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FOSTER - THE NEXT “BIG” THING

Posted by bigD | September 13, 2009 .

The high powered Big Red offense came into Memorial Stadium for Friday Night’s “Superbowl of Port Huron” very confident and with good reason. Port Huron had been averaging 37 plus points on offense, had a 2-0 record and were coming off a big overtime victory the previous week, in Fraser. Their cross-town rivals – The Port Huron Northern Huskies had a tough task facing them in the Big Reds but they also faced a strong passing attack in Sterling Heights in their previous game in a 30-10 loss but most importantly, the Husky defense had been playing well for the most part. A capacity crowd was on hand and when I say capacity crowd…I MEAN IT. This crowd rivalled one of the all time best ever. People were sitting on the grass in the end zones where it was 6 or 7 rows deep. This truly is what high school football is all about. On paper, this game looked like it might be a battle of a great defense in PHN vs. a great offense in PH but that was anything but the case the way the very exciting first half of all offense went. Here’s how Port Huron’s number 1 rivalry went…

 

There are players. There are good players. THERE ARE GREAT PLAYERS. Port Huron’s 6 ft.4, 180 pound WR – David Foster (4-88, 2 TD’s / 88 yard kickoff return TD) can be classified as a great player and WOW…WHAT A GREAT FIRST HALF! Big Red QB – Justin Black (6-15 for 105 passing / 9-34 rushing) later called Foster a future NCAA Division 1 football player. Well, others can make that choice but either way, if Foster isn’t the kind of player that should be considered as D1 material then WHO IS? Port Huron dominated with the Black-Foster combination but RB – Marc Titus (12-147) was also tremendous. It seemed like every time Titus got the football, there were tons of open holes and he ran through them well. In short, the Big Reds patented offense was just too much for the Huskies and it ended up being a 49-28 victory. Before this game started, I had two questions for the Big Reds – 1. Could the great QB/RB combination from a season ago - Jordan Galanos and Chris Tatti be replaced and 2. Could the new QB – Black get the ball consistently to the talented Big Red WR’s – Steve Sawher and the aforementioned Foster? Well in both cases, the answer is YES! Unfortunately with the good news comes the bad news for Port Huron as Justin Black spent most of the 2nd half on the PH sideline on crutches. Early reports indicate Black might have a knee sprain and could miss as much as a month. This will obviously hurt the Big Reds knowing what they had when Black was in but in hindsight you’d rather have him out now then out later.

 

The Huskies have struggled offensively in the first two weeks as they have for much of the past two seasons. That’s why it was so refreshing to see them score early and often on the Big Reds in the first half. In fact, at the 4:32 mark of the 2nd quarter, the Huskies actually had a 21-20 lead in a bit of a shocker but to the delight of the Husky fans and their awesome student section named – “THE PACK”. Husky RB – Darien Haeck (6-62) had both a 15 and 4 yard TD scamper. Before that, Husky WR – Tyler Smith (5 for an unreal 186 receiving yards) hauled in a 64 yard TD throw from Husky QB – Mark Perez (2-6 for 66 passing yards). The play clearly baffled the Big Red defense who bought the ball fake by Perez. With good reason, I named Tyler Smith the offensive player of the game for Northern. This is the best I’ve ever seen Smith and the Husky passing game in general in long time. Kenny Sanders also had a TD run of his own – a 1 yard romp in the 3rd quarter but that was it for PHN scoring. Like the Big Reds losing Black, their starting QB to a knee injury, the Huskies also lost their starting QB – Mark Perez to a concussion. I was pleased to see that both backup QB’s (Husky – Matt Davis / Big Red – Donald Rock) looked like they could produce in backup roles, particularly Davis who has both size and speed for Northern.

 

As I said on the CPHS, Channel 6 broadcast, it’s not like the Husky D was playing bad, it’s just that guarding David Foster is obviously easier said then done. In my opinion, Northern’s inability to adjust to Foster and continuing to play man to man on him was the overall difference in the game. Wideouts like Foster can not be stopped with single coverage and that’s what the Huskies did for much of the contest. Much has been made about the inability of the Husky offense to execute. They turned the ball over 5 more times in this game and that’s not exactly keeping the strong Big Red offense off the football field. Some other Big Reds who looked strong in the game were LB – Ashawn Butler who tipped a Matt Davis pass, intercepted it and then sprinted to the end zone from 65 yards out. Butler looks like he’ll be a strong linebacker all season long. I gave Husky defensive player of the game to LB – Troy Woolford who was very physical, making strong tackles all night long.

 

This game was pitted as a strong defense vs. a strong offense. The Big Reds came out and proved all night long that their offense is all we thought it would be. The Husky D was frustrated after this one but their physical play was definitely there and their defense against Foster was the key to the whole game. Again, it’s not that the pass coverage on the BIG Port Huron WR was bad, it’s just that when you try to cover a player that talented, it’s a tall order. HOW TALL, BIG D? Oh, about 6 foot 4 and 180! Best of luck to both the 3-0 Port Huron High Big Reds (hosting Makomb Dakota) and the 1-2 Port Huron Northern Huskies (at Chippewa Valley) next week!

 

Note: All pictures in this article are property of the Port Huron Times Herald. From top to bottom, left to right and front to back…Port Huron WR - David Foster, Port Huron Northern QB - Mark Perez, RB - Darien Haeck, RB - Kenny Sanders, and Port Huron RB - Marc Titus.

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