Ken Roberts
For The New Era
Wilsonville showed why they are rated number one in the state, using their superior depth and quickness to close out Sweet Home’s run through the state playoffs with a 35-14 victory last Saturday at Hillsboro Stadium.
For the second straight year, the Huskies had to face the top-ranked team in the semifinals. At the beginning of the year after being shut out in their first two games by both the Wildcats and Sherwood, the two teams playing for the championship, no one expected that this team of determined, hard-working athletes could make such a huge turnaround.
On Saturday, they had a chance to see just how much they had improved. While the improvement was noticeable, the Huskies could not contain the powerful running game of Wilsonville.
“They are the fastest team with depth,” said head coach Rob Younger about the great group of Wildcat running backs and athletic linemen as well. “They just keep bringing people at you. No team will beat them; they could beat themselves with turnovers and mistakes. But they are the class of 3A football this year.”
Wilsonville would make no costly mistakes in this game, and they took charge early in the game. Heath Belknap’s opening kickoff was returned by Cameron Smith to their own 45 yard line. From there, the Wildcats, who were only tackled once for a loss, chipped away a few yards at a time until sophomore running back Daniel Sikstrom broke to the outside for a 29 yard touchdown, finishing a drive that took just three minutes.
The Huskies also started quick, showing a new offensive wrinkle that had quarterback Kyle Pettit sprinting to the outside edge to give Travis Smith a straight hand-off. That first Husky play went for 19 yards, but then Wilsonville closed off the inside and defended successfully against the pass, taking over on downs at their 33.
The Wildcats began to bite off big chunks of yardage until a botched lateral pass put them in a hole and Sweet Home once again had the ball. But the Wildcats thwarted the Huskies on a run for no gain, a sack, and then an interception, one of three they would pick off during the game.
From the Sweet Home 44, Wilsonville went to work again. Still in the first quarter, the Cats used six different running backs, all who were able to run for large gains, especially to the outside. It took the Wildcats just five plays to score their second touchdown, a 13 yard run by Chris Aylward. Justen Patey’s kick glanced off the goal post, so the Huskies were staring at a 13-0 deficit.
Offensively, Sweet Home’s interior line had a tough time dealing with the quickness and stunting shown by Wilsonville. On the defensive side, the speed had another effect
“We are a gang-tackling team,” explained lineman Jesse Aitken. “With their speed, we didn’t get as many people to the ball as we usually do.”
With their initial line surge, Wilsonville was able to get into the secondary and establish a forward momentum before middle linebackers Brandon Martin and Ryan Elliott, the leading Husky tacklers with 10 each, were able to stop their progress. On the outside, the Wildcats sealed off the edges, forcing the defensive backs to make more tackles than usual as Smith and Cody Shipp each had nine for the game.
But the Huskies found a way to get back into the game, using Smith, their own speed merchant. On the very first play, the Huskies used a trap play, catching middle linebacker Nick Grassi leaning the wrong way. That was all that Smith needed to break free for a 72 yard touchdown, giving new life to the Husky team.
Wilsonville, always maintaining their poise, responded immediately, unleashing five running backs and mixing in a couple of passes on their next possession. Of the seven plays in this drive, six of them were for twelve yards or more. Spencer Crace found Sikstrom at the goal line for an 18 yard pass and then Crace tossed another pass to Steven Ohl for the two point conversion, stretching the lead once again to two touchdowns.
The Huskies could have folded after Smith misplayed a kickoff by stepping out of bounds on the nine yard line. However, Sweet Home, showing the heart to come back, launched its longest drive of the season to nearly close out the half. The Huskies pounded away at the Wilsonville defense and Pettit completed six of his seven passes as Sweet Home used seventeen plays to go 91 yards in 7 minutes. Pettit threaded a pass between two defenders, which Tim Faulconer hauled in from 20 yards out. With Belknap’s second extra point, the Huskies trailed only 21-14.
Just before the end of the half, the Huskies forced Wilsonville to punt. A bad center snap sailed over Crace’s head, momentarily giving the Sweet Home crowd even more hope. But Crace was able to pick it up and still kick the ball 47 yards with no return. Nonetheless, Younger was satisfied with the way the Huskies hung in there.
“I told the kids at halftime that we hadn’t played real well, but they had kept their composure and we were within striking distance,” said Younger. “Like a good team though, Wilsonville came out and dominated the first six minutes, which was the key to their win.”
Usually the third quarter has been a Sweet Home quarter, but Wilsonville established itself both defensively and offensively early. Ohl intercepted for the Wildcats in the Huskies’ opening possession, giving Wilsonville the ball deep in Sweet Home territory. They kept the ball on the ground the whole time with Nick Grassi plunging in from the 1 yard line.
After forcing Sweet Home to punt, Wilsonville struck quickly again, with a couple of big 30 yard runs, the final one a 33 yarder by Sikstrom, scoring his third touchdown of the game. By then, it was a matter of pride to keep the score from getting totally out of hand. The Husky defense stopped a couple of Wilsonville drives deep in Sweet Home territory, one on a Cody Shipp interception.
However, the Wildcat defense was just as stingy. Not until their last possession did Sweet Home threaten again. After a 5 yard sack, the Wildcats’ fourth of the game, Wilsonville had the Huskies back on their own three yard line. Younger pulled out one more trick from the playbook, a Pettit to Lance Carter to Smith hook and ladder, one they had used earlier in the season to score a touchdown. For the first time all year, Smith was caught from behind at Wilsonville’s four yard line. But Wilsonville dug in and prevented the Huskies from scoring.
A total of nine different running backs amassed 418 yards on the ground for the Wildcats, with 128 by Sikstrom and 110 from Cameron Smith. The Huskies had 291 yards of their own, mostly on the two huge runs by Travis Smith, who carried the ball 15 times for 219 yards to become second on the all time single season Husky rushing list with 1785 yards for the year.
Though the year was a remarkable run, the tears flowed after the game, unconsoled by the many hugs of brothers that had become such a tight unit.
“Once we started playing good football, it was hard for the season to come to an end,” said Martin, a senior wrapping up his stellar career. “But even if we would have won the state championship, it would have been difficult.”
Even though the victory wasn’t meant to be, Younger said he would have rather lost with this team rather than win with a different team because of the quality of the kids.
“I thought we got beat by a better football team,” stated Younger. “But our football team can sleep well because we gave great effort and did everything possible. There were no losers in this situation. What these kids have accomplished over the year should prove to themselves and to this community what a group of winners they really are.”
There was something more important at stake for Smith, also a senior playing his last game in the green and gold.
“We worked hard in practice all year,” stated Smith. “Even though we lost, the relationships and memories will always be there when we think back about this season.”
Younger had one other reminder to his players in the locker room after the game, a choral response they knew well. Once a Husky, always a Husky. And the tears confirmed the statement.
HUSKY SCOREBOARD
Varsity Football
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
SHHS 7 7 0 0 14
Wilsonville 13 8 14 0 35
1st Quarter
Wil–Sikstrom 29 yd. run (Patey kick)
Wil–Aylward 13 yd. run (kick failed)
SH—Smith 72 yd. run (Belknap kick)
2nd Quarter
Wil–Sikstrom 18 yd. pass from Crace (Ohl pass from Crace)
SH—Faulconer 20 yd. pass from Pettit (Belknap kick)
3rd Quarter
Wil–Grassi 1 yd. run (Patey kick)
Wil–Sikstrom 33 yd. run (Patey kick)
Team Stats
Rushing: SHHS 29-291; Wilsonville 45-418
Passing: SHHS 59; Wilsonville 76
Sacks: SHHS 1-5 (Aitken); Wilsonville 4-22
Total: SHHS 328; Wilsonville 489
1st Downs: SHHS 9; Wilsonville 18
Turnovers: SHHS 3; Wilsonville 1
Penalties: SHHS 3-20; Wilsonville 10-82
Individual Stats
Rushing: SHHS: T.Smith 15-219; Pettit 9-33; Martin 3-20; Elliott 1-15; Tagle 1-4
Wilsonville: Sikstrom 9-128; C.Smith 10-110; Aylward 9-62; S.Smith 6-49; Chay 3-34
Passing: SHHS: Pettit 7-15-3, 59; Smith 0-1
Wilsonville: Crace 6-13-1, 76
Receiving: SHHS: Smith 3-19; Carter 2-15;
Faulconer 1-20; Morneault 1-5. Wilsonville: Sikstrom 2-31; Ohl 2-30
McLeod 1-12; S.Smith 1-3
Punts: SHHS: Belknap 2-92 (46, 46 net)
Wilsonville: Crace 1-47 (47, 47 net)
Punt Ret: None
Kickoffs: SHHS: Belknap 3-154 (51.3, 35 net)
Wilsonville: Patey 6-243 (40.5, 32.3 net)
Kick Ret: SHHS: Smith 4-44; Eli 1-5
Wilsonville: C.Smith 1-42; Sikstrom 1-7
Interceptions: SHHS 1 (Shipp); Wilsonville 3
Fumble Rec: None
Tackles: SHHS: Martin and Elliott 10, Smith and Shipp 9