Big Plays Put North on Top

Tri-County North earned a hard fought victory over Brookville.  There were a few miscues on the way and Brookville had an early lead over North thanks to a muffed punt.  But North was able to get on track and fight their way back on top for a win.  One big question was who would handle the quarterback duties.  The previous 4 years Austin Hutchins had the helm.  Quarterbacking for the Panthers for the first time was Colton Booth who took the reins and calmly took the team to victory.

After giving up the early touchdown to Brookville on a 33 yard pass, North needed to answer.  And when they got the ball in their hands for the second time North would score – it was set up in part by a carry by fullback Dustin Green, where he burst through the middle, found some open space and ran for 47 yards.  Booth would then score on a 10 yard run and a Trey Summers kick tied the game at 7 all.

 In the second quarter another big play set up a score for North.  Reciever Kody Cordes caught a Booth pass on a screen play and scampered 45 yards before being pushed out of bounds to put the ball on the Blue Devil 2 yard line.  Booth called his own number and a quarterback sneak put North on top 14-7 after a Summers kick.

The third quarter was pretty much a dog fight with neither team seeming to gain an advantage.  North was able to get some insurance in the 4^th quarter.  Austin Johnson caught a screen pass on a critical 3^rd and 10 play  and got the first down and then some, gaining 37 yards and giving the North sidelines a boost.  The crowd came alive as once again a big play by North put them into a position to score.  Kody Cordes took a toss 36 yards and this gave North their final margin of victory.  Brookville went into a passing mode on their last few possessions, but although North gave away yardage underneath, they did not get beat deep and more importantly kept Brookville out of the endzone.  When the clock wound down, North had a 21-7 win.

Coach Derringer, “I thought our defense did a really nice job of knocking the ball down in the fourth quarter and didn’t give up anything deep.  It was a nice victory for the Panthers, but we did make an awful lot of mistakes.  We had two costly fumbles.  There were a couple of breakdowns on defense but they played very, very well.  Brookville was held to 79 yards rushing and threw for 109 yards – but a lot of that was from their short passing game in the 4^th quarter.”

Reilly Libinski: “Our happiness with the victory is tempered by our sadness at losing Reilly Linbinski.  He was a senior offensive and defensive lineman and on the first play from scrimmage he broke his leg.  Last year he had over 20 tackles for negative yardage.  He is going to miss most of the rest of the season, we may get him back towards the end.”

Colton Booth: “I know that folks were worried how we would do with Hutchins graduating and a new player at quarterback. He was 6 for 10 passing for 114 yards.  He didn’t throw any interceptions, he made some good decisions.  It was a big question mark for people looking at North this year, but his receiver selection and progressions were great for his first varsity game at quarterback. And our offensive line did a great job against Brookville – that certainly helped.”

This was the first time in school history that North had back to back wins against Brookville.  Overall the teams are 4-3 against each other with Brookville having the edge.

Next week North plays at home against Ansonia, “They were beat last week at Welcome Stadium by Belmont.  They will try to play a power football game where they control the ball.   They will try to control the clock and are happy to grind out 3-4 yards a carry. Their defense - we expect them to load up the box and take away the run.”

Stats for North:  Rushing - Booth 11 carries 30 yds; Garrett Woodyard 6 carries 18 yds; Dustin Green 11 carries 74 yds; Kody Cordes 9 carries 54 yds. Receiving – Logan Elmore 1/7; Austin Johnson 4/56; Kody Cordy 2/59. Top Tacklers – Booth 9;Colton Overholtz 7; Logan Elmore 7; Woodyard 7; Johnson 6; Summers 6.