Jason Casey
For The New Era
The arrival of heavy fall rains made for wet conditions on a very muddy field and an ugly regular-season finale for the Huskies and Falcons.
Sweet Home, which has allowed the fewest points through eight games in 4A football at 81, – 28, if you don’t count the 53 Cottage Grove dropped on them in the Huskies’ only loss – had another stellar showing from the defense with an assist to the field and rain.
The Falcons fumbled, dropped passes, and generally looked out of sync throughout the game. Their 1.6 yards per play shows how dominant the Husky defense was. They stopped Elmira on fourth down five times and had one interception.
The shutout is the third on the season for Sweet Home and the only team that has scored more than one touchdown against the Huskies is Elmira the number one team in 4A.
“Our defense has been juggernauts,” Head Coach Dustin Nichol said. “(Defensive Coordinator Jay) Horner is doing a good job making calls. Each position coach is subbing through, we’ve got a good rotation going.
“I’m excited about what our defense brings to the table.”
During the fourth quarter Sweet Home found its offense for a six-minute stretch, which was enough to earn the victory.
On a third-and-six play, sophomore Casey Tow got the call,ran a fake screen and went deep. Quarterback Colton Smith hit him on the sideline and Tow did the rest, racing down the sideline for 59 yards and the go-ahead touchdown.
“That was actually an audible play. It was a great call by our quarterback,” said Tow, who finished the game with two receptions for 78 yards and the touchdown. “We had it designated as a pick play and he called a fake pick, so I went out to fake block and then I went on a streak and he gave me a good ball.”
“Their corner was playing way up in press coverage and their free safety was playing back,” added Smith, who finished five for 18 with two touchdowns. “So I called an audible where it was a wheel route and had Casey run down the sideline for a touchdown.”
Five minutes later, after another Husky stop, Smith found Keegan Holly for a 22-yard touchdown that sealed the win for Sweet Home and ensured a homefield play-in game.
Smith said the conditions dampened the Huskies’ air attack.
“I was five for 18, most of them to Keegan and most of them were on that play,” he said. “All but one of them were within one to two yards and I kept missing him until that last play.”
Elmira played tough defense, which contributed to the dearth of scoring for seventh-ranked Sweet Home, whose 217 points scored this season stands eighth in the 4A division.
“They did a good job locking down our go-to people in (Daniel) Virtue and Holly and (Jake) Swanson and then, all of sudden, we bring Casey off the shelf,” said Nichol. They forget about the little sophomore. We are pretty deep at receiver. Connor Russell, and Nick Marler are over on the sideline, so we needed someone who wasn’t well seen to step up in this game and to catch the ball.
“And for Colton to throw it to him and trust him and that’s an attribute to Colton too, for him being able to say, ‘I’ve got confidence in the little sophomore.’ There’s a reason why he’s there and we are going to put it in his hands too.
“That’s what great about this group. We can hit you from different directions.”
Friday night, seventh-ranked Sweet Home’s foray into the playoffs begins with a rematch against Crook County, with the winner advancing to the 4A playoff bracket.
The Cowboys and Huskies played Sept. 8 when Sweet Home got an unexpected home game due to smoky conditions from the fires. The Huskies beat the Crook County 20-0.
The 27th-ranked Cowboys (2-2, 3-5) went on to place third in the five-team Tri-Valley Conference, behind Gladstone and Estacada, to whom they lost. They tied Molalla, but got the playoff nod on a tie-breaker by virtue of their 21-12 win over the Indians.
Game time Friday is 7 p.m. at Husky Field.
Scoring Summary
1 2 3 4
SH – 0 0 0 14 – 14
EL – 0 0 0 0 – 0
4th quarter
SH- 10:22 Colton Smith 59-yard pass to Casey Tow (2-pt conversion Austin James run)
SH – 5:23 SMith 22-yard pass to Keegan Holly (2-pt no good)
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Sweet Home – Austin James 17-8; Hayden McDonald 19-60; Colton Smith 4-13; Boe Baxter 1-2; Elmira – Nathan LeCoe 11-38; Kain Caudell 7-9; Rowdy Ramirez 11- (-) 4.
Passing: Sweet Home – Colton Smith 5-18-2-1. Elmira – Rowdy Ramirez 3-9-20
Receiving: Sweet Home – Casey Tow 2-79-1; Keegan Holly 1-22; Jake Swanson 1-7; Nathan Virtue 1-3. Elmira- Kain Caudell 1-17; Tyler Chapek 1-8; Brenden Blum 1-3.