Huntington North High School junior runing back Kendall Whitman wards off Carmel's Jack Buskirk durng Friday night, Aug. 27, action at Kriegbaum Field. Carmel beat the Vikings 41-3. Photo by Matt Murphy.

The Huntington North High School varsity football team put up a solid fight but in the end was defeated 41-3 by state-ranked Carmel on Friday, Aug. 27.

Sophomore Andrew Coe prevented a Carmel shutout with his 28-yard field goal in the second quarter.

Despite the 38-point schism between the teams, the Vikings still fought throughout the game, even after going into the locker room at halftime with a 21-3 deficit against last year's state runner-up in Class 4A.

Carmel struck first in the opening quarter with a three-yard touchdown by Jesse Hollander. Sandwiching the Vikes' field goal in the second quarter were two more Greyhound TDs - a 16-yard interception return by Carmel's defense and a two-yard run by Hollander.

The second half mirrored the first on the scoreboard, with Hollander taking the ball one yard in the third for his third touchdown, and then Brandon Denning scored two more in the fourth.

Huntington quarterback Kevin Fisher threw for 110 yards, on 13 of 21 attempts, trumping both Carmel quarterbacks combined - the Greyhounds completed 89 yards in five of seven attempts. North's Austin Shoemaker rushed for 69 yards and caught four passes totaling 40 yards.

But Carmel was the master of the rushing offense Friday night. The Greyhounds recorded 54 carries totaling 280 yards, dwarfing Huntington's 64 yards on 30 carries.