Yes, Sweet Home is still hosting a state playoff game, even though the Huskies were clawed by the Junction City Tigers last Friday, 43-30.
No, it wasn’t the way coach Rob Younger wanted to prepare for La Grande in the first-round game, currently scheduled for this Friday night at Husky Stadium.
Junction City muscled its way through the first quarter, scoring on its first two possessions while the Huskies were held to negative yardage.
“We didn’t come out with the kind of intensity you have to have for a playoff game,” noted Younger. “And Junction City is a playoff team.”
The opening of the first quarter has been a year-long problem for Sweet Home. While it has helped create a team that responds well to adversity at times, it becomes a huge obstacle against a quality opponent.
“We have to play with intensity at the start of the game,” stated Younger. “The coaches will have to develop a plan where we can accomplish that.”
Against Junction City, the Huskies couldn’t climb out of the hole they created. From the beginning, the Tigers controlled the line of scrimmage and used their running game to score twice.
Jess Lee, who rushed for 161 yards, scored the first of his three touchdowns from five yards away.
Then fullback Chad Simmons notched the second Tiger score from 15 yards out.
Two holding penalties, a sack, and a Taylor Tagle interception at the two-yard line prevented Junction City from a third consecutive touchdown. However, three plays later, Lee tackled Tyler Holly in the end zone for a safety and a 16-0 lead.
In the second quarter, Sweet Home’s offense finally came to life, though they would have to do it without Brock Cota, their leading rusher who injured his ankle following a 64-yard kickoff return at the beginning of the game.
The Huskies went on a 10-play, 80-yard drive using a couple of big passes from Holly to Tagle along the way. Holly topped off the drive with a 23-yard strike to Tim McDowell. Then the Huskies converted a two-point attempt with a pass from Holly to Levi Marchbanks.
But all night long, Junction City would respond every time the Huskies would draw close. On this occasion, they returned the kickoff 61 yards to the Sweet Home 31. Then two plays later, Aaron Likens connected with James DeGroot for a 32-yard touchdown.
Undeterred, the Huskies came back in a similar fashion. Steven Bidwell returned the kickoff to the Tiger 45-yard line. Then with the help of a personal foul flagged against Junction City, Holly combined with Sean Potter for a 15-yard touchdown pass, the third time those two would connect.
Again the Huskies were successful with a two-point conversion, this time Alex Santana, the kicker, was on the receiving end of a Holly swing pass.
That left just a minute on the clock, but that was all Junction City needed to go 80 yards. On a fourth-down play, the Tigers closed the half with a hook-and-ladder pass play across the middle that went from Likens to Lee and then was pitched to Britt Bay who raced into the end zone, giving the Tigers a two-touchdown lead going into half time.
The Huskies came out just as flat in the third quarter as they did in the first. Following an interception, Lee put the Tigers on the board again with a five-yard run.
The two teams had trouble holding onto the ball late in the quarter, exchanging fumbles until Sweet Home’s Cody Felkins recovered one at the Junction City 25. Holly found Potter again on the first play with a 25-yard pass.
The Huskies made things interesting when Zach Jackson recovered an on-side kick at the Tiger 47-yard line. Moving steadily down the field, it was the Huskies’ turn to score on a fourth-down play, again from Holly to Potter for five yards. The Huskies tacked up their third two-point conversion with another pass to Marchbanks, putting them just seven points down.
When Junction City fumbled into the hands of Patrick Long, it gave the Huskies hope. But they couldn’t mount the offense to complete the comeback, not on this attempt nor on another after they stopped the Tigers one more time.
The Tigers closed out the scoring with another Lee rushing touchdown. Their early rushing domination allowed the Tigers to rack up 312 yards and 432 yards of total offense. Sweet Home, reduced to getting back in the game via the pass, did have 196 yards of passing offense but only 35 yards on the ground.
LaGrande, the third-place team in the four team Greater Oregon Conference, sports just a 2-7 record, having defeated only McLoughlin in its league and Madras. Even with that favorable match-up, the Huskies have to figure out a way to start strong, stay strong, and finish strong if they are to go further into the playoffs.
Game Summary
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
SH 0 16 14 0 30
JC 14 16 7 6 43
1st Quarter
JC: Jess Lee 5 yd. run (Chad Simmons kick)
JC: Simmons 15 yd. run (Simmons kick)
2nd Quarter
JC: Safety (Lee tackles Tyler Holly)
SH: Tim McDowell 23 yd. pass from Holly (Levi Marchbanks pass from Holly)
JC: James DeGroot 32 yd. pass from Aaron Liken (Simmons kick)
SH: Sean Potter 15 yd. pass from Holly (Alex Santana pass from Holly)
JC: Britt Bay 33 yd. pass from Liken (Simmons kick)
3rd Quarter
JC: Lee 5 yd. run (Simmons kick)
SH: Potter 25 yd. pass from Holly (kick failed)
SH: Potter 5 yd. pass from Holly (Marchbanks pass from Holly)
4th Quarter
JC: Lee 2 yd. run (kick failed)
Team Stats
Rushing: Sweet Home 22-35; JC 52-312
Passing: Sweet Home 15-35-2, 196; JC 8-16-1, 127
Sacked: SH 3-14; JC: 1-7
Total Offense: Sweet Home 217; JC 432
First Downs: Sweet Home 11; JC 16
Tackles for Losses: Sweet Home 2; JC 7
3rd/4th Down Conversions: Sweet Home 6-19; JC 8-16
Penalties: SH 3-22; JC 6-75
Turnovers: SH 3; JC 4
Individual Stats
Rushing: SH: Moyer 9-28; Holly 3-6; McDowell 3-5; Potter 1-2; Tagle 1-1; Sorenson 4-(-7), Cota 1-0
JC: Lee 24-161; Simmons 14-75; Liken 13-77
Passing: SH: T.Holly 15-34-2, 196; McDowell 0-1 JC: Liken 8-16-1, 127
Receiving: SH: Potter 5-55; Tagle 4-70; McDowell 2-55; Marchbanks 2-15; Bidwell 1-1; Moyer 1-0
JC: DeGroot 4-71; Bay 2-44
Kickoffs: SH: Santana 5-206; net 17.6; Avg starting yd. line: 46.3
Coakley 1-40, 19 net; Avg start line: 41
JC: Simmons 6-248; 15.3 net; Avg start line: 44.7
Kick Returns: SH: Cota 1-64; Santana 3-34 (11.3); Bidwell 1-41; McDowell 1-17 JC: 4-119 (29.8)
Punts: SH: Coakley 4-143, 35.8, net 34.5; JC: Simmons 2-74, net 37
Punt Returns: SH: None; JC: 2-5
Interceptions: SH: 1 (Tagle); JC 2
Fumble Recoveries: SH 3 (Felkins, Moyer, P.Long); JC: 1
Sacks: SH 1-7 (Felkins); JC: 3-14
SH Tackles: Jackson 21, McDowell 16, Marchbanks/Coleman 10
* * * * *
The Sweet Home frosh-soph football team beat Junction City 30-6 at home Thursday, Nov. 5.
Huskies quarterback Colton Holly hooked up with Mitch Keenon on a 30-yard touchdown pass and the Sweet Home defense had an “excellent” game, giving the offense good field position and creating multiple turnovers, Coach Dustin Nichol said.
“We executed better on offense this week,” he said. “We were able to shore up our wet weather passing attack through the course of last week’s practices. This mad a huge difference in our offense’s ability to attack Junction City’s defense.
“We were not one-dimensional this week on offense.”
Sweet Home’s kickoff unit pinned the Tigers deep and the kickoff return team created good field position for the Huskies all night, Nichol said.
“This was a huge advantage for us and played a major factor in our victory,” he said.
The frosh-soph team finished the season with a 5-4 record.
“I know this record doesn’t seem very good but, everyone needs to realize that this is a freshman team supported by seven sophomores playing a JV schedule,” Nichol said. “When you put this into perspective, these kids did an exceptional job competing at a much higher than freshman level of competition.”