Jason Casey
For The New Era
Cottage Grove, led by Jacob Woods, was a terror against visiting Sweet Home Friday night, Sept. 29, as the Lions rolled to a 53-12 win.
Woods returned an interception 60 yards for a touchdown, caught and ran one in from 12 yards out. He also had two punt returns that set his offense up inside the 30-yard line and broke up a pass play on fourth down.
Sweet Home got a good look at what playoff competition will look like down the road.
“I’m pretty sure (Woods) was an all-state guy last year,” said senior receiver Keegan Holly, who was correct in that assessment.
“I would beat him on the line of scrimmage, and then he would be right on my hip right away. He is a heck of an athlete, a heck of a player. I know watching film I’ll be able to see what I can do better matched up with someone like that on me.”
Woods was 4A All-State second team last year as a junior, but he wasn’t the only skilled player for Cottage Grove.
“That whole team is fast,” said Head Coach Dustin Nichol. “The team speed, the game speed you can’t simulate in practice the game speed that these guys have. Not just at running back or receiver. They’ve got a lot of talent there.”
Sweet Home looked good out of the gate. It only took four plays for the Huskies to find the end zone on the first drive of the game. Colton Smith hit Nathan Virtue on a slant from 62 yards out.
“The guy was doing press coverage on me, and Colton saw an opening on a slant up the middle, and we just hit it,” said Virtue.
But that was as good as it got for the Huskies, as Smith finished the game 5 for 16 with 165 yards passing two touchdowns and an interception.
Erik Giffen took the ensuing kickoff back 80 yards for Cottage Grove, (now 5-0, 2-0) to take a 7-6 lead. After a Husky punt, Dylan Graves connected with Giffen on a 17-yard touchdown that extended the Lion’s lead 14-6.
Woods’ interception return with 1:54 on the next Sweet Home drive put Cottage Grove up 20-6, and the Huskies didn’t know what hit them. Giffen finished the game with 42 yards receiving two touchdowns and a field goal.
Even though they were down 27-6, Sweet Home still had life going into the second quarter, but a promising drive was snuffed out when Woods broke up a fourth-down pass from Smith.
One highlight for Sweet Home was a catch by Casey Tow, who pulled in a pass from Smith and carried a Lion defender nearly 20 yards on his back. His 60-yard catch set up Smith and the offense in scoring position, but Cottage Grove sacked Smith on fourth-and-4, from there the game was over for all intents and purposes.
“What I told the kids going forward this week is that all of the pressure was on Cottage Grove to show up tonight,” Nichol said. “Really, we didn’t have any pressure on us; we are expected to lose.
“I told them one of two things is going to happen this week: Either we are going to pull one off and shock people and be giant slayers, or we are going to get educated where our holes are at offensively and defensively.
“I think that I have a good football team and I think Gary has got a great football team.”
Jake Swanson scored a touchdown, for the second week in a row, in the fourth quarter, and Austin James led the Huskies in rushing with 97 yards on 24 carries.
Sweet Home plays Junction City (2-3, 2-0) at home next week, the Huskies’ last home game before the playoffs. The Tigers are 2-0 in league after beating Elmira last week.
“(Junction City) is more of a power team,” Holly said. “They won’t spread us out like this. You can expect us to come with some fire behind us and put up some points.”
Scoring Summary
1 2 3 4
SH 6 0 0 6 – 12
CG 27 7 12 7 – 53
1st quarter
SH – 10:38 Daniel Virtue 62-yard pass from Colton Smith (2-pt conversion failed).
CG – 10:24 Erik Giffen 80-yard kick return (Giffen PAT).
CG – 5:40 Hayden Glenn 17-yard pass from Dylan Graves (Giffen PAT).
CG – 3:08 Jacob Woods 60-yard interception return (PAT no good).
CG – 1:54 Juice Claflin 1-yard run (Giffen PAT).
2nd quarter
CG – :51 Giffen 19-yard pass from Graves (Giffen PAT).
3rd quarter
CG – 8:30 Team Safety.
CG – 6:23 Giffen 29-yard field goal.
CG – 3:29 Woods 38-yard pass from Graves.
4th quarter
CG – 10:32 Woods 12-yard run (Giffen PAT).
SH – 7:12 Jake Swanson 14-yard pass from Smith (2-pt conversion failed).
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Sweet Home – Austin James 24-97; Colton Smith 2- (-)3; Hayden McDonald 9-29 Cottage Grove – Chad Bottorff 8-52; Dylan Graves 7-36; Jacob Woods 1-12-1; Juice Claflin 10-47; Erick Giffen 1-10; Hayden Glenn 1-5; David Cox 4-43.
Passing: Sweet Home – Colton Smith 5-16-168-2-1. Cottage Grove – Dylan Graves 12-15-180-3-1.
Receiving: Sweet Home – Jake Swanson 2-22-1; Casey Tow 1-60; Nathan Virtue 2-83-1 Cottage Grove – Chad Bottorff 1-3; Jacob Woods 5-86; Erik Giffen 3-42; Hayden Glenn 3-49.