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Defense, special teams shine in Northview's win over West Vigo
Looking at the box score from the first quarter – and even the first half, for that matter – of Friday night’s high school football game between Northview and West Vigo would have told a completely different story than that of the Jay Barrett Field scoreboard.
Northview maintained a two-possession lead after the first 12 minutes but didn’t take one offensive snap, skewing the statistics dramatically.
That trend continued through halftime.
Holding onto a 28-point advantage at the break, the Knights were out-snapped on offense by 25, were doubled up in the turnover department and possessed the ball for far less time than the Vikings, which served as the areas Northview head coach Mark Raetz highlighted after the game when addressing his team after their 49-7 win that extended the program’s winning streak to 11 games against West Vigo.
Raetz told his team that while they accomplished what they had hoped for in their trip to West Terre Haute, the level of play wasn’t up to their typical standard. And if they want to tick off their season-long goals, the Knights will have to clean that up moving forward, said Raetz.
“It was just frustrating at times because of some plays – we force them to punt but then one of our blockers gets hit in the foot by the ball or we break off a long run and fumble it or we get it down to fourth down and we get called for pass interference – that kept us from staying on the field. I just felt like we made some silly mistakes that we just cannot make,” Raetz said. “We just have to be more focused on playing to our standard. At times tonight, we weren’t doing that. Hopefully, we can keep getting better from this.”
One of the main reasons for the lack of offense in the first quarter was due to the return game being so strong.
On the opening kickoff, sophomore Bryer McCluskey weaved his way around the blockers in front of him for an 87-yard touchdown. Seven plays later, after Northview’s defense kept the Vikings from crossing midfield, Avery Perry returned a punt 65 yards for another score.
“Everything was the same as we always do, but we finally executed them,” said Raetz of Northview’s return game. “It was nice to see us do that because we really haven’t done all that well with it this year.”
Because of the special teams touchdowns, as well as the quick drives the offense put together – Slade Fell scored on a three-play drive and Colton Bath connected with Perry for 32 yards and Fell for 75 yards on drives of four plays and two plays, respectively – when it finally possessed the ball in the second quarter, Northview’s defense was on the field for the first 14 minutes of the game.
Raetz sensed his defense, most of which also play on the offensive side of the ball, was wearing down with the high number of snaps they were taking in a row but credited them for remaining strong and holding their third straight opponent to single digits.
“Mentally, we were getting worn down [on defense], especially since so many of those guys play on offense too. That caused us to get a little sloppy. But really, I think that all started with our week of practice. I thought we were a little off during practice and weren’t living up to our standards,” Raetz pointed out. “Hopefully, this was a wakeup call for them.”
With the win, Northview improves to 4-0, marking the third straight year they’ve opened the fall with four consecutive victories. The Knights will look to extend their winning streak to five on Friday when they travel to Spencer for a battle with Owen Valley.
Northview 49, West Vigo 7
Northview 14 21 7 7 — 49
West Vigo 0 7 0 0 — 7
Nv — McCluskey 87 kick return (Whitman kick), 11:46 1Q
Nv — Perry 65 punt return (Whitman kick), 6:39 1Q
WV — Dewey 1 run (Kyrouac kick), 10:25 2Q
Nv — Fell 3 run (Whitman kick), 9:28 2Q
Nv — Perry 32 pass from Bath (Whitman kick), 2:09 2Q
Nv — Fell 75 pass from Bath (Whitman kick), :30.7 2Q
Nv — Fell 3 run (Whitman kick), 10:01 3Q
Nv — Stewart 33 run (Whitman kick), 4:20 4Q
Nv WV
First downs 5 4
Rushes-yards 16-179 32-46
Passing 130 29
Comp-Att-Int 4-4-0 10-16-0
Return yards 224 116
Punts-avg. 0-0.0 8-30.8
Fumbles-lost 2-2 0-0
Penalties-yards 3-35 10-101
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing — Northview, Fell 4-34, Bath 1-5, McLawyer 6-55, McCluskey 2-23, Perry 1-27, G.Schimmel 1-2, Stewart 1-33. West Vigo, Dewey 15-29, Cobb 6-(-3), Fields 4-9, Wallace 5-12, Thralls 2-(-1).
Passing — Northview, Bath 3-3-2 124, C.Schimmel 1-1-0 6. West Vigo, Fields 9-15-0 29, Wilbur 1-1-0 0.
Receiving — Northview, Perry 1-32, Raetz 1-17, Brewer 1-6, Fell 1-75. West Vigo, Hedden 3-14, Dewey 1-0, Cobb 4-7, Ramirez 1-8, Childress 1-0.
Next — Northview (4-0) visits Owen Valley and West Vigo (1-3) visits Brown County Friday.