Dugger punts help North

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Madisonville-North Hopkins’ football team has scored just seven points in its last eight quarters of play, but that doesn’t mean the offense has not had its opportunities to accumulate more scores.

During Saturday’s match-up at Covington Catholic, Maroons kicker Rush Dugger nearly knocked home two 50-yard plus field goals while coach Will Weaver opted on another drive to go for it on fourth down inside the Colonels’ 10-yard line.

“I felt that if we went up 14-0 that was kind of the dagger in the heart right there to finish the game,” Weaver said.

“We had been playing so well defensively, I thought well, if they got the ball on the 3-yard line, we can get a safety or at least a punt.”

Up 7-0 to begin the second half, North started the third quarter with the ball and marched 67 yards to the Cov. Cath. 6-yard line. A third-down incompletion presented Weaver with the difficult decision.

The Maroons lined up in field goal position and the snap went to Carl Hatchett, who rolled to his right and attempted a pass to Isiah White, but the low lining toss hit the ground, giving the Colonels the ball on downs.

The missed opportunity did not immediately impact North though as Covington Catholic could only manage to find midfield before stalling on the ensuing drive.

North struggled on its second drive of the half, but Dugger pinned the Colonels deep into their own territory when he sailed a 74-yard net punt down to the 9-yard line.

“I’m just proud of (Dugger),” Weaver said. “He punted great Saturday.”

In the first half, wide receiver L.J. Gregory caught a pass from quarterback Matt Levin on the Maroons’ first play from scrimmage for a touchdown.

Gregory’s catch marked the first 48 of Levin’s 179 first-half passing yards. During the second half, Cov. Cath. shutdown the air attack, limiting North to 11 of 22 passing for 88 yards.

“They adjusted real well and started playing tight coverage,” Gregory said.

Rushing wise, the Colonels dominated the ground as Covington Catholic outgained North 115-33. Colonel running back Will Deters led the way with 93 yards on 26 carries.

Weaver said Covington Catholic’s success came because its line tremendously outweighed the smaller Maroons.

In the end, defense won the game though and that aspect tends to favor North.

On first down, to begin the second overtime, Cov. Cath. quarterback Matt Young dropped back to pass and J.C. Wade stepped in front of the intended receiver for the team’s second interception of the day.

Unlike regulation, a defender cannot return a turnover back for a touchdown, but Wade took off nonetheless until he was stopped.

“I thought I was going to run it back at first, but when I heard them blow the whistle, I slowed down,” Wade said.

After corralling the turnover, Weaver played it rather conservatively.

“I knew that we couldn’t shoot ourselves in the foot and throw a pick ourselves,” he said. “With a kicker like Rush Dugger, we just wanted to keep the ball in the middle of the field and not do any thing to lose any yardage and set him up for the game-winning field goal.”

Dugger came on after three straight Ryan Robinson carries and gave North the overtime win.

“It shows that we can do more than people expect us to do,” Wade said after the game of the team’s ‘never-say-die’ attitude. “Everybody thinks we’re little Madisonville, but we’re going to play our hearts out and even though we might not be the best athletically, we’re going to hustle harder than anybody we play.”

Notes

Saturday’s game marked the second time this season the Maroons had to play overtime before coming away with a win.

North beat Hopkins County Central 13-6 on Sept. 5.

Facing overtime again on Saturday, Weaver’s offense had the unfortunate task of taking the field first.

“The reason you try to go on defense first is because if you get a stop, you can kick a field goal (to win),” he said.

The last time North played in two different overtime games in the same season was 1989. During that year, the Maroons lost 15-14 at Hopkinsville in overtime and defeated Daviess County 29-28 at home in double overtime.

North’s most recent contest also marks the first time in school history the team traveled to northern Kentucky for a football game.

In fact, the last time the team even played a school from that area was in 1970.

After the Cov. Cath. victory, Gregory said he understood the trip’s significance.

“It’s a big win, big win,” he said. “We were talking about it all week, talking about it’s the first time we came up north, so it’s a big win for us.”

During the ‘70 season, Madisonville played Ft. Thomas Highlands twice – beginning the season with a 27-14 loss in the Recreation Bowl at Montgomery County High School and ending the year with a 30-13 loss in the state championship game at the University of Kentucky’s Stoll Field.