It was a tale of two halves for the Blue Devils (0-3, 0-5) in their week six Northern Lakes League tilt against the visiting Northview Wildcats (3-0, 4-2), one that resulted in a narrow and frustrating 23- 17 defeat.
That frustration bore out following arguably Springfield’s best stretch of football to date. The Blue Devils scored on their first three drives of the game, building up a 17-10 halftime advantage in the process.
Senior tailback Brandon Langston scampered in twice untouched, the first from 19 yards out late in the opening quarter and the second a 53- yard sprint to paydirt with less than two minutes remaining in the half. The touchdowns were an impressive pair of plays that exemplified not only Langston’s explosiveness but also the upside of the young Blue Devils offensive line.
“We came into this game wanting to open up the offense more than what we did against BG,” said Head Coach Jerry Bell. “I thought our o-line played great in the first half. In the second half, we’ve got to look at the tape to see how they played, but it just doesn’t seem like we were very good at the point of attack in the second half.”
Indeed, the numbers backed up the coach’s assertion from the sideline. Before intermission, Springfield scored a season-high 17 points and amassed 217 yards of offense, 191 on the ground. Of that, Langston accounted for 130 yards on 12 carries.
In the second half, the Blue Devils only mustered 75 yards on offense, 24 rushing. Bell believed that immense shift was not because of any significant adjustments made by the Northview coaching staff at halftime.
“The only thing that they did a little bit differently was their defensive end crashed down on the back side on our counter,” he explained. “But I don’t think that guy was fast enough to get to it. We were just not good at the point of attack in the second half.”
That was most evident on a crucial fourth down with less than five minutes to play in the third quarter. The Blue Devils had marched down to the Northview five following a 15-yard run from Langston. Inexplicably, they were whistled for being offside on first and goal.
They clawed seven yards closer on the next three plays, setting up fourth and goal at the Wildcats three yard line. Bell kept his offense on the field to go for a two-touchdown lead, subbing in senior defensive lineman Garrett Pasker to play fullback and carve out a lane for Langston’s third score.
The play was blown up from the outside for no gain, however, and it was ultimately the last snap the offense would have in Northview territory.
“We got the ball down, we’re fourth and [goal] down by the goal line to go up two scores and we just don’t come off the football,” Bell said. “Those are the things that can get a little frustrating I think at times for us. The play is there, we just have to execute it and we didn’t execute down there.
“And then after that, it seemed like the tide and the momentum shifted and we never really got the momentum back. I thought on the blocked PAT we got the momentum back but then at the end they hit the long pass to go up.”
It did appear for much of the second half that Langston was nursing a leg injury, but Bell refused to attribute the offense’s ineffectiveness to that.
“I’m not blaming anything on injuries or anything like that because our next man mentality has got to be there and our guys have got to step up,” he said.
Equally frustrating was the fact that the defense and special teams stepped up and demonstrated some big playmaking ability for the first time all season. They did struggle on the Wildcats’ opening drive with defending the run–largely offtackle rushes–but made some adjustments to clamp down on a talented running back in senior Aidan Schmidt.
More impressive were the three turnovers they caused–two fumbles and one interception–all in key spots. Senior linebacker DJ Bussell’s pick came late in the first half in Springfield territory to end any chance the Wildcats had of drawing even at halftime.
The first of the two fumbles was actually caused on special teams. Springfield went backwards on their opening drive of the second half, punting following a quick three-and-out. On the return, Wildcat sophomore Connor Cody tried to elude a few defenders but was stripped of the football and the Blue Devils recovered.
They again came up with a loose football in the fourth quarter to stall a promising Northview drive at the Springfield 29. However, no points were had off of those takeaways.
“I’m super happy with [the defense],” said Bell. “We can’t give up the nickel-and-dime pass routes, but I thought our kids played extremely well. After that first drive defensively, we made some adjustments and I thought our kids responded really well to that and took away their run. They weren’t gouging us like they were on that first drive.
“We forced turnovers that we haven’t forced all year. We showed up, and we did those things. It’s just offensively we didn’t capitalize on enough of those turnovers to win the game.”
Eventually, the offense’s woes kept putting the defense back on the field, often in tough spots in terms of field position. That led to a pair of late touchdowns by the Wildcats who retook the lead with less than 70 seconds to play in the game.
With the running game no longer an option trailing by six points and only a minute to play, the Blue Devils had to rely on the arm of sophomore quarterback William Scott once again. That final drive started well with a 17-yard catch by junior Zavion Penrice that brought Springfield close to midfield.
The drive stalled from there, however, with incompletions–a spike on first down–on the next three plays, and Scott was sacked on fourth down rolling out to his right to seal the game.
Bell noted the end, while disappointing, is just another step in the growth and development of his young signal caller.
“I think he has the time to throw the ball, he’s just young,” the coach said. “In pressure situations and so forth, those are things that will come with maturity with him. We’re trying to work with him to stay in the pocket and make the correct read. He puts a lot of pressure on himself, and I’ve got to get him to relax in those types of pressure situations and take what the defense is giving him.”
