Highly-ranked Hough High lost its season-opening game. Why the Huskies shouldn’t worry

Don’t jump ship, Hough football fans.

Your coach says thinks will get better, and there was plenty of evidence to support that belief in the Huskies’ season-opening 24-9 loss Saturday night to Greenville-Spartanburg area power Byrnes.

“We’ll fix what went wrong tonight,” said Shawn Baker, following his first game as head coach of the Huskies.

Hough entered the game ranked No. 4 in the Carolinas Top 25 and No. 2 in the Observer’s Sweet 16 preseason polls. The Huskies have gone 63-17 over the last seven seasons.

That they fell short Saturday against a team with legitimate designs on the South Carolina 5A state title can be explained in a number of ways:

▪ A new quarterback.

▪ A couple mistakes that led to big plays for Byrnes.

▪ Plain ol’ bad luck.

Let’s examine those three things.

The new quarterback

Tad Hudson, who quarterbacked Hough the past three seasons, is on the North Carolina Tar Heel roster now. In his place is junior Trey Blakeney.

There are some new faces on the Huskies’ offensive line, and Blakeney was running for his life at times Saturday. He was sacked six times and had to scramble several other times.

But he showed flash at times, connecting with Syir Fraser-Sutton on a 35-yard pass in the second half. Huskies receivers also dropped at least two passes.

“I saw some things that we’ll have to work on,” said Baker, who was named head coach in January. “But these are things we can correct.

Those mistakes

Four errors stand out.

Two were bad snaps on punts, and that led Hough’s Nolan Houser, one of the state’s best kickers, to shank the ball for short yardage.

The first of those plays happened in the game’s opening minutes, and it gave Byrnes the ball at the Hough 21. Byrnes scored three players later. The second short punt didn’t result in Byrnes points.

The third error also came on a punt play. On the first snap of the second quarter, with Houser in punt position, he rolled to his right and completed a first-day fake-punt pass to Karmel Quick, inside the Byrnes 30. But the Huskies were whistled for an ineligible receiver downfield, and they had to kick.

The fourth mistake sealed the game’s outcome. Leading 17-9 with about five minutes remaining, Byrnes completed a 62-yard touchdown pass, on a play when Hough defenders apparently had a miscommunication.

Baker blamed himself afterwards.

“This is on me,” he said. “We’ll get those problems corrected.”

Bad luck

Midway in the third quarter, with Byrnes leading 10-2, Hough drove into Byrnes territory.

Blakeney threw a pass over the middle that was bobbled by a Hough receiver, then by a Byrnes defender, and finally grabbed out of the air by a Byrnes player, who dashed 72 yards for a touchdown.

“How many times did that ball bounce in the air?” Baker said afterward, shaking his head. “And it lands in the hands of one of their players? Wow!”

There was plenty of good for Hough, especially on defense.

Take away the 62-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter, and the Huskies held Byrnes to 41 yards’ total offense in the second half and 167 for the game.

“Our defense really played well,” Baker said. “They played well enough for us to win.”

“We’re going to be a good team,” he added. “I could see that tonight. It hurts to lose a game like this, but we’ll make some corrections. And with the talent we have, I know we’ll be good.”