Sep. 4—ACCIDENT — Few Western Maryland teams were as disappointed as Northern fans were when last season didn’t happen.
The Huskies entered 2020 coming off an 8-2 campaign, finishing just seven points short of ending the regular season undefeated for the third time in school history. They returned All-Area first-team quarterback Zach Hallenbeck and talented running back Jake Rush, and were primed for another impressive campaign.
Northern ended up playing just twice last season — a 41-0 victory over Southern and a 21-14 loss to Allegany. With all that senior leadership since graduated, the Huskies find themselves in a transition year.
They still have do-it-all running back Jamison Warnick on offense and Defensive Player of the Year candidate Chance Ritchey on the other side of the ball, but with just 24 players — many of which haven’t played more than those two varsity games last season — Northern could be in for an uphill battle.
The Huskies opened its season last night in Cumberland against Fort Hill.
“I’m a little skeptical here this year with not a lot of kids coming back,” Northern head coach Phil Carr said. “We have similar numbers as years past, but not the same upperclassmen. We only have 13 upperclassmen this year. We’ll take a few from JV to play on Friday night (against Fort Hill).
“It’s hard because we can’t afford to tackle much in practice because of a lack of depth, can’t afford injuries. We might not be as sharp tackling on Fridays, but our goal is to finish the year with a JV team.
“A lot of teams we’re going to play, we can’t go toe-to-toe with depth-wise. Injuries could cost us a JV season. It’s important for those guys to get those reps. Kids lose interest if they’re just practicing every year.
“We’re still going to fight and play hard like we always do.”
Carr is entering his 25th season as the head football coach of the Northern Huskies, during which the 1984 Northern graduate has compiled a record of 122-110. Last season, Carr was one of 24 Maryland coaches honored by the Baltimore Ravens as their coach of the week.
The Huskies have made the playoffs four of the last six seasons, but they’ll have to fight and claw — something they’re no stranger to — in order to overcome how much they lost.
In addition to the lack of practice time Northern had on the gridiron last year, Mother Nature hasn’t helped either. Thunderstorms have interrupted several practices during camp, forcing the Huskies to fight with two soccer teams and a volleyball team for gym time.
The weather did cooperate for Northern to get in a scrimmage down in Frederick, which also featured Brunswick and Francis Scott Key.
“We saw more good than bad,” Carr said. “We’re not going to be able to afford injuries anywhere, but especially up front: We only have two extra linemen.
“We have kids who (on) Friday (was) their third varsity game ever. Juniors played two games last year. We have no experience from playing a two-game season, they’re behind in practice time.
“At our scrimmage, there were a lot of positives, there were some mistakes, but they were all fixable mistakes. We try to tell the kids that more positives came out of it than negatives.”
While Northern didn’t sling the pigskin around like the Air Raid out of its option offense with Hallenbeck, the offense will miss having that additional aerial element in 2021.
“We’re still learning how to spread the field, but I think they’ll keep getting better,” Carr said. “We’ll still run our same offense, but it’ll be more run-oriented since we can’t throw it around like we could with Zach.”
Sophomore Kyle Broadwater and freshman Luke Ross are the two players duking it out to succeed Hallenbeck.
Though they’re both young, having no varsity starts under their belt, Carr is confident they’ll improve as the season wears on.
“They both look good,” he said. “They’re young and the option is hard to learn, when to pitch it. Kyle saw time as the JV quarterback last year. They’re both fast and athletic, and they’re capable of leading the offense.”
Junior Ethan Sebold returns at fullback after starting last season. He had 10 carries for a team-high 50 yards against Allegany at Greenway Avenue Stadium last year.
“He’s very athletic, from the time he was the junior varsity quarterback as a freshman,” Carr said. “He’s a downhill runner, a tough kid and a good blocker.”
Sebold will be joined in the backfield by the ever-explosive Warnick, junior Kellen Hinebaugh and senior Logan Miller. Warnick could see some time at quarterback in some packages, Carr said.
Warnick eclipsed 1,000 yards of offense two years ago in Accident. Against Southern last year, the senior had six carries for 49 yards and caught three passes for 86 more. Against Allegany, Warnick rushed for 46 yards on six carries and caught five passes for 36 yards.
“He’s the best athlete on the team,” Carr said. “He’s really good in the open field, which is good because we like to try and get him out in open space. We’re hoping he can have a healthy year.”
Senior Hayden Loewendick, who started last season, and junior Austin Ravenscroft, who is up from JV, will line up at split end.
“They know we’re not going to throw a whole lot, so they’re going to learn that they have to block,” Carr said. “It’s hard because they’re going to be playing every play since we don’t have a lot of subs.”
On the offensive line, the left side returns significant experience. The right side? Not so much.
Ritchey is back at the left tackle for his third year starting on the line, with fellow three-year starter Cole Moore positioned next to him at left guard. Sophomore Cole Paugh is up from the junior varsity squad, he’ll be the center.
The right side of the line returns a couple players who would’ve seen a lot of snaps in 2020, had Northern gotten a full season in. Junior Connor Lawson started both games last year, he’s the right guard, and senior Cam Friend will play right tackle. Friend was one of his better JV players as a freshman, Carr said.
“They’re quick, Ritchey and Friend are very quick for offensive tackles,” Carr said, “but they both can get out there on quick pitches as lead blockers. They’re functioning pretty well as a unit so far.”
Defensively, Northern will continue to run an odd front under defensive coordinator Steve Savage, who’s entering his eighth season in Accident.
Carr and his staff liked what they saw in the team’s scrimmage in Frederick.
“They were the best part of our scrimmage,” Carr said. “We wanted to see the kids playing aggressive and they delivered. We went 15 minutes on defense, and we kept them out of the end zone until the 12th minute. We stopped four or five plays inside of the goal line. We gave up one score, but they had to earn it.
“Defense is ahead of the offense. We’ll use an odd front, blitz some, our cornerbacks are pretty sound.”
Friend is a returning starter at defensive end, and he’ll be joined by Loewendick, who has played at defensive back previously, and Hinebaugh. Juniors Brayden Broadwater and Jake Beeman will get some time on the offensive and defensive lines, too.
On the interior, Lawson, Moore — who started the last two years — and Paugh will get the bulk of the snaps.
“Paugh, the starting center, we’re going to try and take advantage of his quickness,” Carr said. “We’ve got back some of the guys who have seen playing time; hopefully, they’ll lead the younger guys.”
Northern’s best positional unit is probably its linebacking corps, led by Ritchey at middle linebacker and Sebold at outside linebacker. Hinebaugh and sophomore Ryan Bolyard will both see time on the outside too.
With Ritchey moving off the line for his senior season, Carr expects his middle linebacker to have a dominant campaign leading the defense.
“Ritchey was all over the field at our scrimmage,” Carr said. “He played defensive tackle last year. He’s a guy who could be Defensive Player of the Year.
“Ritchey should be the strength of our team. Sebold is a tough kid, he was the best defensive player on JV as a freshman. They’re an aggressive group of guys.”
Quarterbacks Kyle Broadwater and Ross are fighting for the safety job, with the winner likely the one who doesn’t win the QB job on offense.
Warnick is a lock on one side at cornerback, and either Miller or Ravenscroft will be the other corner.
“We didn’t see a ton of passing down in Frederick,” Carr said. “We’ll probably have to sit in a zone because of how inexperienced we are, we can’t really play man-to-man right now.”
Junior Austin Slaybaugh, who just moved to Garrett County from Pennsylvania, will also get reps on both sides of the ball.
“He’s a good kid, skilled, catches the ball well. He could see some time in the secondary and split end,” Carr said.
On special teams, Sebold will handle the punting and kickoff duties. Either Moore or Sebold will be the placekicker. Freshman kicker Wally Brands has shown promise so far; he’ll be the junior varsity kicker.
Alex Rychwalski is a sports reporter at the Cumberland Times-News. Follow him on Twitter @arychwal.