BALTIMORE — For the first time in the history of Northern football, the Huskies are heading to the state championship game.
The Huskies (8-5) defeated the SEED School 41-27 on Saturday at Mergenthaler High.
“It’s so exciting to get to go play for a state championship,” Northern head coach Phil Carr said. “I was just telling the kids, it’s something no other team at Northern can say they did. I wouldn’t care if we’re playing the Pittsburgh Steelers or the Ravens, I wouldn’t care.”
Northern took the ball first and Caleb Hinebaugh sparked the drive with a 27-yard run on a counter to the SEED 19.
Luke Ross finished the drive with a 12-yard run to put the Huskies up 7-0.
The Sabers (10-2) took over and picked up three first downs to the Husky 8.
On fourth-and-goal, Ross pushed the quarterback out of bounds on a keeper three yards short of the goal line.
“That’s huge, you gain momentum that way,” Carr said. “You get confidence, and I think confidence is everything and momentum is everything. When you got a lot of confidence, you play much better.”
The Huskies went three-and-out on the ensuing drive, then the Sabers took over at the Northern 37 after a short punt.
SEED opened the second quarter inside Husky territory and faced fourth-and-goal at the 2.
Myelle Mack caught a slant from Malcolm Smith Jr. to even the score.
The Huskies answered with three first downs on the ensuing drive.
On third-and-goal at the 12, Liam Stewart found Caleb Hinebaugh in the back of the end zone for a touchdown.
“He made a nice throw and Caleb made a heck of a catch,” Carr said. “I thought that was a big play.”
A bad hold on the extra point made it 13-7.
On SEED’s final drive of the half, the Sabers drove to the Northern 15.
On the final play, Robert Deatelhauser intercepted a pass.
It was his fourth of the season and third straight game with a pick.
The first three were all pick-sixes.
“We’re gonna tease him, why didn’t you score?” Carr said. “We’ll tease him a little bit, but that was huge. We talked about it at halftime, that deflated them a little bit.”
SEED opened the second half with the ball and drove to the Husky 34.
Under heavy pressure, Smith lobbed a pass to the back of the end zone for Deonze Eldridge who made the catch for a touchdown.
Nick Riley blocked the extra point and the score was tied at 13.
Northern only needed seven plays on the ensuing drive to go 65 yards.
Caleb Hinebaugh scored on a counter from 21 yards out.
Hinebaugh rushed 11 times for 76 yards and a score.
After a penalty on the extra point, the Huskies went for two and converted on Evan Graham’s run.
“I felt really confident calling any of our plays,” Carr said of the ground game. “They were doing some things we thought they would do, run into our motion and different things like that. I wasn’t afraid to give any of the three (Ross, Graham and Hinebaugh), even Liam, to put the ball in his hands.”
The Sabers went three-and-out, then followed it with a very short punt that was downed at its own 30.
The Huskies only needed four plays to capitalize as Graham, who finished with 98 yards on 16 carries, punched it in from the five.
Two plays into the ensuing drive, Smith took a deep shot over the middle and Eldridge was wide open for a 71-yard touchdown.
Eldridge finished with three catches for 128 yards and two scores.
“They were a little better offensively than we’d seen on film,” Carr said. “But they made two great plays, you don’t make those throws all the time. That’s probably a two out of 10 type of play.”
The kick failed after a high snap, keeping Northern’s lead at 28-19 heading into the fourth.
In the final quarter, Ross iced the game with a pair of touchdowns.
After scoring from the two, he intercepted a pass on the next Saber drive.
He set himself up for a 10-yard touchdown run with 52 seconds left.
Ross recorded 16 carries for 138 yards and three touchdowns.
With several bench players entering the game, SEED added a touchdown with three seconds remaining on a 17-yard pass from Smith to Mack.
“Our kids worked really hard, and our coaches worked even harder,” Carr said. “We knew that’s the kind of game it would be. The biggest thing was we were able to take away their momentum when they got it.”
Smith finished 15 of 28 for 302 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions.
The Sabers outgained the Huskies 388-330, but Northern out-ran SEED 330-86.
The Huskies head to Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium next Saturday at noon for the Class 1A title game.
Northern will face a familiar foe in Fort Hill, who defeated Perryville, 24-21, in the other semifinal on Saturday.
It marks the fourth consecutive season two teams from the WestMAC will play in Annapolis after Mountain Ridge made it from 2021 to 2023.
The Sentinels (6-7) won 42-7 on Sept. 6 in the only meeting with Northern this season.
Carr led the Huskies to the 2007 state title game in baseball, but it took 28 seasons to get Northern football to the pinnacle.
“It means the world, we get to do it one time,” Carr said. “I was able to get to the baseball state championship, I experienced it and it was awesome. I want to get back, but I wanted my whole life to get to one. And we did it.”