How Castle football showed its defensive potential in a season-opening win over North

EVANSVILLE – Consider the following scenario, one absurd when attempting to dissect it further.

Your offense possesses the football for less than eight minutes and only runs 21 plays. It finds the end zone once. What are the odds you compete, let alone win? It can not be a viable recipe for success most nights, right?

Castle found the answer on Friday night. One should show what the core of its roster is made of.

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The Knights opened the season with a 14-11 victory over North at Bundrant Stadium. The overall performance was far from perfect, not with the number of self-inflicted mistakes. But what their defense showed was more than positive. It’s a sign moving forward. This defense is tough.

“Gutsy,” said Castle coach Doug Hurt. “You look at the gutsiness and fortitude of those guys. We fought through and found a way to get a ‘W’. That’s a characteristic of a good team.”

Want proof how what Castle (1-0) did to earn this win? Look to the second quarter.

North had the ball for almost all 12 minutes, save for one play to end the half. It possessed the ball for a 26-play drive that got inside the five-yard line. The Huskies did not score. Castle only had four offensive yards in the first half, yet still had the lead.

Is such a performance sustainable? Maybe not. Surprising from this unit? Absolutely not.

“It’s the comradery and brotherhood,” said senior Gavin Leach. “I can look to my left and right, those are my brothers. We do drills for those specific moments. Everyone has to be doing their job.”

The biggest difference between the Southern Indiana Athletic Conference rivals? Castle had its star players act like it in necessary moments.

Leach, a linebacker committed to Toledo, jumped in front of a screen pass on the final play of the first quarter. He went roughly 50 yards to put the Knights on the scoreboard. The other pivotal moment came at the end of the half.

North (0-1) elected to go for a fourth and three in the final seconds. Cincinnati commit Benny Patterson III met Luke Grayson in the backfield. A 26-play drive resulted in zero points. The 6-3 defensive lineman had multiple tackles for loss. Castle asks a lot from its Division I commits but both rose to the challenge on this night.

“They’re leaders on and off the field,” said Hurt. “You expect big players to make big plays when they count. Gavin stepped up and picked that screen off and Benny with the goal-line stand. I think they were both gassed."

The Huskies’ defense should be commended as well. The Knights were limited to only 110 total yards with most coming from senior Max McCool (88 yards rushing). The lone issue was finding a stop at the critical moment.

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Boden Morgan hit Jersey Wells for a 21-yard touchdown on fourth and eight with less than six minutes remaining. North got within one score with a Hunter Skelton reception with 1:29 showing but again failed to get Castle off the field.

The Huskies had 225 total yards with Jacob Tenbarge completing 21 of 27 passes for 154 yards. Castle also had multiple penalties and two muffed punts keep its own offense on the sideline.

“We were the source of our own problems,” said Hurt. “I know we missed some throws at quarterback but made a big one (in the fourth). They made some plays at the end when we needed it. The old coaching saying is your biggest gain is between week one and week two.”

In some ways, Castle looked at how many presumed in the summer. A ground and pound offense with the potential for an elite defense. But this game was also on the Knights’ mind for nearly a full calendar year after North won the sectional championship. There was ample reason to be ready.

The next step might be duplicating the toughness and effort shown in Week 1. It makes for an interesting team moving forward.

“(The sectional loss) cut really deep,” said Patterson. “We took that personal and grinded our tails off. I couldn’t be more proud of those guys. Everybody doing their job. When that happens, good things happen. You get put in a position to make plays.”

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: How Castle football showed its defensive potential in a season-opening win over North