NEW ALBANY — New Albany played its best quarter of the season, outscoring Evansville North 20-0 in the second period to advance in Class 5A Sectional 8 play with a 33-21 victory over the Huskies at Buerk Field.
The win — New Albany’s second in as many weeks after opening the season 0-8 — will give the Bulldogs another opportunity against rival Floyd Central. New Albany beat the Highlanders, 17-15, last week for its first win of the season.
“We’re looking forward to it,” New Albany coach Kevin Roth said. “I’m sure Floyd is going to be ready for us.”
The Bulldogs scored on the third play of the game on a 43-yard pass from Simon Weber to Chris Whitehead. Whitehead caught the pass 5 yards from the line of scrimmage, turned up field, beat one defender and then stiff-armed Caleb Kinnaird to the ground at the 11-yard line on his way to the end zone.
North (3-7) responded immediately with a 7-play, 59-yard scoring drive, in which the Huskies ran the ball on all seven plays. Cameron Clements finished off the drive with a 6-yard run.
After each team was forced to punt, New Albany took over early in the second quarter from its own 26. Six plays later, Weber carried the ball in from four yards out, one play after Jalen Forrest carried the ball 51 yards down to the 4.
Forrest, who had 128 yards on 12 carries in the first half, later scored on runs of 11- and 2-yards. The latter came with 44 seconds remaining in the half to give the Bulldogs a 27-7 lead. Forrest finished the contest with 137 yards on 22 carries.
The big story of the half was the New Albany defense. After surrendering 96 yards – all on the ground – in the first quarter, the Bulldog defense held the Huskies to 24 total yards in the second period. Richard Compton, who had 74 yards in the first quarter, was held to 26 in the second.
“About a month ago, we restructured our defense. We knew we had to do something,” Roth said. “Each week since then, we’ve gotten better. Everyone’s picked it up. Combined offense and defense, that was an outstanding effort.”
The New Albany defense struck again on the first play of the second half. Compton ran right but met a Bulldog wall. He turned back left, where he was met by Whitehead, who stripped the ball from Compton and ran 38 yards for a score and a 33-7 New Albany lead.
“Chris Whitehead was outstanding. They didn’t have an answer for him,” Roth said. “That was a huge play. It was a back-breaker.”
Compton had two big runs and scored twice in the second half and finished with 157 yard on the ground.
On North’s second drive of the third quarter, the Bulldog defense shut down the Huskies again, but North faked the ensuing punt and Compton went 54 yards for a score. On their next drive, the Huskies took advantage a Keenan Lewis interception, as Compton scored again to cut the New Albany lead to 33-21.
With 7:48 to play, North was driving again to try to get back into the game, but Travis Souder’s second interception ended any hope for the Huskies in what turned out to be a scoreless final quarter.
EV. NORTH 7 0 14 0-21
NEW ALBANY 7 21 6 0-33
1st Quarter
NA – Whitehead 43 pass from Weber (Jenkins kick), 11:26
B – Clements 6 run (Patton kick), 7:52
2nd Quarter
NA – Weber 4 run (Jenkins kick), 8:51
NA – Forrest 11 run (Jenkins kick), 3:27
NA – Forrest 2 run (kick failed), :44
3rd Quarter
NA – Whitehead 38 fumble return (kick blocked), 11:40
EN – Compton 54 run (bad snap), 9:17
EN – Compton 9 run (Compton run), 2:59
Floyd County Sports
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