Prep football: Eau Claire North battles, but falls to La Crosse Central in season opener
Aug. 20—The Eau Claire North football team held a lead in the second half, but ultimately couldn't hold off La Crosse Central in a 19-14 defeat to the RiverHawks on Friday at Carson Park.
The Huskies cashed in on a fumbled kickoff return in the opening seconds of the second half. It only took a few minutes for the Huskies to make the turnover into a touchdown to take a 14-13 lead over the Riverhawks.
It was Central who got on the scoreboard first, when Boston Brindley danced past the pylon with 9:38 on the clock in the first half. The point-after attempt failed gave the RiverHawks a 6-0 lead. Jack Kein evened things out for the Huskies a few minutes later on a quarterback keep with just three seconds left in the half.
The ensuing kickoff sent Central to its own 41-yard line. The Riverhawks pushed down to a first-and-goal when Jude Alvarado punched through the Husky defense to score as the final second drained off the clock for the half, this time Central's point after sailed through the uprights to lift them into a 13-6 lead.
James Jarzynski was the Husky player to carry the ball into the end zone after the fumble recovery in the second half.
Kein carried in the two-point conversion after Jarzynski's touchdown to make it 14-13 in Eau Claire's favor
Brindley caught the pass to give Central its final touchdown of the game, but once again the Riverhawks could not gain that extra point.
"The kids played really hard. Losing is always going to suck, but there's building blocks there," said North coach Matt McGinnis, who was in his first game in charge. "That was a heck of an effort for this program. Again, losing sucks but I'm thankful for a good start."
He also noted he was pleased with the physical play his team displayed on the field.
"I thought we really owned the line of scrimmage for the most part. We really just shot ourselves in the foot on too many drives," McGinnis said. "Just little things like getting behind the chains."
McGinnis noted the Big Rivers Conference is a "meat grinder" for football, indicating his awareness of the level of competition in the conference. He also explained that the team just needs to be finishing drives because Huskies had the ball in the red zone multiple times over the course of the evening, and as he said, "you can't get there and walk away."
McGinnis said he was very pleased with his team's effort on the field.
