North Oldham 21 Fern Creek 7

North Oldham opens the Brock Roberts era with a solid win over Fern Creek on a "neutral" field at South Oldham HS.

The Mustangs unveiled the uptempo, pass first offense of Roberts, though the Mustangs surprisingly ran the ball on 58% of their offensive snaps.   Despite the 58-42 run-pass split, North was far more successful in the passing game, as third-year starter Jace Bullock exploded after half time with a 10 for 13 second half performance.    For the game, Bullock was a respectable 17 for 26 for 163 passing yards, 2 TDs, and no picks.

North opened the game with an impressive drive after taking the opening kickoff, mixing the running game and passing game well, and wrapping it all up with a 10 yard pass from Bullock to Mack Pyle for the score with 9:10 to play in the first.    The snap was bad on the conversion, but North had a statement score on the board, leading 6-0.

Amazingly, it was still 6-0 at the half.    Amazing because FC missed a FG that was plenty long enough, but just wide right....amazing, because the Mustangs picked FC quarterback Kaleb Passmore (what a GREAT name for a quarterback!) deep in FC territory but came up with no points.....amazing because the Tigers had a promising drive inside the North ten come up short when Charles Bradley came up with a fumble by Passmore at the five....amazing because, well, both teams had multiple chances and couldn't come up with more points.     Both defenses went into the locker room having come up with a host of big plays in tough situations.

Kudos to the Tigers for a great job of stuffing the run....North (unofficially) finished with just 71 yards on the ground on 35 carries....leading rusher Noah Leber finished with just 41 yards on 21 carries, with a 4 yard TD run.

Fern Creek, known for almost exclusively running the ball last year, made a concerted effort to create a passing game.   Passmore, a second year starter who almost never had double-digit pass attempts last season, threw the ball 22 times.   It wasn't as if the Tigers went to the air after they fell behind, either; Creek was passing from the get-go.    Passmore, however, was erratic all night, and was often under pressure - though North had only one official sack (Wyatt Drury).  Passmore finished 6 of 22 for 73 yards with 2 INT    (Dawson Nagle and Mack Pyle for NO)

Interestingly, it almost seemed as if FC was de-emphasizing their star running back, Mykel Malone, who had 1,059 yards rushing and 14 TDs last year.    If you believe in omens, you may have predicted a Creek victory - at the half, Malone, despite limited carries, had 81 yards on only 8 carries.....last year, FC was undefeated when Malone reached the century mark in yards rushing, and he certainly appeared headed that way.    But - curiously - Malone only got four carries in the second half, North stuffed those, and Malone finished with "just" 85 yards.    

North kicked off to start the second half, and they came up with perhaps the play of the night on special teams, pooching a kick to the right and over the heads of the FC front line, where it was recovered by the Mustangs.    With a short field, Bullock quickly moved his team into the end zone, with Leber darting, untouched, around the right end from four yards out.   Bullock threw to Mack Pyle for the two point conversion to make it 14-0 with 9:02 left in the third.

Later in the quarter, North rolled the dice and went for it on fourth down deep in their own territory, and Fern Creek held.    Malone finallly got the Tigers on the board with 2:45 to play in the third after an 11 yard run around left end.   14-7 North.

North made it a two score again with Bullock's second TD toss of the night - and Mack Pyle's second TD reception - when Bullock hit Pyle from 8 yards out with 9:50 to play to account for the final 21-7 score.

Pyle finished with 8 catches for 79 yards for North, with two TD grabs.    The "style" award has to go to Gray Schmittel, though, who had a one-hand grab of a pass over the middle from Bullock.  Schmittel, doing his best OBJ imitation, almost had TWO other one-handers; he finished with 6 catches for 59 yards.

Neither offense set the world on fire, but North was more prolific when they needed to be; North finished (unofficially) with 234 yards of offense, the Tigers with 158 yards.

Turnovers were key; North lost a fumble, but Fern Creek finished with a very "first-game-of-the-season-like" game with two lost fumbles and two interceptions.