Sweet Home reasserted itself in its quest for its first playoff berth since #### on Friday, with a convincing 48-7 win over Cottage Grove.
On their Senior Night, Sweet Home’s football players made sure they got back on track after two disappointing, close losses in their previous two contests.
“It’s good to get that off our chest, get back to where we normally should be,” said senior Bode Nichols following the win.
“We were fired up,” said fellow senior Lynkin Royer. “We wanted to come into this game and win, especially with it being Senior Night, and we wanted to leave the reputation of going undefeated on our home field, which we haven’t done for a while.
“That’s really what we came in to do tonight.”
The Huskies got down to business right away, forcing the Lions to punt on their fourth play of the game and then, three plays later, quarterback Riley Vaughan, filling in for an injured Kyle Zajic, launching a 49-yard scoring bomb to Dillan Davis to give the Huskies an early lead.
Vaughan finished four for nine with one interception and 127 yards of total passing, including that touchdown.
After another three-and-out for Cottage Grove late in the first quarter, Vaughan drove the team nearly 50 yards to the 14, where Trenton Templin weaved his way to another score with 11:47 on the clock in the second period.
Two plays into the Lions’ next possession, Mason Tyler picked off quarterback Andrew Horner to set up an exchange of turnovers.
Sweet Home fumbled the handoff on the next play and the visitors recovered, but two plays later the Huskies got the ball back when the Lions fumbled their own exchange and Brayden McClure recovered the ball, running it to the 25 yard line.
With 10:00 remaining in the half, Sam Barringer added to the Huskies’ lead, running it in from the 12 to score on an acrobatic dive into the end zone. The kick failed, so Sweet Home had a 20-0 lead.
But they weren’t done.
Three and a half minutes later, Barringer scored again, this time bulling in from the 1-yard line to make it 27-0. That play came after Dillan Davis hit Bode Nichol 48-yard pass on a flea-flicker play that took the Huskies to the 2.
Then, with 2:23 on the clock, Davis swept around right end and left the opposition in the dust for a 70-yard touchdown run and a 34-0 lead.
Cottage Grove then delivered its only touchdown of the night, Horner hitting Cade May from their 48 yard line to make it 34-7.
Dillon Hartsook recovered the Lions’ onside kick, the first of two he snagged on the night.
Then, with three seconds left in the half, McClure picked off a Horner pass at the Lions’ 45 and ran it back for a touchdown and a 41-7 lead.
The Huskies scored again with their backup players and JV quarterback, sophomore Macen Rosa, directing the action, in the third quarter as Brenne Eldridge bulled his way in from the 2 for their final score to make it 48-7.
Late in the fourth quarter Bridger Royer recovered another Cottage Grove fumble, and the Huskies pushed to the visitors’ 5 yard line before letting the clock run out.
Sweet Home dominated on both sides of the ball, holding the Lions to 70 yards rushing on 27 attempts, and three-of-11 passing for 87 yards.
The Huskies gained 226 yards on 31 carries.
“Our kids took care of business,” Head Coach Ryan Adams said. “Our situation after the last two weeks allowed us to know exactly what we needed to do the last two weeks to allow our season to continue.
“The kids were focused on that and so they knew that this was Step 1, and they didn’t let last Friday night impact how they prepared and practiced.”
He credited Vaughan with ably handling the offense.
“Riley stepped up,” Adams said, noting that the two juniors have split reps in practice evenly all season. “We decided to go with Riley this week to allow Kyle to rest his shoulder as much as possible. We knew Riley could answer the call for us and he played great.”
He credited the entire team’s response to their situation.
Following a close 24-21 loss at Crescent Valley, after literally fumbling away a 24-7 loss at Junction City the week before, the win over Cottage Grove sets Sweet Home up for a showdown with Philomath for at least a tie for second place as Junction City and Marist will face off for the league title this Friday.
The Huskies are currently in a three-way tie at 2-2 in Special District 3 after Philomath lost 49-0 at Marist last week, and Crescent Valley, which lost 26-0 at Junction City.
“We’re both gonna be in the same situation,” Adams said of Philomath. “The winner continues and the loser goes home.
“They get it up at their place, grass field – all the excuses we can grab, but that’s what’s been awesome about this team: They don’t make excuses.
“We’ll practice hard, practice on grass all week, and then we’ll get after it next Friday.”
