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Northview blanks Owen Valley in weather shortened win
When Northview’s football team boarded the bus Friday afternoon and made the trip to Spencer for their Week 5 matchup against winless Owen Valley, head coach Mark Raetz emphasized what he wanted out of his group – for them to get back to playing to their standard.
Raetz was disappointed with how things went at West Vigo seven days earlier despite leaving with a 42-point win. The 18-year coach told his team that if they got back to playing Northview’s brand of football – controlling the lines of scrimmage, limiting the penalties against them and winning the turnover battle – the results on the scoreboard would indicate a step in the right direction before the team enters the most difficult stretch of the year.
And through the first 20:56 of the game, the Knights, who vaulted to No. 11 in the USA Today and Associated Press polls and No. 13 in the IFCA poll, did just that before a 95-minute weather delay ended things early, resulting in a 38-0 win for Northview that left Raetz satisfied with what his team put on tape.
“I thought we did a better job tonight,” said Raetz. “I thought, overall, our kids were pretty locked in. We had a better week of practice and executed pretty well.”
Northview’s offense hummed throughout the night.
After an opening series interception, the visitors scored on their next six drives to put the game out of reach. And in doing so, the ball was spread around to four different ball carriers – Slade Fell, DeMarius McLawyer, Bryer McCluskey and Avery Perry – and three different receivers – Perry, Jake Raetz and Mason Sutherland – leading to five Knights – Fell (36-yard run), Sutherland (49-yard reception), McCluskey (9-yard run), Perry (9-yard reception) and McLawyer (21-yard run) – as well as kicker Luke Whitman who connected on a 22-yard field goal, finding paydirt.
“We were definitely trying to spread the ball around tonight,” said Raetz.
And while the offense was impressive in lighting up the scoreboard, the defense was just as good, and maybe even better.
Northview held Owen Valley to 21 total yards and zero first downs while forcing a pair of fumbles – one of which was recovered. The Knights only allowed the Patriots to run two plays – the first going for a one-yard gain and the second ending in a five-yard loss – in their territory en route to their second shutout of the season.
“I thought we played really well defensively tonight. We didn’t give up a first down,” Raetz said. “We executed – for the most part – in all three phases tonight.”
With the win, Northview improves its record to 5-0 for the second straight year and will now enter its most difficult stretch of the season beginning Friday against Terre Haute South, which Raetz described as the toughest team on their schedule this fall.
“We’ve been talking with our guys about this stretch the last couple of weeks. We knew we had to keep getting better and better because we knew this was coming up,” said Raetz. “We’re getting ready to play probably the best team on our regular season schedule. We’re coming in pretty healthy. Now, we just have to make sure our kids come in with the right mindset to have a great week.”
Northview 38, Owen Valley 0
Northview 17 21 x x — 38
Owen Valley 0 0 x x — 0
Nv — Fell 36 run (Whitman kick), 7:24 1Q
Nv — Sutherland 49 pass from Bath (Whitman kick), 4:31 1Q
Nv — Whitman 22 kick, :28.4 1Q
Nv — McCluskey 9 run (Whitman kick), 9:53 2Q
Nv — Perry 9 pass from Bath (Whitman kick), 5:42 2Q
Nv — McLawyer 21 (Whitman kick), 3:45 2Q
Nv OV
First downs 5 0
Rushes-yards 12-158 14-12
Passing 75 9
Comp-Att-Int 5-7-1 1-3-0
Return yards 79 157
Punts-avg. 0-0.0 5-34.6
Fumbles-lost 0-0 2-1
Penalties-yards 1-15 5-40
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing — Northview, Fell 7-107, McLawyer 3-26, McCluskey 1-9, Perry 1-16. Owen Valley, Greene 1-(-4), Nickless 9-13, Anderson 4-3.
Passing — Northview, Bath 5-7-2 75. Owen Valley, Greene 1-3-0 9.
Receiving — Northview, Perry 3-22, Raetz 1-4, Sutherland 1-49. Owen Valley, Kay 1-9.
Next — Northview (5-0) hosts Terre Haute South and Owen Valley (0-5) visits Sullivan Friday.