After winning their first game of the season, senior quarterback Mikey Pauley said he was confident going into last night’s game. Pauley said this mindset was not the best to have.

“I had a pretty confident mindset just thinking we were going to beat these guys, and I don’t think that helped us out. I think we should have taken it a little more seriously,” Pauley said.

Head coach Clint Rider and senior Sebastian Meriano thought the team had strong points early in the game but became too relaxed later.

“I thought our guys did a good job offensively coming back out and taking care of the ball and getting some points on the board, but then again we kind of relaxed in the fourth quarter,” Rider said.

Throughout the game, Pauley was able to connect with many of his receivers. He said the Stag’s defense was packing in the box and was playing man-to-man defense.

In the first quarter, junior Grant Stubblefield and senior Steven Whitter scored touchdowns for the Huskies. Senior Gavin Biancalana made both of the extra points, making the final score of the first quarter, 14-0. 

With 11:13 remaining in the second quarter, Stubblefield ran the ball for a touchdown, putting the Huskies up, 21-0. 

Pauley threw an interception with 8:29 left in the first half. Soon after, the Stags scored their first touchdown of the night. Northwest responded quickly with Pauley throwing a touchdown pass to senior Nick Cusick with 6:30 remaining in the second quarter. 

Soon after, Pauley threw another interception. Then, with 1:23 left in the first half, Bishop Miege scored another touchdown. 

With 1:08 left in the first half, the Huskies fumbled the ball. The Stags used this to their advantage, scoring a field goal with 43 seconds left in the second quarter. At halftime, the Huskies led the Stags, 28-17.

During halftime, Rider said he told his team that they all needed to change their mindset.

“Everybody had to get away and get their minds right and let themselves, coaches included, get in the right mindset,” Rider said.

Senior Sebastian Meriano looked into his playing and his performance moving forward into the second half.  

“I stayed focused and I wanted to try as hard as I could on every single play,” Meriano said.

The Huskies came out strong after halftime. With 8:24 remaining in the third quarter, Pauley completed a pass to junior Chase Wernimont for a touchdown. With 3:13 remaining in the third quarter, Pauley ran in a touchdown, making the score 42-17.

Not long after, the Stags responded with touchdown of their own. By the end of the third quarter, the Huskies led the Stags 42-23. Rider said the team always needs to be playing hard, regardless of the opponent or score. 

“[We need to make] sure that we continue to play at a high level even when things are going good, and not letting teams come back,” Rider said.

With 9:28 remaining in the fourth quarter, Pauley threw a touchdown pass to senior Max Muehlberger. 

The Stags answered with two touchdowns, making the final score 49-36. Meriano said the team needs to come together more in the future. 

“Overall, we need to play together as one unit. We weren’t doing that tonight, and it showed, but we are going to come out next week and do it,” Meriano said.

Next week, Northwest will travel to St. Joseph, Mo. to take on St. Joe Central High School.