Ken Roberts
For The New Era
There was no bumbling and stumbling, just rumbling, as the Huskies ran roughshod over the Stayton Eagles, 45-14, to pick up their third consecutive Capital Conference championship.
It was difficult to tell who hit the hardest, the Sweet Home offense or the Sweet Home defense. Both caused serious damage. After the game, Stayton coach Greg Nolan remarked to Husky coach Rob Younger that the Huskies had damaged sixteen facemask clips, something he hadn’t seen once before.
“The big hits come when you are having fun,” said senior linebacker Brandon Martin. “Players just thrive off of that, and that’s when our defense gets excited.”
Once the defense was done, then the Eagles had to fight off the fury of the Husky offensive line and running backs Travis Smith and Brandon Martin. It was truly a remarkable night for Smith, who rushed 29 times for 316 yards and 5 touchdowns. He also threw a touchdown pass to Tim Faulconer on the opening play of the game for 62 yards and caught a pass himself for 13 yards.
“Travis really has great leg drive,” said Younger, commenting on his ability to rack up yards after initial contact, something the coaches emphasize in practice. “He runs with his legs high and that’s tough to tackle, and he hits the hole quickly. But you don’t get 300 yards unless your line is doing a great job.”
And the linemen would, in turn, feed off Smith’s big plays.
“When he makes a big play, it gives us the momentum and makes us try that much harder,” said center/guard Jesse Aitken. “We put together a better series when we have a big play to start it off.”
After the Faulconer touchdown, Stayton responded immediately with a 91 yard kickoff return by Jeremy Jamieson, which was controversial in that the Eagles picked up a personal foul that was ruled to have occurred after Jamieson had reached the end zone.
Sweet Home answered the Stayton touchdown with a drive of their own that started at the 50 after the Eagles attempted an onside kick. It culminated with a 33 yard field goal by Heath Belknap, who was also perfect again on extra points.
The Huskies scored on another long drive in the second quarter, chewing up 64 yards on 10 plays with Smith plowing over defenders on a 9 yard run. Despite having a two to one margin in total yards, Sweet Home left with only a 17-7 halftime lead.
“Our assistant coaches do a very good job of making adjustments at halftime,” said Younger. “Some teams can make adjustments on the run and others can’t.”
During halftime, Younger talked to the team about crisper execution and applying some heavy hitting in order to set the tone for the second half. The Huskies obliged. With Stayton’s fly offense that used constant motion and misdirection in the backfield, the Sweet Home defense stayed disciplined and held their areas. Senior defensive ends Aitken and Matt Morneault benefited from the outside linebackers’ containment and were the leading tacklers in the game along with Smith, the safety, who laid out and corralled an interception in the third quarter, the only turnover by either side.
“We just realized we had to play our game,” said Morneault. “It didn’t matter how big the game was; we just had to go out and do what we had been doing all year.”
Stayton’s defense seemed to wear down as the game went on and Smith made them feel the pain. In the third quarter alone, he tacked on 157 yards and three of his touchdowns on runs of 6, 2, and his only breakaway jaunt of 62 yards. Smith finished his night’s work on the first series in the fourth quarter when he scampered into the end zone untouched from 8 yards out.
Smith had been sick during the week and had played sparingly in the mismatch against Cascade the previous week. After reading some of the comments made by Stayton fans on the internet, his desire to make a statement to the Eagles was inflamed.
“I wanted to show them that they couldn’t play with us,” said Smith. “Show them that our line was going to beat their line and our backs were going to beat their backs.”
Smith didn’t realize he was close to 300 until the end of the third quarter when he was informed.
“I didn’t realize it because I didn’t have any big runs early,” said Smith, who had broken 300 once before in his freshman season. “I just kept pounding it the whole game like that. 43 right, 43 left.”
The Eagles only scored once on an offensive drive in the last quarter after many of the Husky starters had finished their duty. Orrin Coates connected with Jaegan Stoyles on a 54 yard pass. But Stayton’s tricky running formation was held in check with only 106 yards on 27 carries. While Sweet Home amassed an overwhelming 537 yards of total offense, the Eagles managed only 219. Stayton never penetrated the red zone and converted only one third down attempt, the play that gave them their lone offensive score of the game.
“We prepared really well against their offense all week,” said Morneault. “We played with more discipline than they did.”
Sweet Home had one long drive in each quarter, including an impressive drive by the second unit late in the game. That hasn’t been the case normally because of their quick strike offense. But with the overwhelming ground game and the consistent passing of Kyle Pettit, who was 5 for 8, the execution was sharp especially in the second half. It was highlighted in the 20 to 7 margin in first downs.
With the JV win on Thursday night, the Huskies’ JV and varsity programs have an unblemished league record of 30-0 in the past three years.
“The last two years I was a part of championship team,” said Martin, trying to put into perspective what all the seniors are feeling. “This year it’s mine, and I helped lead them to it. Everybody thought we were going to go downhill from last year, but we have the same chance to get into the quarterfinals as last year’s team.”
The Huskies earned a bye next week and will host the winner of the Phoenix-Estacada game to be held in Phoenix. Phoenix finished second in the Skyline Conference while Estacada was third in the tough Tri-Valley league behind Wilsonville and Sherwood.