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North Huskies vs Vincennes Lincoln - at Bundrant Stadium Oct 3, 2025

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Game Recap

NORTH SURVIVES MISCUES IN 28-22 WIN OVER ALICES

What began as the most dominant three quarters of football the North Huskies have enjoyed in 2025 ended with a fourth quarter of questionable decisions and turnovers.  Those issues turned a 28-22 victory over Vincennes Lincoln into a white-knuckle event.

WALKER SETS THE TEMPO

North jumped out to a 7-0 lead just 15 seconds into the game.  Senior Darian Walker scooped up a tumbling opening kickoff at the 18-yard line and weaved his way through the center of coverage.  Breaking into daylight at midfield, he outran his pursuers on the way to an 82-yard touchdown.  Sophomore Colin Falconer split the uprights on his first of four extra-point kicks and then handled kickoff duties.

WHITE’S PROWESS ON DISPLAY

The Husky defense shined brightly throughout but no star shined brighter than senior Ricky White, Jr.  The mobile linebacker showed his great closing speed as he recorded solo-tackles on five of the Alices first nine plays from scrimmage.  Before the game was over, he would record 14 tackles including three for loss and repeatedly hurry the opposing quarterback to throw passes away to avoid a sack.

McBRIDE PUTS ON A SHOW

After White and the defense force a ‘three-and-out’, senior Cole McBride showed that Walker was not the only Husky who can run like the wind.  On North’s first play from scrimmage, McBride took a sweep around left end and streaked 54 yards down the sideline for a first down at the Vincennes 23. 

A first down was followed by a quarterback sack and left North facing fourth-and-goal from the 22-yard line.  Junior quarterback Jayden Jones showed great poise as he stood in a collapsing pocket and arced a pass high into the left corner of the endzone.  McBride, running a corner rout, had two defenders on him—one trailing and one ahead of him.  The high throw enabled the agile senior receiver to use his leaping ability to snatch the ball from the outstretched hands of the defenders and come down with the touchdown reception.  North led 14-0 as the first quarter ended.

DEFENSE HAS MANY STRENGTHS

Where the first quarter had been Ricky White’s opportunity to shine, the second quarter saw multiple players engage in highlight reel plays.  Senior Mike Epps twice wreaked havoc with the quarterback’s timing and forced errant throws.  Cameron Watkins, playing his best game of the season, batted down passes and sacked the quarterback for loss.  Junior Jeraden Copeland stopped a runner for no gain on first down and then sacked the quarterback on second down.  When White tackled yet another runner for loss on third down, it set up senior DeAmonte Layne to return a punt 30 yards.

BEST DRIVE OF THE NIGHT

The Husky offense, feeding off the energy provided by the defense, began to dominate Lincoln completely.  Their final scoring drive of the half consisted of 13 plays that steadily ground down the Vincennes defense and left them bent over, hands on knees, and breathing heavily when senior ‘Q’ Pauley took a pass from Jones in the flat at the 10-yard line.  There were no defenders with enough strength to chase him as Pauley dashed into the end zone to give North a 21-0 halftime lead.

SECOND HALF

The third quarter continued much in the same fashion.  The defense would collapse every Lincoln possession into a series of frustrating plays in which the quarterback was scurrying for his life.  Their second such possession ended with senior T.J. Michel blocking a punt and senior Jaylen Lynch recovering at the Vincennes 35-yard line.  It took just five plays for the Huskies to punch the ball into the end zone and take a 28-2 lead with 5:19 to play in the third period.

The contest entered the fourth quarter with Vincennes producing its first sustained drive of the game.  The Alices put together a ten-play drive that ate up nearly six-minutes of clock to cut the North lead to 28-8.  Nonetheless, the Huskies appeared to be in complete control of the game after their most dominant three quarters of play this season

THE WHEELS FALL OFF

With nine minutes to play in the game, leading by 20 points, North faced fourth down at their 35-yard line.  In that position, 99% of the time, you would expect to see a team boot the ball away and let their defense—which had been in control of the game to this point—manage a field position battle.

Such was not the case Friday night.  For the fifth time in seven games, the Huskies’ punt team failed to kick the ball past the line of scrimmage.  To the amazement of Husky fans, a rather weak pass was tossed into the center of the field where it was promptly intercepted by the Alices and run back to the 30-yard line.

It took Lincoln two minutes to make the score 28-15 with 7:19 to play.

Following the ensuing kickoff, the Huskies fumbled the ball away on their first play from scrimmage.

The Alices needed just a single play to make the score 28-22 with 6:55 to play.  In the span of less than three minutes, North’s questionable decisions and miscues had allowed certain victory to become a battle of attrition.

THE DEFENSE COMES THROUGH…AGAIN

The Husky offense appeared to be in position to put the game away as they consistently ran the ball and ran time off the clock.  Moving 34 yards on 8 plays, they forced Vincennes to use up their time outs in an effort to leave the Alices time for a final comeback if they could get the ball.  When North converted a fourth-and-two at the Vincennes 41 with a 14-yard run, there was just 2:40 to play and the Alices were out of time outs.

The play clock affords a team 40 seconds between running plays.  With 160 seconds left in the game and a first down at Vincennes’ 27, technically all North had to do was run four plays and the game would be over.

That’s when the Huskies lost five yards on a first down running play and fumbled the ball away.

Vincennes recovered at their 32 and were still alive with 2:30 to play.

While the Husky faithful were worried about what else could go wrong, Mike Epps dropped a runner for no gain on first down.  A prominent rush by the entire defensive line forced a second down pass to fall incomplete.  A Vincennes holding penalty backed them up to face third-and-twenty.  Copeland and Watkins stopped a screen pass after a three-yard gain and T.J. Michel defended a fourth down desperation pass to preserve North’s 28-22 victory.

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