The defense of the Humboldt Cubs dominated in a really tough Tri-Valley contest Friday night . They held the Blue Streaks of Neodesha to three total first downs the entire game .
Neodesha scored first after the cub coaching staff decided to go for a 4th and 5 backed up inside the 30 yard line and didn’t get the first down. The home team took advantage and made a hole for quarterback Michael Shinkle as he scored the first and only touchdown to take the early 7-0 lead.
Humboldt for the third straight week had to many drives stalled by penalties. A huge off-setting holding penalty called on a Conor Haviland 58 yard dash and a face mask on the defense was called back . The Cubs were able to get on the scoreboard after a mishandled punt return by Haviland was picked up by Hesston Murrow for the 70 yard touchdown . The 2 point conversion was unsuccessful to keep Neodesha ahead 7-6. Late in the second quarter with 18 seconds left Humboldt had the ball at the 2 yard line getting ready to punch it in with the clock still running . In my opinion Humboldt should have used one of its two time outs to set the play up . While in a hurry, Hesston Murrow fumbled and the Blue Streaks survived to take a 7-6 lead into halftime.
The second half is where the defense had just about enough of playing from behind as they would never let the home team cross mid-field the rest of the game . Neodesha did lose their best offensive performer of the game in the first few plays on the second half. Dominic Skinner screamed in pain during the play . He was helped off the field just minutes later. Juniors David Watts and Degen Goodner along with senior Brent Yost led the cub squad in tackles tonight but I thought the entire defensive team played fantastic.
Senior running back Jacob Barker carried the ball 30 times tonight for 139 tough fought yards . The Neodesha defense played very good tonight as well, making Humboldt earn every yard. Humboldt was able to score twice in the second half with touchdown runs by Murrow and Haviland. The offensive line created holes and the rushing attack just played smash mouth football the entire second half .
Humboldt now 3-0 overall and league play has their toughest match up of the season next week at home against Tri-Valley league power house Caney Valley (2-1). Neodesha (1-2) travels to (0-3) Erie Red Devils.
Picture credited to Mike Myer
Stats credited to Jason Bauer