Defense special teams shine in win over Molalla

Ken Roberts

For The New Era

If it wasn’t Sweet Home’s special teams keeping Molalla’s back to the wall, then it was their defense putting up a stone wall as the Huskies climbed into first place with a 33-12 walloping of the Indians on the muddy Indian field.

The defensive tackles, starting with Chad Smith and Kyle Jensen and supported by Tom Lewison and Chris Kelley, held the normally productive Indian fullback Nick Chance to just 24 yards on 10 carries. That allowed the linebackers to run free and forced Molalla’s running game headed up by Steven Dailey to the outside.

“Every time they ran up the middle, we shut them down,” emphasized coach Rob Younger. “That’s why our linebackers are playing so well because our defensive tackles are playing so well.”

Both Smith and Jensen, seniors who weigh over 300 pounds, stuffed the gaps all night.

“They tried to come right at us, but we just stood our ground,” said Smith, who suggests that lower pad level and quickness off the snap have improved a great deal. “They have to double team us, which frees up the linebackers to make tackles.”

Indeed the middle linebackers, Brandon Martin and Ryan Elliott, produced 15 and 10 tackles respectively and each had a fumble recovery. And safety Travis Smith, just like he predicted he would have to, helped on the outside pursuit with 8 tackles of his own. Although Dailey ran for 151 yards (79 of them on a broken field touchdown run where it appeared he ran out of bounds after about a ten yard gain), the Huskies combined to drop Dailey and his counterpart Dylan Webb 10 times for losses to keep them reeling and cut off drives.

Special teams, starting with Heath Belknap’s kickoffs, played a critical role in keeping Molalla backed up in their own territory. Of their 13 possessions, Molalla never started a drive outside their own 31 yard line. On the other hand, Sweet Home never started a drive inside their own 30. In fact, they started in Indian territory seven of twelve times.

“We’re going to score on a short field,” stated Younger. “We probably work as hard any team in the state on special teams because we really believe in it.”

Both teams had three turnovers, but the situations were much different. Molalla turned the ball over in their own territory. The Huskies’ turnovers once again came in the red zone as they were about to score.

Offensively Sweet Home’s tandem of Smith and Martin provided the fire power for the offense. Smith started the scoring with a 20 yard run in the first quarter. On the very next possession following an Indian fumble caused by Matt Morneault, Kyle Pettit dropped a screen pass off to Smith, who used a crushing block by guard Jesse Aitken and cruised 54 yards for his second touchdown.

On that play, Aitken and tackle Phil DeLong were supposed to release to block for Smith, but DeLong was unable to disentangle from his opponent.

“I didn’t see anyone coming from where I was supposed to block,” said Aitken, “so I went and blocked his guy instead.”

After punting three times in the first quarter, Molalla mounted its only extended drive of the night in the second quarter. Justin Dixon found Luther Kraxberger in the end zone for a 6 yard pass to make the score 14-6 at halftime.

This year Sweet Home has made the third quarter their quarter. They scored on an eight play drive to open the quarter with Smith running it in from 16 yards out. Then, after Aitken blocked a Molalla punt which the Huskies recovered on the Indian nine, Pettit ran 4 yards on an option play for another score.

Besides the blocked punt, the Huskies defense also provided an interception by Lance Carter and dropped the Indian runners for three straight losses on their next opportunity.

Dailey scored on his disputed run early in the 4th quarter, but the Huskies responded later in the quarter when Martin rumbled in from 8 yards out following Elliott’s fumble recovery.

Sweet Home combined for 354 yards of total offense, 276 of that on the ground. Smith had another great night with 139 yards on 23 carries while Martin ran for 62 yards on 12 carries.

Molalla’s 242 yards came mostly in their running game as the Husky defensive backs shut down Dixon, who was 1 for 8 with 1 interception and was sacked twice.

The Husky secondary has matured as a unit in their zone coverage, starting with the Central game according to Carter.

“We have to know where each person is at each time,” stated Carter. “It’s just all about trust out there.”

Next week for Homecoming, it will be a case of the haves versus the have nots as the Huskies host a troubled Cascade team who lost to North Marion last week 43-6 and remain winless in the conference.

“We’re playing ourselves each week,” said Younger, commenting on the Husky philosophy. “We want to continue to improve and become more consistent so that down the road we have a better chance for success.”

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