Joseph Harper moves to running back and helps Northwood get revenge against Irvine

Northwood’s Joseph Harper (right) and Jack Brucker had big rushing games Friday night. (Photos: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).

Northwood High School senior Joseph Harper and his teammates got the revenge they were looking for Friday night.

Harper, making his debut as a running back and at times playing the wildcat position, led Northwood’s football team to a 20-8 season-opening non-league victory over Irvine in front of a big crowd that filled both sides of Portola’s stadium for a Timberwolves home game.

Harper had been a receiver and defensive end last year. This year, Coach JC Clarke decided to get him the ball more on offense and it paid immediate dividends.

Harper, who was upset about last year’s 42-13 loss to Irvine, rushed for 209 yards on 16 carries and a TD and also threw a 67-yard TD pass out of the wildcat formation to Eddie Petrushin in the second quarter that put Northwood ahead 20-8.

Joseph Harper’s final numbers were similar to those in a typical game for his brother, Adam, who was a record-setting running back for the Timberwolves and also threw a TD pass during his career.

Joseph Harper said he planned to call his brother, who is on a church mission in Australia, on Monday to talk about the game. In an interview last week, Harper said he planned to ‘leave everything on the field‘ in his senior year.

“I think we dominated the line of scrimmage, not only did I run for a couple hundred, but Jack Brucker, who has been working really, really hard in the off-season but hasn’t had his time to shine but when he did he made every amount of it,” a jubilant Harper said Friday night.

Brucker, the son of Woodbridge baseball coach Ryan Brucker, rushed for 151 yards on 11 carries and had a 72-yard run.

“He’s an absolute stud, we dominated the line of scrimmage, we came out firing, we got our revenge from last year,” Harper said. “It’s the best feeling in the world right now.”

The comparisons to his older brother may naturally continue for Joseph Harper.

“I’m playing running back like my brother,” he said. “People were saying that I looked a lot like Adam, and that’s like the best compliment because I put my brother up on a pedestal and looked up to him a lot so it’s real sweet to be compared to him.”

Harper also got plenty of action as a linebacker after playing defensive end last year.

“A player like that has to get the ball and get the ball more often,” said Northwood Coach JC Clarke. “He’s good, he’s strong, he’s a load coming out. He played well on defense like his brother did. He’s a really good all-around player. He has a strong arm, just like his brother.”

Irvine Coach Tom Ricci had a feeling that Northwood would use Harper as a back.

“If I was the coach, I would put Harper as the running back and that’s exactly what they did, he’s really difficult to bring down,” Ricci said.

The Northwood defense was also tough.

“JC has always been a great defensive coach and he had a great scheme for us this time around, he stopped most of the things we did, and Harper’s just the man, he runs hard and he’s difficult to bring down,” Ricci said. “I always say one kid doesn’t make a team but tonight he really kind of did a number on us.”

Northwood’s defense was tough all night, holding Irvine scoreless twice inside the 2-yard line.

“Things could have been different if we had scored on the 1 and down there on the two,” Ricci said. “We had a couple chances, but we blew it, we went up and lined up in correctly, the mistakes hurt us, we’re just going to go back to the drawing board on Monday and get back to work,” Ricci said.

Harper scored on a 28-yard TD in the first quarter to put Northwood ahead. Irvine took the lead in the second quarter when quarterback Khoa Bui connected with Deacon Moss on a 36-yard TD pass.Figueroa ran in for the two-point conversion.

Northwood regained the lead 13-8 on a 2-yard TD run by quarterback Gavin Lounsbury midway through the second quarter. The Timberwolves missed the extra point.

The Timberwolves added to their lead when Harper connected with Petrushin on the big play.

“We’ve been practicing that, we knew that if we ran successfully out of the wild cat they were not going to be ready for it,” Harper said. “We faked the run, I kind of acted like I was going to run, and we have a really fast skilled guy Eddie Petrushin who ran right over the top and I threw it right in the bread basket and he caught in and ran it the house.”

Irvine had a chance to get closer in the fourth quarter moving the ball deep into Northwood territory. But the Vaqueros came up two yards short of the end after a pass completion on fourth down.

Moss led Irvine offensively with six catches for 91 yards.

“He made some nice catches, he was injured all week and got hurt in the second play of the Laguna Hills scrimmage so he didn’t even practice all week. He just showed what a tough kid he is,” Ricci said.

Bui passed for 108 yards. Brandon Figueroa led Irvine rushing with 67 yards on 13 carries.

“We still have a great team so I’m not worried yet but we got a lot of fixing to do,” Ricci said.

For full view, click on the photo:

—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com