North Johnston Ruins Hobbton Homecoming 13-7
September 13th, 2008 Posted in High School FootballIs it only me, or is it not just a wee bit early for homecoming games? I’m sorry but I prefer at least a little nip of cold in the air for homecoming to feel right. In my humble opinion, it should be down right COOOOLD for that night to even begin to feel right. Nevertheless, the fine faculty & staff over at Hobbton High decided that tonight would be their big event and I guess they were pretty confident that they had scheduled the right cup cake for the evening’s festivities. After all, the Panthers have failed to defeat the Wildcats in their last two meetings and quite frankly, Hobbton was 2-0 coming into the night and NOJO was 0-3. I guess that’s why they play the games.
Over the past week, the folks in and around Hobbton High have had to deal with over 10” of rainfall. Drought? What drought? Because of the onslaught of water in such a short period of time, it smelled as if every hog lagoon and septic tank between Newton Grove and Clinton had over run onto the Wildcat football field. We’re talkin’ major league STANK people. The sideline and field tonight, were better suited for 4×4 mud slinging than a football game and if the mosquitoes were any larger they would have needed landing gear. Man am I glad to have a wife that remembers to bring the bug spray and my cheap Wal-Mart flip-flops!
The game begins with Hobbton winning the coin flip and electing to defer possession until the start of the second half. Upon receiving the ball on kick off, the NOJO offense comes out cold and doesn’t appear to be firing on all cylinders just yet. #40 Wayne Johnson is forced to punt, giving the Wildcats their first opportunity to move the ball. Hobbton marches up the field rather quickly right out of the gate. Not slow to warm up, #7 Caldwell for Hobbton breaks off a few good runs around the ends and their Quarterback #12 delivers on a 15 yard pass play to put the Cats in scoring position at the NJ 23 yard line. With 1:07 to go in the first quarter, #20 Michael Williams dashes around the left end of the line and runs into the end zone. The point after attempt is good and Hobbton is up 7-0.
The second quarter doesn’t start out looking any better for North Johnston. The Panthers with possession of the ball and driving on the Hobbton 40 turn the ball over on a fumble while working on a 3rd and 3 with 7:10 to go in the half. Not to be outdone by the visiting team, the Wildcats have a turnover of their own with a fumble not 30 seconds later on their own 25. Do you see a pattern forming here? Guess what happens next? That’s right, #28 EJ Knight is hit hard at the line of scrimmage and coughs the ball up for another turnover not 5 seconds after getting the ball back. Can you say frustrating boys and girls?….. Believe it or not, even with all this give and take going on, the NOJO defense is continuing to play inspired football and is limiting every positive play by Hobbton. With the clock running and each team attempting to find a way to spark their offense, something funny is happening in the Wildcats offensive huddle. With 5:08 showing on the clock, and with Hobbton being completely out of first half time outs, their coach is on the field and in the huddle with his players while the referees discuss a previous penalty. Coach Tom Nelson knowing that this is a violation and that their coach is using this time as an impromptu time out marches himself out to midfield to bring this to the referees attention. The ref acts as if it’s no big deal and refuses to throw his flag. I thought for a second that coach was about to get tossed but we lived to fight another day. In this case we lived to fight on the very next play. Backed up on their own 30, the Wildcat quarterback is rushed out of the pocket and while in the grasp of a Panther defender attempts to throw the ball away. Even these referees know that’s a no no and Hobbton is penalized for intentional grounding. With 4:46 remaining in the half, the home team is forced to punt from deep in their own neck of the woods and North Johnston takes over on their own 44. Now, let me go back just a little bit and explain something else about Hobbton that you may not have known. Yes, they were 2-0 coming into the nights game but there was also the little matter that no one had scored on them as of yet either. Oh well….all good things do tend to come to an end.
On the first play of the drive, #7 Joe Harned rolls out to his right and heaves a 48 yard pass completion to #5 Jackques Alston bringing the ball down to the Hobbton 3 yard line. On the next snap, #28 Knight takes the ball around the left end of the line and drives it straight into the end zone. An attempted two point conversion is unsuccessful leaving the score 7-6 in favor of Hobbton with 4:30 to go in the half. After a round or two of both offenses failing to move the ball, that ol’ fumble snake bites NJ again. With 53.9 seconds to go in the half, #28 Knight lets go of the pumpkin again, this time turning the ball over on NJ’s on 39. On the next play we are flagged for defensive pass interference and the ball is moved up to the NJ 24. With a couple of loss yardage snaps following, and with only 3 seconds left in the half, the Wildcats attempt a 42 yard field goal to no avail and the first half ends with a score of Hobbton 7 and North Johnston 6.
The beginning of the 2nd half shows Hobbton back to receive the kick off. However, Coach Tom Nelson has dug into his little baggie of dirty tricks and attempts a squibb kick in hopes of retaining possession of the ball and gaining a little MO to start the half. No such luck…the Wildcats recover the kick on their own 43 setting up great field position. With solid play continuing over from the first half, NOJO’s defense remains strong. Both teams trade possessions through out the 3rd quarter with neither group showing much production. Late in the 3rd quarter, Nelson goes to that baggie of his again in order to wake up a sleepy and listless offense. On four consecutive plays, the ball is direct snapped to #1 Laquan Cox in an effort to use his athletic ability to make a play. Didn’t happen! The entire possession resulted in little if any yardage gain and it was punt time again. At the end of the 3rd quarter, the score remained 7-6 in favor of the home team.
The 4th quarter began with the NJ punt hitting off the side of #40 Johnson’s foot. Hobbton began their possession on the Panther 30. Things really were not looking good and then the Wildcat QB connected on a 15-yard pass play bringing the ball down to the NJ 15. Miraculously the NOJO defense holds tight again and eventually takes over on downs at their on 7 yard line with 7:01 left to play. On the following play from scrimmage, Knight takes off around the left end of the line and motors 32 yards. On the next play call, Knight again carries the mail for another 15 yards and holes start showing up in the Wildcat D-Line. The next few plays get #9 Grey Bruton into the mix and the ball ends up on Hobbton’s 24-yard line.
The Panthers are working the clock down and know that this is most likely their last opportunity with the ball. Quickly it comes down to a gut check. With 3:48 left in the game NJ is faced with a 4th and 1 scenario. This will be the biggest play call of the game and in all likelihood the last if it’s not capitalized on. What play do you as a coach send in? Do you really have to think hard about this one? Neither did anyone else; you always stick with the horse that you rode to the party on. The ball is snapped and Knight carries the rock across the 5 and down to the 4-yard line. Finally, with 2:23 to go in the ballgame, #9 Bruton slams in over the goal line to score the go ahead touchdown and put NJ up 12-7.
Remember the failed two-point conversion earlier in the first half? Not caring to risk that again, Coach Nelson, sends in #76 Louis Perez to put his soccer trained toe into the point after attempt. What makes this interesting is that this is Louis’s first ever field goal attempt in a game. As a matter of fact, it’s his first ever-organized football game period! Nevertheless, the snap is good, the hold was good and the kick….even though it looked like a line drive down the third base line…was good by about 2” over the cross bar. Afterwards, Coach Nelson would tell the press “the kid was as nervous as a hound dog during the entire game.”
With a little over 2:00 remaining to be played North Johnston takes the lead 13-6. Hobbton would need a touchdown and extra point to pull out a win. I think we’ve been in this position once before and it didn’t turn out so well.
With that game most likely stirring around in his mind, Nelson decides to attempt the hard squibb kick again. I really don’t think the Wildcats saw this one coming. After the ball traveled the required distance, #33 Spencer Lebbano came up with the ball at the bottom of the pile for the Panthers. A great play call and a successful recovery sealed the fate of the Hobbton fateful on this night. A minute or so later and a couple of knees results in NJ raining on a undefeated opponents homecoming hopes thus lifting their own by finally getting a W in the column.
Meeting with the team on the field prior to heading to the locker room, Coach Nelson had a few words for his troops.
“Defense, you played a heck of a game for the most part except for that opening drive. Much much better.”
“Offense, it took us about 3 and a half quarters to come to life but we finally did it.”
“We’ve got a long way to go boys. We’ve got to come back down here next week to play a good Midway team. They will be ready for us.”
“You guys get to the locker room, say hi to your Mom, eat your snack and make it quick. I want to get out of this hog swamp as soon as possible!”
The Midway game next week will be a tough one. These kids do not slack off and they’re sitting at 3-0 after demoralizing Princeton last night on their new field. That’s right, new field. We will be the second team to play them on it. I know you’re missing the photos that I usually attach to these stories. Fact is the camera I have is made for family photos not sports photography. That will change effective next week. Chuck Hardison is hooking a brother up…Better quality pics next week folks and continued videos. I have a total of 4 videos up on the site from last night’s game. Check’em out.
It’s 3AM….can I go to sleep now?
