Grant Hedrick could have been arrested for traffic violations last Friday when Central defeated Sweet Home for the Valco League district championship, 58-13 on the Corvallis High School field.
Hedrick ran or passed through every stop sign the Huskies tried to put up. As long as the Panthers quarterback was on the field, Central scored on every possession except one just before half time when the Panthers missed a field goal as time was running out.
Otherwise, Central scored at will, starting in the first quarter with 34 points. By the time Hedrick left the game after the first possession of the third quarter, the senior quarterback currently being recruited by major universities, completed 16 of 21 passes, including four for touchdowns, and ran for 143 more yards and a 56-yard touchdown. He found the open receivers and with his shiftiness eluded any Husky attempt to contain him in the pocket.
“Sometime things can go well for you and sometimes they don’t,” stated coach Rob Younger. “You can’t make many mistakes because a good athlete like Hedrick will take advantage of that.”
The most impressive pass occurred on the very first play of the game when Hedrick hooked up with Ty Phillips for a 70-yard strike. Phillips caught six passes for 159 yards.
Sweet Home stuck with Central in the first quarter. The Huskies responded with an eight-play, 68- yard drive to make the score 7-6. Brock Cota popped a 38-yard run and Tyler Holly completed two passes before Brent Moyer plowed into the end zone for a one-yard touchdown.
Hedrick was nearly responsible for all of the yardage on Central’s next score, completing a 12-yard pass to Jesse Pratt. Following a fumble recovery, the Panthers used their ground game and a questionable pass interference call to march into the end zone again, this time on Aiden Braa-Stanley’s four-yard run. Central would take advantage of three of the four Husky turnovers and turn them into touchdowns.
Sweet Home’s offense put together one more surge, including a 28-yard sweep by Tim McDowell, who used that play to accumulate 78 yards on six carries. Holly found Sean Potter all alone in the back of the end zone for a 24-yard touchdown.
From that point, it was all Panthers. Twice in the half, Central intercepted passes and returned them for touchdowns, first by 6-foot, 4-inch defensive tackle Jesse Peters, who blocked the pass and then caught it before rumbling for 27 yards for the score. Later in the second quarter, Michael Frerichs took the more traditional route off his interception and raced for 45 yards.
“We knew that Central was going to be a tough team to beat,” said Younger. “We accelerated that by making mistakes.”
Following Peters’ interception in the first quarter and up 34-13, the Panthers used great field position after a dead ball personal foul against the Huskies to attempt an onside kick, which they recovered. That led to Roman Daberkowski’s 34-yard field goal.
Hedrick led Central to one more score in the third quarter before turning over the reins to the Panthers’ second unit.
For the night, Central totaled 470 yards of offense compared to the Huskies’ 245. The Panthers applied a lot of pressure on the quarterback, leading to two sacks as well as the interceptions and just 88 yards of passing.
“The thing I’m most proud of is the effort and composure of this team,” Younger explained. “A lot of teams would have made excuses or given up. This team doesn’t quit.”
Cota ran for 62 yards on nine carries, though the most effective offensive play was the sweep, split up effectively between McDowell, Taylor Tagle, and Alex Coakley. Inside linebacker Levi Marchbanks led the Huskies with 13 tackles while McDowell chipped in 11 from his safety position and Cota contributed nine as an outside linebacker.
Sweet Home finishes up its regular schedule with a non-league game at Junction City before hosting LaGrande in the opening round of the state playoffs.
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
SH 13 0 0 0 13
Central 34 17 7 0 58
1st Quarter
Cent: Ty Phillips 70 yd. pass from Grant Hedrick (Roman Daberkow kick)
SH: Brent Moyer 1 yd. run (kick failed)
Cemt: Jesse Pratt 12 yd. pass from Hedrick (Daberkow kick)
Cent: Aiden Braa-Stanley 4 yd. run (kick failed)
SH: Sean Potter 24 yd. pass from Tyler Holly (Alex Coakley kick)
Cent: Hedrick 56 yd. run (Daberkow kick)
Cent: Jesse Peters 26 yd. pass interception return (Daberkow kick)
2nd Quarter
Cent: Daberkow 34 yd. field goal
Cent: David Olson 3 yd. pass from Hedrick (Daberkow kick)
Cent: Michael Frerichs 45 yd. pass interception return (Daberkow kick)
3rd Quarter
Cent: Erik Omlid 10 yd. pass from Hedrick (Daberkow kick)
Team Stats
Rushing: Sweet Home 26-166; Cent 5-205
Passing: Sweet Home 9-25-2, 88; Cent 17-22, 265
Sacked: SH 2-9; Cent: None
Total Offense: Sweet Home 245; Cent 470
First Downs: Sweet Home 12; Cent 13
Tackles for Losses: Sweet Home 2; Cent 7
3rd/4th Down Conversions: Sweet Home 5-12; Cent 3-9
Penalties: SH 5-60; Cent 7-72
Turnovers: SH 4; Cent 0
Individual Stats
Rushing: SH: McDowell 6-78; Cota 9-62; Tagle 1-9; C.Holly 1-9; Coakley 4-6; Moyer 3-5; T. Holly 2-(-3)
Cent: Hedrick 9-143; Braa-Stanley 7-43
Passing: SH: T.Holly 9-23-2, 88; C.Holly 0-2
Cent: Hedrick 16-21, 260
Receiving: SH: Potter 5-56; Tagle 1-17; Moyer 1-11; Cota 1-5; Bidwell 1-(-1)
Cent: Phillips 6-159; Omlid 5-41; Pratt 3-44
Kickoffs: SH: Coakley 3-139, 37.3 net; Avg start line: 22.7
Cent: Daberkow 10-453; 33.8 net; Avg start line: 23.7
Kick Returns: SH: Cota 5-99 (19.8); McDowell 3-31 (10.3)
Cent 3-27 (9.0)
Punts: SH: Coakley 2-60 net 30; Cent: None
Punt Returns: SH: None; Cent: None
Interceptions: SH: None; Cent 2
Fumble Recoveries: SH None; Cent 2
Sacks: SH None; Cent 2-9
SH Tackles: Marchbanks 13, McDowell 11, Cota 9
* * * * *
The frosh/soph football team lost 28-0 in a mistake-filled performance Thursday at Husky Field.
“Our offense just didn’t show up for that game,” Coach Dustin Nichol said. “All we could do was run the ball. We only completed a few passes.”
Three turnovers didnt’ help either, he said.
The Husky defense got the Huskies out of some holes during the game but Nichol said the offense just couldn’t take advantage.