Sweet Home got a slow start – too slow, as it turned out, Friday, Sept. 13, on the road at Banks, ranked among the state’s best 4A football teams.
The Braves defeated the Huskies 35-20 as Banks quarterback Tanner Shook scored touchdowns passing, rushing and receiving.
Banks did most of its damage in the first quarter, rolling to a 28-0 lead as Shook, a senior, scored three ways – throwing for a touchdown, running for one and catching a scoring pass from Jacob Slifka.
Banks had the ball for 75 plays, to 51 for Sweet Home, and posted 23 first downs, to 13 for the Huskies. Sweet Home finished with 206 total yards, 61 on the ground, as the Huskies’ running game continued to sputter. Banks finished with 484 yards, as Shook completed 18 of 29 passes for 235 yards.
For the Huskies, junior quarterback Aiden Tyler was 11 for 25, connecting for 145 yards and two touchdowns to senior Zac Luttmer, a 14-yarder in the third quarter and a 31-yarder as the game wound down in the fourth.
Defensively, the Huskies were on target for most of the game, Coach Dustin Nichol said.
“The kids showed up. The defense is what kept us in that game. They did a really good job.”
He said the offense sputtered significantly in the first half, which kept the defense on the field.
He attributed the offensive struggles to the fact that the field had a 2-foot crown, which Tyler wasn’t used to and took a while to adjust to after playing on the flat artificial turf at Husky Field. Also, Nichol said, the Sweet Home receivers and quarterbakc were lacking in “communication and continuity.”
“Our timing was off. Verbal and nonverbal communication is necessary in this offense.”
Nichol said he and other coaches spent the first half on the sidelines coaching the offensive players when they were off the field, and in the second half, Sweet Home started to click.
Nichol said Tyler broke away on some runs in the second half, which opened up both the running game for oterh ballcarriers and the passing game for himself.
Tyler and Gavin Nichols both finished with 32 yards, Nichols breaking away for a 28-yard romp for the Huskies’ longest run of the night.
Tyler scored the Huskies’ lone rushing touchdown, taking the ball in on a read option from the 1-yard line in the third quarter, to narrow the gap to 28-14. However, The Braves took a 35-14 lead on the next play, when Jamar Flippen returned the kickoff 80 yards for a score.
Both teams had four turnovers – two fumbles and two interceptions each.
Luttmer finished as Sweet Home’s leading receiver, with five catches for 58 yards.
The biggest play of the night for Sweet home, yardage-wise, was a 32-yard punt return by Tye Moore. Both Moore and Kyle Marler snagged an interception apiece from Shook.
Nichol said Gavin Nichols did a good job at running back, carrying four times for 32 yards.
Jackson Royer was Sweet Home’s leading tackler with six, including two for loss and one sack.
“Jackson had a good night, defensively,” Nichol said, also complimenting defensive linemen Kai Bryson, Carson Smith and Taylor Moore, whose play helped shut Banks down in the second half.
“We pretty much blanked them for three quarters,” Nichol said. “Our defense kept going. They did a good job.”
Banks is good, he said, “but they’re not the Banks from last year. They’re running off tradition. They have a good program.”
He said that his players need to pick up where they left off at the end of that game and bring it on the first play of each upcoming game.
“We need consistency, starting out the way we finished, not taking a half to get going.”
Next, the Huskies host Phoenix at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 20. The Pirates, 1-1, lost 52-13 to Cascade Christian, a perennial powerhouse in the 3A, and then beat Newport 27-0 at home last Friday.
“They’ve got good size, but I think we have opportunity to get a W on Husky Field,” Nichol said.