ACCIDENT — Just like last week, it was close for most of the first half.
That changed in the final 90 seconds, as a couple swing plays went Northern’s way, building the Huskies’ lead to an insurmountable one.
Northern’s 22-0 halftime lead was too much for Southern to overcome, as the Huskies opened their Class 1A West Region playoff run with a 36-7 win on Saturday at Half-Mile High Stadium.
“That’s a physical football game,” Northern head coach Logan Stewart said. “They did a good job, they were prepared. Another tough, hard fought first half. But credit to our guys for staying persistent.”
Northern led 14-7 at halftime last Friday and was up 15-0 on Saturday with 1:09 before halftime.
Late in the first half, the Rams went for it on fourth-and-two at its own 47.
Caleb Hinebaugh read the keeper and was in the backfield immediately to force the turnover on downs.
“I felt like we came out and played hard the whole game,” Southern head coach Dave McLaughlin said. “Just can’t get anything going offensively.”
Emmitt Lipscomb made a leaping catch, then a facemask was called to put the ball on the Rams’ 22.
On fourth-and-seven at the 19, Landon Yoder was hit as he threw, but delivered a strike to Hinebaugh for a touchdown.
Hinebaugh rushed 13 times for 69 yards and a touchdown along with the 19-yard receiving score. He also intercepted a pass, broke up another and made a key fourth-down stop on defense.
An offside penalty on the extra point set up Evan Graham for the two-point conversion.
Three plays into the ensuing Southern drive, Hinebaugh intercepted a pass, setting up a Yoder to Emmitt Lipscomb 20-yard touchdown pass three plays later.
“Those turnovers provided the spark,” Stewart said. “That’s a big, strong football team. They do a good job in between the tackles, so being able to get some momentum on our side, Landon did a great job throwing the football.”
Lipscomb caught three passes for 48 yards and a score and added a pair of interceptions on defense.
“I think we were a step behind, we knew what they were gonna do,” McLaughlin said of Northern’s passing attack. “Passing wise, we were just a step behind, one hit from getting the quarterback. I thought for the most part, we played their run well tonight.”
The Rams opened the second half with a 14-play, 66-yard drive that ended on a eight-yard touchdown toss from Jacob Brown to Hayden Williams, who caught both of Brown’s completions for 36 yards.
With Northern leading 22-7 heading to the fourth quarter, the opening play resulted in an interception by Lipscomb.
After a 25-yard run from Lipscomb to the seven, Graham scored three plays later. He finished with 85 yards on 18 rushes and the score.
“If I had that answer, we wouldn’t be 0-2, we’d be 2-0,” McLaughlin said of not capitalizing off swings in momentum. “I don’t understand, our kids have really grown in confidence this year. I just think it’s still battling when one thing goes wrong, it snowballs from there because we haven’t been successful very often.”
Southern’s ensuing drive also ended on an Lipscomb interception.
The Huskies drained nearly six minutes off the clock, running 11 plays for 81 yards.
Yoder scored on a keeper to put the game away with 1:49 left and Northern’s lead up to 36-7.
Yoder was 5 of 9 passing for 76 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions, adding five carries for 22 yards and another score.
Three plays into the Huskies second drive, Graham broke off a 33-yard run on third-and-five down to the Rams’ 21.
“He’s a bowling ball, he’s gonna fall forward,” Stewart said of Graham. “Just from standpoint what they were giving us, we knew they were gonna try and key on Caleb. We’d have some more fullback runs.”
Four plays later, Hinebaugh walked in from eight yards out to put Northern ahead 7-0 after one quarter.
Southern’s four wins are the most for the program since an 8-3 mark in 2018.
Brown, Brenden Woolslayer, Waylon Schroyer, Ramelo Haefner and Justus Reed played key roles as seniors in saving a program in jeopardy two years ago.
“I don’t know how many coaches they’ve had in their career,” McLaughlin said. “They’ve held it together and they put this program on their backs. They kind of pulled it together the last two years. They’re a very special group. I told them a lot of people look at 4-6 and say you guys are awful. But I think we’ve been very successful based on where we’ve been and where we are now.”
The Huskies advance to the region final next weekend at No. 1 seed Fort Hill.
The Sentinels (6-3) won 27-0 in the regular season opener for both teams on Sept. 6.
“It’s Fort Hill in the playoffs,” Stewart said. “It’s just the story for Northern High School. They’re gonna be fresh because they didn’t play this week. They’ll be prepared because they always are. It’ll be a great opportunity for us to get a rematch of week one.”