Cascade came into its matchup with Sweet Home ranked eighth in the state and the Cougars demonstrated why, trouncing their visitors 57-13.
Ethan Coffey, a 200-pound running back, led the Cougars to a total of 367 rushing yards,
“Cascade’s a good football team,” Coach Dustin Nichol said. “They’re a physical football team and, across the board, once we got into the second level, we give up pounds. And they won the line-of-scrimmage battle.”
Sweet Home was missing four starters, including two linemen, going into the game, thanks to injuries and scholastic issues.
“That didn’t help matters,” Nichol acknowledged.
He said he told his fellow coaches Friday night, “We’re teaching character and how to deal with adversity.”
Sweet Home finished with 180 total yards, to 597 for Cascade.
Quarterback Aiden Tyler was 11 of 29 for 184 total passing yards, with one interception, but the Huskies’ total for the night was reduced by the fact they finished with minus four yards on the ground.
Cascade completed nine of 15 passing attempts for 230 yards and three touchdowns.
The Cougars took an 8-0 lead, but Sweet Home responded when Tyler scored from three yards out in the first quarter. Zach Luttmer’s kick made it 8-7, but Cascade responded with three straight touchdowns.
Trailing 29-7 in the second, the Huskies got another score when Tyler connected with Tye Moore on a 25-yard pass, but a two-point conversion failed, as the Cougars took a 29-13 lead into the locker room.
Though the final score was a blowout, the Huskies had their chances. Nichol said the muddy field was a factor and Sweet Home was in the red zone twice and came up short on broken plays.
He said Iakona Howerton and Jasper Korn played well, on both sides of the ball. and
“Zach Luttmer did pretty good on offense.”
Also, he said, the special teams performed well, particularly as Cascade used onside kicks almost exclusively in the game.
Next up for the Huskies (0-2, 1-4) is Philomath, which has the same record after a 47-26 loss to visiting Stayton Friday. It’s crunch time for Sweet Home.
Even with two demoralizing defeats, to Sisters and Cascade, the Huskies aren’t out of the running yet, Nichol said – depending on how they respond in the Homecoming game at 7 p.m. Thursday against the Warriors.
“Even with our record the way it is, Stayton is just ahead of us, but with our strength of schedule early on, it’s set us up where we could potentially host a play-in game if we win out.
“All things being equal it’s in our court and we’re going to be playing teams that, in my opinion, we should be able to beat or at least compete with. They’re not in the first- through sixth-ranked teams in the state.
“It’s going to be more equally matched, their will against ours, and whose will will win. We’ll see what happens.”
SH – 7 6 0 0 – 13
C – 16 13 21 7 – 57