Inexperience costs Huskies

Clint McKnight
Special to the Sun

September 06, 2008 01:39 am

— Although the Edmond North Huskies football team fought valiantly, their youth and lack of experience caught up with them as the succumbed to the Wolves of Edmond Santa Fe by a score of 36-7 Friday night at Wantland Stadium.
“It all comes down to youth and inexperience” said North head football coach Jeremy Dombek. “We have some things to work on but we will keep getting better, Santa Fe is a good team and they have improved from last year but we will keep working and getting better” Dombek said.
The Husky defense looked solid at times forcing five 3-and-outs throughout the game but big plays by the Wolves shredded the Husky defense. Twice the first half Santa Fe’s offense found wide open receivers across the middle and each time made the Huskies pay with long touchdown receptions.
The North defense could only manage one turnover, when Xavier Smith intercepted a Santa Fe pass in the fourth quarter, but unfortunately for the Huskies the damage was already done. Twenty-nine of Santa Fe’s thirty-six points came off of plays that were longer than 35 yards. There were bright spots for the defense, both Brian Whitley and Danny Rossi recorded sacks for North and several other Husky defenders were able to apply pressure to the Santa Fe backfield, but in the end the Wolves were simply too much to handle. “We’re young, we got sucked up into play-actions and they through over the top of us” Dombek said.
North’s offense did not fare much better.
Cody Crabaugh was 21-for-43 with 203 yards passing, but had only one touchdown to offset three interceptions. Although the offense racked up 16 first downs and 283 yards of total offense, turnovers and penalties forced the Huskies into punting situations.
North’s running game also struggled with Crabaugh leading the way with 39 yards. Joe Aska also contributed 29 yards to North’s ground game. The Huskies lone score came late in the fourth quarter on a 46-yard Crabaugh bomb to Trent Braden with just 1:01 remaining in the game. All of the Huskies receiving corps had solid performances, Jon McNeil, Braden, Ryan Kearney, Aska, Quadon Henderson, and Blake Gatewood tallied receptions.
Next up for North is Mustang. “It doesn’t get any easier” said Dombek when asked about next week’s matchup. “We’ve got to cut the mistakes and play smarter” Husky receiver Kearney said. Edmond North will have to do just that if they hope to get a win next week.