While Northside hasn't had the easiest of schedules, at least the Grizzlies have done their part on the road.
For the third straight time away from Mayo-Thompson Stadium, Northside posted a double-digit win. And for the second straight week on the road, the Grizzlies tossed a shutout, the latest a 19-0 win at Little Rock Central.
"Very, very pleased with the way we played," Northside coach Mike Falleur said. "Defensively, we played really well again, and then special teams were strong. And offensively, we got better; we had some penalties that kept us from scoring early and had a fumble inside the 10, so we moved the ball, we just didn't put any points on the board."
The Grizzlies led 6-0 at halftime on the strength of two field goals from Chuy Parga, including a 44-yarder to end the opening half. Northside then came out and scored a pair of touchdowns in the second half, both courtesy of running back Robert Wilkerson, a 21-yarder in the third quarter and a 1-yard run in the fourth.
Wilkerson, who scored both of those TD on his only two carries, was part of a Northside running game which generated 202 yards on 33 carries. Tre Norwood had 58 yards while Hunter Pendleton added 57. Quarterbacks Norwood and Max Frazier combined to go 10-of-15 for 112 yards, with DeAron Robinson catching four of those passes for 40 yards.
Northside (3-1, 2-0 7A-Central) finally returns home this week to face Little Rock Catholic. It's the Grizzlies' first home game since their Week 1 opener against Greenwood, although a scheduled home game two weeks later against Pine Bluff was cancelled due to severe weather.
Breathing Room
With the way the Grizzlies' defense has performed of late, perhaps a 6-0 halftime lead last week seemed insurmountable. But Falleur said that definitely wasn't the case.
"I don't know if they felt that way but I know I didn't," Falleur said. "I don't like to leave it at that one score where one big play and boom, you can get behind. I know our kids are playing with a lot of confidence right now on defense and that's what you want, but at the same time, you don't want to leave it to where one play and your whole night's work can go up in smoke."
But the Grizzlies' offense picked up in the second half, allowing Northside to eventually extend its lead and put the game out of reach.
"It got better; we quit making penalties, we didn't hold, we didn't chop block and we picked up their stunts a little bit better in the second half," Falleur said. "We had two good drives, and I think we only had the ball four times (in the second half). ... We put the game to where they were going to have to do some things to beat us and that's what you want; when we got to 19 (points), I felt a little more relaxed in the fact they were going to have to score three times to beat us unless we really did something to help them."
Roberto Del Rio was the leading tackler with 13, including seven solo stops. Wilkerson added 12 tackles and Parga had 11, and both Wilkerson and Parga recovered fumbles, the only two turnovers the Grizzlies caused. Norwood also broke up three passes as well.
Parga's Placements
Falleur said entering last week's game that the kicking game may be a primary factor. That was definitely the case with Parga, the team's kicking specialist.
Parga hit the two field goals in the first half, although he missed two others in the span, one of which was a 50-yard attempt which bounced off the left upright. But Parga's punting was even more important, as he punted four times for an average of more than 40 yards.
"He changes the end of the field. ... He averaged almost 45 yards a punt and really twice, turned the ball from where we were on offense to on the (Central) 1-yard line one time and inside the 10 again," Falleur said. "If Chuy can help us do that, I'm not going to say they can't drive it and score because obviously they can, but it would be hard for them to do it consistently."
So far this season, Parga is 5-of-7 on field goal attempts and has made all nine of his extra point tries. He has also punted 15 times, averaging 41.9 yards per kick.
"(On punts) I try to get our defense to start off back in (the opponents') half, and on field goals, I just try my best to make it," Parga said. "I've stayed back the past two practices to practice (extra) on my field goals and I've really never done that."
Tough Loss
Southside coach Jeff Williams was not second-guessing himself following last week's tough 27-23 loss to Cabot.
The Mavericks failed to convert on fourth-and-short on the game's final play. Rather than hang his head, Williams was proud of the team's effort.
"It's tough to lose a game like that, but I'm proud of our kids," Williams said. "It's tough to lose the way we lost. Our kids fought to the end, made some plays, and had some opportunities.
"It was a great game; the game could have gone either way."
