Ken Roberts
For The New Era
With two minutes remaining Friday, Sweet Home looked like it was going to forge a halftime lead against Newport on the Cubs’ home turf.
Two minutes later, thanks to an official’s call, the momentum swung back in Newport’s favor to take the halftime lead away from the Huskies and pave the way to a 26-7 loss for Sweet Home in its league opener.
The first quarter started out as a defensive struggle until Kyle Pettit returned a punt for eight yards which was accompanied by a Newport 15-yard personal foul, giving the Huskies the ball at Newport’s 34. Sweet Home moved patiently toward the end zone, capitalizing on a fourth down pass interference penalty. Fullback Skyler Bascom finished off the drive with a 1-yard plunge and Ridge McKinney tacked on the extra point.
Newport took just three plays to respond with a Mitch McKuhn to Bruce Burbank 57 yard pass. Without a kicker, Newport failed on their run attempt for a two-point conversion.
Later in the second quarter, the Huskies went on an impressive drive, mostly on the ground, including an 18-yard run by Tyler Horner. On first and goal from the three-yard line, Bascom reached the one and tried to stretch out the ball to the end zone. The ball squirted loose as he hit the ground and Newport recovered what officials ruled to be a fumble in the end zone with two minutes left in the half.
McKuhn led the Cubs down the field, running twice for nine yards and then completing four passes for 54 yards, the final one an eight-yarder to Lorin Lynch for the go-ahead touchdown. A 15-yard pass interference play called against the Huskies gave Newport more help. It was one of six defensive penalties for the game, three of which were face mask infractions.
“The kids came out focused and executed well,” said coach Rob Younger, who relayed that impression to his team at halftime. “We just needed to continue doing the things we did.”
But that was not to be. In the second half, Newport was able to strike early, using a 25 yard punt return by Lynch to start a scoring drive at the Husky 27. Levi Bellanger capped off that series with an 11 yard run to push the score to 18-7.
Defensively, the Cubs had the answers every time Sweet Home had the ball, sacking Pettit five times in the second half as well as recovering a fumbled exchange and making an interception. The lost fumble occurred in Newport territory. Then, when the Huskies twice ventured inside the Cub 10-yard line, Newport employed a massive blitz package that sent Pettit reeling when he tried to pass for the touchdowns. The last sack, as the game wound down, shook up Pettit enough that Greg Sipe was sent in at quarterback.
Newport scored one more time in the fourth quarter on another long pass play, this time 48 yards to Lynch, and a two point pass conversion to Burbank. For the night, McKuhn was 7 of 10 for 156 yards, as the Husky secondary struggled in crucial situations to contain the speedy combination of Lynch and Burbank, who caught all seven passes.
Pettit had another accurate passing performance, completing 11 of 17 attempts, but for just 96 yards.
McKinney led Husky receivers with three catches for 34 yards, most of which came on the Huskies’ one long pass play, a 29-yarder. Though Newport held Sweet Home’s running game in check most of the night, Horner did break through enough to lead all rushers with 57 yards on 14 carries.
Younger believes the number one priority on offense is to improve the outside running game. That must include the tailbacks such as Horner, who has had to recover from a broken wrist, and Cody Sells – not just rely on Pettit, who has been the outside attack so far.
“I’ve pretty much had to start from ground zero,” said Horner, originally slated to be the number one tailback this year. “I had my cast modified, so it’s not so long, to make it easier to run.”
Sweet Home’s defensive squad did an equally good job against the Newport run game, holding the first unit to just 110 yards in 27 attempts.
The Huskies come home for three weeks in an effort to regroup. Younger has assured the players that they are not that far from becoming a solid football team.
“We were disappointed,” said Casey Topp, one of the stalwarts on both sides of the Husky line, “but Younger knows we can be great. From here on in, we will be a good football team.”
That starts with Taft on Thursday night. Taft, struggling with a 1-4 record, lost to Philomath last week, 32-14.
Horner believes the Huskies can build on the way they played Newport in the first half.
“Everybody needs to do their job on both sides of the ball for the whole game,” he said, “not just for a couple of plays.”
If that happens, the Huskies hope the big plays can go their way and not the way they have been going.
Game Statistics
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
SHHS 7 0 0 0 7
Newport 6 6 6 8 26
1st Quarter
SHHS—Bascom 1 yd. run (McKinney kick)
New—McKuhn to Burbank 57 yd. pass (run failed)
2nd Quarter
New—McKuhn to Lynch 8 yd. pass (run failed)
3rd Quarter
New—Bellanger 11 yd. run (pass failed)
4th Quarter
New—McKuhn to Lynch 48 yd. pass (McKuhn pass to Burbank)
Team Stats
Rushing: SHHS 35-143; Newport 32-179
Passing: SHHS 96; Newport 156
Sacks: SHHS 0; Newport 5-29
Total: SHHS 210, Newport 335
1st Downs: SHHS 16; Newport 11
Turnovers: SHHS 3; Newport 2
Penalties: SHHS 6-68; Newport 8-72.5
Individual Stats
Rushing: SHHS: Horner 14-57; Bascom 10-36; Pettit 6-35; Sells 3-12; Pitts 1-4; Pearson 1-(-1)
Newport: Jones 3-57; Katchka 9-38; Bellanger 9-36
Passing: SHHS: Pettit 11-17-1, 96; Sipe 0-1
Newport: McKuhn 7-10, 156
Receiving: SHHS: McKinney 3-34; Bascom 3—23; Riggs 2-22;
Hummer 2-13; Sells 1-4;
Newport: Burbank 4-103; Lynch 3-53
Punts: SHHS: Delong 3-109 (36.3, 23.3 net)
Newport: Burbank 4-134 (33.5, 28 net)
Punt Returns: SHHS: Pettit 2-22
Newport: 2-39
Kick Returns: SHHS: Pettit 3-36; Nunn 1-26; Pitts 1-14
Newport: 2-42
Interceptions: SHHS 0; Newport 1
Fumble Recoveries: SHHS 2 (Sells, McKinney); Newport 2
Tackles: SHHS—Davis 9; Bascom 8; Horner 7