Huskies battle North Cedar

By Jeff Yoder
Posted 9/18/22

The Huskies are still looking for a first win, but the Highland football team took another step offensively in a 36-19 loss at North Cedar on Friday. 

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Huskies battle North Cedar

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The Huskies are still looking for a first win, but the Highland football team took another step offensively in a 36-19 loss at North Cedar on Friday. 

For many players on the inexperienced Husky varsity, it was the first time playing under the pressure of a competitive game in the fourth quarter. 

After falling behind by two touchdowns early in the fourth quarter, Highland quarterback Sage Hartley-Norman had repeated success finding Ayden Havel through the air on a pair of touchdown drives. The two sophomores connected five times for 89 yards, which set up a pair of touchdown runs for senior Peyton Yeggy. 

Yeggy’s first touchdown run cut the lead to 20-13 with 5:51 left in the game. Coach Cory Quail was happy to see his team continue to play with effort and execute after falling behind by two scores. 

“Our guys, I've been so proud of them and how much they're growing up throughout the season,” Quail said. “We knew it was going to be a season of growth. We didn't know exactly what that would look like. But I still can't even begin to say how much I love these guys and how much they're battling and how much they're still working.”

Hartley-Norman, who completed his first career pass a week earlier against Wilton, was 11-of-23 for 185 yards and three interceptions through the air. 

Highland senior Ethan Paisley caught four passes for 68 yards and leads the Huskies with 158 receiving yards and a touchdown this season.

“At the start, it was just running something that they didn't know was coming,” Paisley said. “We switched up our formation a little bit and we'd run routes out of that, and I think it surprised them.

“And then they kind of adapted to it, so we started getting our backside receivers some more action. And I think our o line was blocking a little better.”

Logan McFarland also had two catches for 30 yards and Aaron Schaedler caught one pass for 14. 

The Huskies had five turnovers on Friday, and long returns of an interception and fumble helped the Knights with field position on the way to a 12-0 lead early in the second quarter. 

The Huskies got on the scoreboard with an 18-yard touchdown run from Hartley-Norman, the first rushing score of his career. 

North Cedar also had some success rushing the ball on Friday, especially freshman quarterback Teagan Weber, who kept it 31 times for 243 yards and three touchdowns on the ground. He also handed off to Peyton Clark 13 times for 116 yards and a pair of touchdowns. 

“I really think this was a game of missed opportunities,” Quail said. You know we had people dead to rights on tackles, and we just missed our angles.”

Weber’s 70-yard scamper gave North Cedar a 28-13 lead after a 2-point conversion with 4:52 left. 

Highland recovered a fumble late in Friday’s game to set up Yeggy’s final touchdown. McFarland had a nice interception return that was negated by a penalty. 

The Huskies had over 200 yards through the air, but just 70 rushing yards on 26 carriers. 

“Offensively, we really were able to move the ball some of the time, but we’ve got to fix our fundamentals,” Quail said. “With our run blocking game, we're doing a little too much standing up, we're losing leverage. And if we can't move the ball doing that, then teams can sit on our pass. 

“I'm really excited about where we can go, I think we saw some very good things that a young team can do tonight. And we’ve just got to be able to fix those things,  have a great week of practice, and then we’ve got to get after it for homecoming week.”

The Huskies (0-4) host Alburnett (3-1) on Friday. The Pirates are coming off of a 34-27 loss to East Buchanan. Alburnett quarterback Mason Neighbor will challenge the Husky secondary. He has completed nearly 60 percent of his passes for 681 yards and seven touchdowns. The Pirates have three receivers with at least 10 catches. 

SCORING SUMMARY

NC: Teagan Webber 1 run (2-point failed)

NC: Webber 10 run (2-point failed)

H: Sage Hartley-Norman 18 run (Jared Diaz kick)

NC: Peyton Clark 6 run (Nate Wood from Webber)

H: Peyton Yeggy 4 run (kick failed)

NC: Webber 70 run (Clark run)

H: Yeggy 1 run (kick failed)

NC: Clark 46 run (Wood from Webber)