The Sweet Home Junior High eighth-grade football team finished a perfect season this month.
The team won six games, finishing on Nov. 1 12-6 at North Marion.
“It’s maybe – I hate to say this for sure – It may be the best team I’ve ever coached in eighth-grade football,” Coach Dick Reynolds said. The team is incredibly skilled, especially on offense.
“They’re that good,” he said. The team pulled off a “hook and ladder,” a difficult play for even a high school team; “and we pulled it off in the eighth grade.”
Quarterback Keenon Martin threw 10 touchdown passes over the six games, Reynolds said. “I had one boy Timmy McDowell that ran two kickoffs back for a touchdown.”
The wide receiver scored eight touchdowns three different ways, Reynolds said, including reverses, passes and the kickoffs.
“It’s just a great group of kids,” Reynolds said.
The team started with 32 players and finished with 38. The team defeated Talmadge 14-8; Philomath, 36-19; Valor, 29-0; Cascade, 39-19; Mark Twain, 32-7; and North Marion, 12-6.