plays and a Harrison unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that resulted in an ejection put the ball at the Husky 48.

The ensuing play was a textbook display of teamwork.  Lined up at left guard, Ike Elmer screened off all interior pursuit against a run.  Conley and Schmitt again double-teamed the tackle and kicked the remainder of the line outward and away from the ball.  Pauley led the way through the opening between guard and tackle and blocked the linebacker.  That collective effort was enough to gain McKinney entry into the Harrison secondary…

…Where no fewer than three defensive backs awaited him.

The first of the three attempted to grab the sophomore by the waist at the Harrison 43—McKinney broke that tackle with ease.  The second met him head on at the 35 and, at that moment, number 21 executed a spin worthy of both of his older brothers (each of whom had multiple 100-yard rushing games in their careers at North).  The spin left the defender grasping at air. 

From that point it was a foot race with the third and final defender to the end zone and there simply was no catching McKinney.  The 52-yard score put North up 34-0 and the only thing stopping a running clock was a blocked extra point kick on the next play.

JAYVEE BACKS ADD THE FINAL SCORE

North called on the junior varsity offensive backs to work behind the starting offensive line on the Huskies’ next possession and “the Lewis Brothers” (junior Braylon and sophomore Dezarion) acquitted themselves well.  With sophomore Tylan Robinson inserted at quarterback and distributing the ball, North ran the ball ten consecutive times—each play gaining positive yardage—and used seven minutes off the game clock.  Braylon finished the game with 49 yards on nine carries including a one-yard plunge that brought the score to 41-0 and initiated a running clock.

TRIBUTE TO THE GUYS IN THE TRENCHES

The final drive paid homage to the job done by juniors Ben Smith, Zerin Wood, Jason Bohleber, Jaxon Schmitt, and Carson Conley, sophomore Ike Elmer, and senior Kaimen Parson for opening sufficient gaps for the Huskies to gain over 300 yards rushing and score six touchdowns.  Likewise, the front seven on defense including seniors Mike Epps, Ricky White, Parker Daugherty, Cameron Watkins, Jalen Lynch, Parsons, and Baron Briscoe along with junior Jeraden Copeland held the Warriors to just 42 yards rushing on 25 attempts while they were in the game.

Friday at Reitz will truly be a test, but if games are won and lost “up front in the trenches”, this should be a contest with the Panthers that pits power against power.

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