Jason Casey
Sweet Home set the tone on the first drive of the game scoring in four quick plays Friday night and that began 48 minutes of football domination that ended with the Huskies walking away with a 58-3 win over Sisters .
“In the speech before the game I gave them a speech about to have tried and failed then to have never tried,” Coach Dustin Nichol said. “It was a Roosevelt speech: Just to just go sell out and have fun, have a smile on your face. I tried to down play any urgency and just have fun playing the game because that is what this is all about.
“Don’t be afraid to go out there and do your best and if you fall short, big deal; that is all you can ask. If they are a better team, then they are a better team and if not, then good things are going to happen.”
On that first drive Hayden McDonald took the second snap of the game for 42 yards, running left, helped by blocks from Casey Tow and Jake Swanson. He was knocked out finally on the 13-yard line. Two plays later, from two yards out, McDonald crossed the goal line to give the Huskies a 6-0 lead and on a mishandled snap on the point after, Travis Thorpe ran in the two-point conversion, sticking the ball into the end zone for the score as he was tackled.
The Huskies blocked two straight Outlaw punts in the first quarter. Thorpe blocked the first on and Nathan Virtue picked up the ball and returned it 16 yards for the score. The point after was missed by Jake Swanson and the Huskies were up 14-0 after two drives. Casey Tow blocked the next punt by the Outlaws.
“They didn’t have any flyers spread out, so they had a really tight formation on punt, so the whole line was in close,” Nichol said. “So, we thought we could just use our speed to come off the edge and we didn’t have anybody back to return it. That was a special, special team that we put together specifically for that and we called it Pony.”
On the next drive Virtue kept his big game going with a blindside sack of Sisters quarterback Taylor Fendall. Two plays later Fendall was intercepted by Gavin Nichols.
“It was just the short passes and if you go forward first you are able to cut the separation and that second one just tipped off the ball and you gotta focus on that,” said Nichols.
“We were very fired up. We came off with a win last week, but we had a couple of hiccups. This time we were just trying to have a perfect game and I think we put (together) a really, really good game.”
Virtue got into the action on offense when quarterback Colton Smith led the receiver and put the ball where only Virtue could catch it,.Virtue had to lay out for it and secured the ball and first down on third-and-19 to the five.
“He can’t be stopped,” Smith, who finished the game with 56 yards passing one touchdown and 64 yards rushing, said of Virtue. “Literally, in his three years of varsity I haven’t personally seen one single person that can stop Nathan on offense or defense.”
“Nate had a really good game on offense, defense, and special teams,” said Nichol.
Two plays later, from the 1-yard line McDonald scored his second touchdown. He finished the game with seven carries for 64 yards and three touchdowns.
On the second play of the second quarter Lance Hanson recovered a fumble by Outlaw running back Korbin Sharp and returned it 89 yards, making it 26-0 with 10:59 to go in the second quarter. Before the half was over Smith and Virtue connected on a 30-yard touchdown with 45 seconds to go bringing the score to 33-3.
Coming into the third quarter things just got worse for the Outlaws; they went three-and-out and after a 41-yard run by the Smith, McDonald scored his third touchdown from four yards out and the blowout was nearly complete 39-3.
“The offensive line, where do I start? said McDonald. “They were solid all night getting blocks and picking up linebackers and just doing a hell of a job. It was good to come out and actually compete to the best of our ability and not have any mistakes really and have a solid defense, it feels great.”
Jackson Royer and Thorpe were in for mop-up duty from that point on and they took advantage, scoring a combined three touchdowns on 12 carries for 62 yards. Thorpe scored on a 1-yard run and Royer on touchdowns runs of one and three yards.
Defensively, Gavin Nichols finished with two interceptions and the Huskies were led by McDonald and Robbie Yunke, each with five tackles, with Virtue and Swanson right behind with four – two each for losses.
“It’s very difficult to pick one individual out of the whole thing because there were so many good things that happened,” said Nichol. “Our special teams were a great thing, our offense from the starters to the number three’s, I mean Jackson Royer scored two times and he’s our No. 4 running back.”
Thorpe said he felt it when he got into the game.
“The line blocked amazingly; they were hitting their blocks, sustaining them and you know they are the key to our offense making gaps.”
The Huskies showed up for league play with physical play starting up front at the offensive and defensive lines which dominated the line of scrimmage and pushed the Outlaws around culminating in a dominate performance.
They host Cascade at 7 p.m. Friday night, Sept. 28, in their Homecoming game.
The Cougars are 1-3, with losses at Cottage Grove (23-19), versus La Salle at home (41-30), and at North Marion (38-27) before beating Stayton 31-28 in their league opener.
“This week it’s old-school football, its foot-to-foot splits, I-formation, old- school ground-and-pound,” said Nichol of Cascade. “It’s like playing a double wing team except they are out of the I formation. and they run 85 percent of the time.
“In the last game, I think they passed nine or 10 times against Stayton and they just pounded the ball. Its gonna be another test for us defensively in a whole different direction. Where we haven’t seen that kind of play yet.”
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
SH- 10:24 Hayden McDonald 5 Yd Run (Two-Point Conversion)
SH- 8:18 Nathan Virtue 16-yard Blocked Punt Return (Jake Swanson Kick No Good)
SH- 2:31 Hayden McDonald 1 Yd Run (Jake Swanson Kick No Good)
Second Quarter
SH- 10:59 Lance Hanson 89 Yd Fumble Return (Jake Swanson Kick No Good)
SIS- 2:46 Wyatt Hernandez 27 Yd
SH- :45 Nate Virtue 30 Yd Pass from Colton Smith (Jake Swanson Kick)
Third Quarter
SH – 9:50 Hayden McDonald 4 Yd Run (Jake Swanson Kick No Good)
SH- 6:00 Travis Thorpe 1 Yd Run (Jake Swanson Kick No Good)
SH -3:25 Jackson Royer 3 Yd Run (Jake Swanson Kick)
Fourth Quarter
SH -6:50 Jackson Royer 1 Yd Run (Kick No Good)
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Sweet Home- Colton Smith 2-64; Hayden McDonald 7-64-3; Jackson Royer 7-35-2; Travis Thorpe 5-27-1; Hayden Nichol 2-20; Parker Lemmer 3-16. Sisters – Gator Haken 24-66; Hunter Spor 7-29; Korbin Sharp 2-6; Anthony Randolph 1-2; Dalton Ford 1-2; Taylor Fendall 9- -16.
Receiving: Sweet Home – Nathan Virtue 2-56-1; Hayden McDonald 2-20; Peyton Ullrich 1-15; Travis Thorpe 1-7. Sisters – Korbin Sharp 2-45; Brogan Petterson 1-5; Taylor Fendall 1- -9.
Passing: Sweet Home – Colton Smith 2/3- 56-1-1; Aiden Tyler 4/6-42. Sisters – 5/10-41