His Raiders had survived and that was enough for Bubba Smith.

Monday, November 01, 1999

His Raiders had survived and that was enough for Bubba Smith.

Following Saturday’s 23-0 win over Austin in the Section 1AAAA semifinal, Smith, the Northfield coach, sought out Austin coach Steve Knox.

Smith praised the Packers’ hard-hitting effort and insisted that Austin put a scare into top-seeded Northfield (8-1).

But it was Northfield’s game from the get-go.

The Raiders delivered as advertised and more. Not only did the Northfield defense stand tall as it has all season in allowing just 8 points a game, but the offense found wings, getting huge plays from a little-used passing game.

"Did the passing game surprise us?" Knox said. "Yes and no. I’m not surprised they started out with the pass. But I’m surprised with the number of completions and attempts."

After the Northfield defense three-and-outed Austin to start the game, QB Jordan Holm struck with the first of a handful of key completions.

On third-and-8 from midfield, Holm floated a screen to Tim Mullen, who swam through tacklers to the Austin 13. Two plays later, another Holm throw found Matt Olsen for the opening score and a 7-0 Northfield lead.

Late in the second quarter, Holm struck again on a third down. On third-and-7, Holm lofted a deep ball to Olsen, who ran unaccouted for through the Austin secondary. Olsen had to slow to make the catch, but still no Austin defenders arrived. Olsen used a burst of speed to finish the 63-yard TD play.

For Olsen, who finished with a third TD late in the fourth quarter on a 28-yard end around, the TD receptions were his first TD catches of the season.

Why was a run-oriented offense suddenly so pass happy? Knox said Northfield scouted the Packers using the tape of Austin’s 27-26 loss to John Marshall. In that game, JM had success passing against the Packers.

In the end, Holm completed less than 50 percent of his passes. But his completions were deadly.

If only for a couple of key plays, Northfield was able to mirror the passing success of JM.

And the Holm-led defense was able to keep Austin out of the endzone, despite some prime first-half opportunities for the Packers.

Down 7-0 in the first quarter, Austin got a blocked punt from Dan Smith. The Holm punt deflected off of Smith and rolled to the Northfield 14.

But Austin couldn’t capitalize.

In the four-play series, Holm, playing linebacker, blocked one pass and pressured Austin QB Tanner Schieck into an incompletion. On fourth down, Schieck was flagged for an illegal forward pass after he crossed the line of scrimmage and fired complete to Matt Smith. The play resulted in a loss of the down and a Northfield stop.

Later in the first half, Austin drove 49 yards in 14 plays to the Northfield 3.

There, three first-and-goal plays failed and the fourth down ended in disaster, when Grant Niebuhr picked off a pass in the end zone. Schieck’s throw went in-and-out of the hands of Matt Smith.

Northfield took over at the 20 and went on to score its second TD.

"Their defense was strong," Knox said. "We played them close, but didn’t take advantage of our opportunities."