Ken Roberts
For The New Era
The Sweet Home-Sisters rivalry has been heated over the last 10 years. Last Friday, only the Huskies were hot as they sizzled both offensively and defensively to fry the Outlaws 47-0.
It had the makings of a defensive battle as both teams struggled in the opening minutes. Sweet Home went without a first down in their first two possessions; likewise Sisters came up empty in its first three. The Huskies fumbled on a punt return by Travis Smith, and the Outlaws’ Jeff Sampson fumbled at midfield after Tim Faulconer first stripped him of the ball and then recovered it as well.
“I thought I was down because I wasn’t going anywhere,” said Smith, who was determined, however, not to let one play or a couple of stalled drives change his attitude. “They were doing a lot of stunting. They were going to stop us on one or two plays, but we were going to get a big one.”
From that point on, it was all Huskies all the time. Smith more than made up for his fumble by carrying the ball twice for 44 yards and the first Husky touchdown from 18 yards out.
Unable to get the hold down on the extra point attempt, Sweet Home settled for a 6-0 first quarter lead.
“The line settled down and started blocking better,” said Coach Rob Younger, commenting on the change in the offensive exploits. “We started running to the weak side due to the alignments they were giving us.”
In the second quarter, the Huskies put their quick strike offense on display again. Brandon Martin, who continues to improve at fullback each game after missing the first two games, scored his first touchdown of the year from 39 yards to cap off a five play, 60 yard drive.
Prior to the game, Martin had met with coach Justin Seiber and set a goal of six yards per carry and Seiber added a touchdown as an additional goal. Both were surpassed.
“Brandon is starting to see the holes and reading the blocks better,” explained Younger. “He gives us that power back dimension which is so valuable.”
And Sisters just kept on punting. Danny Holloman was forced to punt nine times during the game. The Huskies controlled the middle, strung out everything wide without over pursuing, and covered the pass well. It was a work of art as the defense held the Outlaws to just 13 yards of offense in the second and third quarters.
Meanwhile, Sweet Home’s running machine kept on humming. Smith, who had 102 yards rushing in the first half, scored on an 11 yard run and Martin, who had 96 yards in 10 carries for the game, tacked on a 26 yard score after Ryan Elliott had just finished running for 35.
In the second half, the Huskies only had the ball on offense three different times, and they scored in each instance. It was a night of firsts for sophomore quarterback Kyle Pettit. He connected with Smith for 68 yards on his first passing touchdown. Then after Smith walked in for a 1 yard touchdown in the third quarter, Pettit finished the scoring in the 4th quarter, also from one yard out, to earn his first rushing touchdown.
Younger has been pleased with the maturation of Pettit as the team’s quarterback.
“He understands the offensive scheme better,” stated Younger. “When we want to or need to pass, he’s going to be very effective.”
Pettit’s TD put the Huskies up by 47, which invoked the rule to play the rest of the game without stopping the clock. Against the Huskies’ second unit, Sisters rolled up 47 meaningless yards before Josh McBride covered up a loose Sisters pitch to the tailback Jeff Fitter to allow Sweet Home to run out the game and raise their league record to 2-0, 4-2 overall.
Before the fourth quarter spurt by the Outlaws, the Huskies first defensive unit, led by a stellar linebacking crew of Elliott, Martin, Faulconer, and Charlie Fitzsimons, held Sisters to just 60 yards of total offense.
“The line did a good job of keeping guys off me and keying on the fullback,” said Elliott, who benefited from the stack defensive scheme. “I was open to just take the tailback and quarterback.”
Fitter, the tailback, carried the ball 15 times for a negative 10 yards. For the second straight contest, Sweet Home kept the opposing team outside of the red zone. Often in long yardage third down situations, the Outlaws were only able to convert on third down 3 out of 12 times.
“For our linebackers to be effective, the defensive line has to do their job of plugging up the gaps,” said Younger, who complimented the sideline to sideline pursuit of the Husky defense. “Because the line did their job, our linebackers were allowed to run fairly free.”
The Huskies, on the other hand, converted 6 of 10 third or fourth down plays in rolling up 396 yards of total offense, 302 of that on the ground. Besides Smith and Martin, Elliott ran for 66 yards in six carries and Trevor Tagle ran three times for 31 yards. Tight end Matt Morneault caught two of Pettit’s four pass completions to lead all receivers.
Field position on kickoffs was always a highlight for Sweet Home. With Heath Belknap’s eight deep kicks and excellent coverage, Sisters only started one time past their own 20 yard line.
Sweet Home travels next Friday to play Molalla, the other undefeated team in the conference. The Indians have won two road games, narrowly defeating Stayton to open league play and then demolishing North Marion 55-27 last week. With running back Steven Dailey as the focal point of their offense, Molalla will more than likely be the Huskies’ toughest opponent.
“Dailey runs bigger than he is,” said Younger. “He runs hard inside and has the speed to get outside. He is definitely a person we will have to control.”
Smith knows that Molalla will test the defense.
“I didn’t even have to make a tackle against Sisters,” stated Smith, emphasizing the great play of the line and linebackers. “I’m going to have to work on my path to the ball because they are going to try to beat us in the flats.”
For Sweet Home, a repeat conference championship will depend on the defense’s ability to do to Molalla what they accomplished against Sisters.