A BLUE DEVIL OF A TIME!

Posted by bigD | October 4, 2009 .

It rained all day Friday but as game time approached later that night, the showers held off and instead, it became a great evening for Husky football at Port Huron’s Memorial Stadium. That is, it was a great night for the visitors from Grosse Pointe South. The Blue Devils came into this important MAC Blue contest against our Huskies with a 3-2 record and ended up increasing it to 4-2 as GPS walked away with a 21-13 victory. For me up in the CPHS Channel 6 play-by-play booth, the most noticeable part of this contest by far was the tremendous play of the Husky defense. Rebounding from being down 21-0 at one point, the ferocious Northern Defense posted a 2nd half shutout and really deserved the victory. When you consider the fact that total yards were 344 to 195 (rushing yards – 235-125) for Grosse Pointe and most of those yards came in the first quarter, again, Northern’s defensive unit has to be congratulated on a fine, aggressive game despite yet another tough loss. I’ll give you one guess as to why the Huskies fell yet again in this one…

You got it – A LACK OF OFFENSE YET AGAIN. It’s becoming a broken record now. It certainly isn’t the hard working players as much as it’s their tired, boring option system that they are forced to run. That being said, lately the strong Husky RB’s - Darien Haeck and Kenny Sanders have been breaking big plays and getting many TD’s. They each got scores in this game as Sanders had a 1 yard TD scamper and Haeck had a 25 yard TD reception. Other then those scores though, there really wasn’t much offense for the Huskies, particularly when it counted the most. Husky WR – Nate Manis had a tremendous 27 yard over the shoulder catch but Husky QB – Matt Davis was only 4 for 9 for 70 passing yards as much of this offense is still option-like with fakes, counters and end sweeps that at times can become over-predictable. I’ve been accused of being overly critical towards the Husky offense with my play-by-play in the past but quite frankly, someone’s got to say something. It’s been a decade of option football at Northern now and it’s clearly not an offensive system that works so a change has absolutely got to come. The problem is, changing an offense is not something that can just be done overnight, but enough about that. Until it happens, losing seasons continue to be the norm at Port Huron Northern.

As for Grosse Pointe South, their rotating QB’s – Brandon Fry and Tyler Kennedy were the story. Both were athletic, especially Fry who got out of the pocket very well a number of times and proved his ability to throw on the run. In my opinion, the best player in the Blue Devil offense is Fullback, Spencer Ray. Not very often does a FB do as much in an offense as Ray does in Grosse Pointe South’s. Ray had a rushing and receiving TD in this game and played stellar on the defensive side of the football. He was the best overall player on the football field and is the key to the entire Blue Devil offense. His blocking for starting RB – Alex Koski was also impressive on this night.

The bottom line for our 1-4 Port Huron Northern Huskies at this point is, what at one time looked to be a promising season (Huskies started the season with a victory over St. Clair) has now become a disappointment. As mentioned, with the overall effort of the players it’s obvious they aren’t losing these games on heart and emotion. The Northern defense was absolutely terrific in this game which is a testament to the Huskies that these kids never quit, year after year right up until the end. It was a stellar effort by many Husky defensive stars and as a unit guys, YOU’VE NEVER LOOKED BETTER. YOU DESERVED TO WIN THIS GAME but it just wasn’t meant to be. Grosse Pointe South walked away with a hard earned victory but thanks to the hard nosed Husky “D” it sure wasn’t easy. In the very least, Port Huron Northern can hold their heads high about that.

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A BLUE DEVIL OF A TIME!

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