Benny Westcott
Sweet Home football players had their work cut out for them at home last Friday, facing off against Marist Catholic, ranked No. 4 in the state in 4A.
The Spartans overran the Huskies, building a 50-0 lead by halftime and ultimately winning the game 56-6 to improve to 4-1. Sweet Home fell to 0-5.
In the first quarter, Marist scored on a five yard run by junior quarterback Nick Hudson, a 37 yard pass from Hudson to senior Brady Bidwell, a 37 yard pass from Hudson to senior Kaden Erlenbush, and a one yard pass from Hudson to junior Christian Guerrero.
In the second quarter, Marist scored on an eight yard run by senior Aiden Hazen, a four yard run by Hudson, and a five yard run by junior Logan Kast.
In the third quarter, the Marist defense got in on the scoring action when senior defensive back Dennis Jackson Jr. picked off Sweet Home sophomore quarterback Austin Welch and carried the ball into the end zone.
Sweet Home’s only points of the game came on a sweep play with less than a minute remaining, with senior Gabe Caldera scoring on a six yard run.
Marist outgained Sweet Home in total yards 335-111 and in passing yards 254-27. Sweet Home outrushed Marist 84-81. The Huskies turned the ball over twice on offense but did not force any turnovers on defense.
“Every week I’ve been really proud of our kids,” Sweet Home Head Coach Ryan Adams said. “I’ve got a really solid group of kids.”
He said that “We knew we were playing Marist, who I think is the best team in the state. We knew it was going to be tough to cover them, and so we tried to drop into a dime look and six defensive backs and stuff, but they were still able to do whatever they wanted. So hats off to them for being able to execute all night long.”
He said that “I was really proud of how our kids approached this game, with realistic goals. We were able to accomplish some of our goals tonight, and that will hopefully get us on track going forward.”
Junior running back Jacob Landtroop said “It’s a good team we played. We’re still making mistakes out there, and we can improve on that and get our offense going.”
Noting a positive, he said “We really picked it up this game in special teams. They didn’t score anything off our special teams. We did really well there.”
Senior defensive lineman and fullback Nathan Aker said “Marist is Marist, and we haven’t had the best season so far. We’re still figuring things out.”
Caldera said “We kind of expected this, just not as bad. But we executed as best we could, and we tried as hard as we could.”
This week Sweet Home has its homecoming game against Junction City (4-1) at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 6.