Adversity Bowl

Huskies come from behind to beat Bearcats, 30-28, in middle of busy week for both teams

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

GREENE — Eight days a week?

How ‘bout three games in eight days? Three football games, mind you.

Those were the cards dealt to Nashua-Plainfield and North Butler, who on Monday night made up what was supposed to be NB’s homecoming game on Sept. 23 that was postponed due to major flooding in the area.

“There’s really no way you can prepare for something like this,” said Nashua-Plainfield coach Chase Sudol, whose Huskies battled back from a 20-6 deficit to edge the Bearcats 30-28.

“I’m not one who believes in playing three games in such a short time, especially single A schools like ourselves,” Sudol said as his team improved to 3-3 overall and 2-2 in Class A, District 3 standings, “but our kids stepped up.”

Just three days before, the Huskies lost a hard-fought game to West Fork (28-14) where they lost four starters, including their leading rusher Braydon Fisher.

As for the Bearcats (2-4, 1-3), they just got over winning a “track meet” against Rockford (48-36).

North Butler struck paydirt first early in the first quarter when Clay Shultz recovered a fumble in the end zone when the ball was knocked free of Sam Dolan at the goal line after he took a Dalton Nelson swing pass 32 yards.

The Huskies responded on the ensuing possession as Mason Hyde’s 1-yard burst tied the game at 6. The play was set up by Dayton Hansen’s 30-yard pass to Jared Whitinger on a fourth-and-13 snap.

After a Rhett Lammers interception, Nelson connected with 6-foot-3 Jared Feldman for a 45-yard pass play that set up a 3-yard TD by Brandon Trees to give the Bearcats a 14-6 lead with 3:46 left in the first.

In the second quarter, Shultz recovered his second fumble in the end zone after the ball was stripped free of Trees while trying to score from the 1. On both fumble recoveries, Nashua-Plainfield fans voiced grievances about alleged rules about fumbling forward into the end zone (The rule applies in college and the NFL, but not high school).

Jonathan Krull’s 5-yard run cut NB’s lead to 20-12, then Hansen’s 10-yard play-action scoring pass to Travon Adams drew them even closer (20-18) with 54.6 seconds left in the half before Trees returned the ensuing kickoff 83 yards to make the score 28-18.

The turning point of the game may have been late in the second quarter when the Bearcats lost Nelson to a leg injury, from which he never returned. Then early in the third quarter, North Butler lost its starting center Cody Nederhoff to injury.

The Bearcats didn’t score after halftime which allowed Nashua-Plainfield to catch and overtake them with Levi Enright’s 90-yard catch-and-run TD pass from Hansen, and Hyde’s 3-yard run with 8:34 left in regulation which capped the scoring.

Both teams will be back in action Friday with Nashua-Plainfield traveling to Grundy Center and North Butler traveling to West Fork.