Jackson Baer
For The New Era
Sweet Home’s football players celebrated homecoming in convincing fashion, shutting down the visiting Junction City Tigers Thursday night.
The 35-0 victory was led by stellar defense and a dominant rushing game.
The Huskies held the Tigers to just 72 total yards on the way to their second shutout of the season.
The opening drive was highlighted by a 33-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Cole Horner to junior Mitch Keenon. Senior Hunter Bidwell followed with a 29-yard touchdown run and Bidwell punched in the two-point conversion with more fine running.
“It felt great, the holes were wide open,” said Bidwell. “The defense has been practicing and it really showed tonight.”
Junior Wade Paulus got into the action on the Huskies’ next drive, breaking free for an 80-yard run to the Tigers 12-yard line. Sophomore Spencer Knight finished the drive on the very next play with a 12-yard touchdown run at the 6:16 mark in the first quarter.
Junior Colton Holly overcame a bad snap to hit fellow junior Colton Schilling for a successful 2-point conversion, giving the Huskies an early 16-0 lead.
“We’ve been working on holding onto the ball in practice,” said Dustin Nichol. “The running backs committed to not having another one all season and have done it these last two weeks.”
Sweet Home kept pushing the ball in the second quarter and Paulus punched in a one-yard touchdown run with 10:09 left to play in the half. The PAT missed right and the Huskies extended their lead to 22-0.
After another defensive stop, Sweet Home converted a fourth-down fake punt as Paulus connected with Horner for a 15-yard reception.
Horner hit senior Scottie Stockman for a 10-yard touchdown pass with :07 left until halftime. The successful PAT made it 29-0 and both sides of the ball were playing extremely well.
“The defense stepped up and played really hard,” said junior Kyle Wodtli. “We kept the momentum going and will need to do the same for next week.”
The second half was far less exciting. Sweet Home still dominated both sides of the ball but added only one more score.
On the Huskies’ first possession of the second half, Bidwell returned a punt for 68 yards and added to his versatile night. Bidwell contributed in the running game, special teams, and played strong defense.
Horner found Stockman for the second time on the night, this time for a 18-yard touchdown pass. The PAT was just short after a 15-yard un-sportsman like penalty made it a long kick.
“We stopped them tonight,” said Keenon. “Our goal was to shut them out and having no fumbles helped us do that.”
The rest of the game was fairly uneventful as the two teams traded possessions and the Husky defense shut down everything the Tiger offense tried to do.
“We were prepared and pumped up,” said senior Bryce Vandenberg. “It was homecoming and we wanted to come out and play hard. We’ve worked on taking better care of the ball and will need that next week at Cottage Grove.”
The win moves Sweet Home to 5-2 overall and 2-1 in league play. With the loss, Junction City falls to 2-4 overall and 1-2 in the Sky-Em.
“The defense came to play and stepped up tonight,” said Nichol. “We’ll need to rise to the occasion again next week to beat a good Cottage Grove team. I like what I’m seeing from these guys. They’re working hard.”
The Huskies were ranked No. 11 before this win and their only losses came to two of the top teams in the state (No. 1 Central and No. 6 Elmira).
Sweet Home plays at Cottage Grove at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 21. The Lions lost at Sisters 21-14 this week and fell to 3-4 overall and 2-1 in league play. This is a pivotal game for both squads as the season winds down and the Huskies look to make a playoff run with a team that is two-thirds underclassmen, only one year after going 3-7.
Summary
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Total
SH 16 13 6 0 35
JC 0 0 0 0 0
Team Statistics
Rushing: SH 33-230; JC 35-54
Passing: SH 9-15-195-2 TD, 1 INT; JC 5-12-18
First Downs: SH 11; JC 10
Penalties: SH 8-68; JC 1-5
Turnovers: SH 1; JC 0
SH Total Yards: 325
Individual Rushing:
Wade Paulus- 14-137; 1 TD
Hunter Bidwell- 5-33; 1TD
Spencer Knight- 2-14; 1 TD
Cole Horner- 2-9
Ty Harvey- 5-28
Colton Holly- 2-3
JT Weld- 3-6
Individual Passing:
Cole Horner- 8-13-80; 2 TD; 1 INT
Wade Paulus- 1-1-15
Colton Holly- 0-1
Individual Receiving:
Mitch Keenon- 2-37
Scottie Stockman- 2-28; 2 TD
Taylor Conn- 1-5
Cole Horner- 1-15
Colton Holly- 2-10