Ken Roberts
For The New Era
As predicted, Sweet Home engaged in a defensive struggle with Junction City last Friday night.
The only score came on a blocked punt, recovered by the Tigers’ Josh Danford in the end zone in the first quarter as Junction City ended the Huskies’ year on a sour note with a 7-0 victory. Sweet Home finished with a 2-8 record.
After stopping the Tigers on their first drive, Sweet Home had to start from its own six-yard line following a 40-yard punt by Chad Simmons. After three plays failed to produce a first down, Leif Erickson had to punt from the 4 yard line and the kick didn’t survive the rush of the Tigers.
Both teams continued to have trouble moving the ball consistently in the first half.
The Huskies had the best opportunity to knot the score with a solid drive midway into the second quarter. After being initially stopped at their own 40-yard line, Erickson faked a punt and ran for 17 yards to keep the drive alive. From there, the Huskies used two Junction City penalties and a 10-yard Amos Parmenter run to collect two more first downs.
Now in the red zone at the 15-yard line, Ryan Graville passed to Josh Riggs for a 10-yard gain, but the Tigers recovered Riggs’ fumble at the five-yard line.
“We had two opportunities in the red zone and we just couldn’t capitalize,” said coach Rob Younger.
The second opportunity came on the opening drive of the second half. After a Tiger kickoff went out of bounds, Sweet Home ran the ball nine times for 52 yards and Graville passed one more time to Riggs for 18 yards to give the Huskies the ball first and goal at the five.
Three running plays put the Huskies within inches of a touchdown. However, Sweet Home incurred an untimely procedure penalty, one of only four penalties on the night compared to Junction City’s eleven. But this penalty was costly. It forced the Huskies to call a passing play and the Tigers’ secondary provided great coverage, something they did well all night. Graville was forced to run but was tackled at the 2 yard line.
After that, Sweet Home never carved out another first down for the entire half as Junction City had answers for both the Husky rushing and passing game.
“Our kids put together a great effort in a defensive battle,” stated Younger. “The difference was we made four turnovers to the other team’s one.”
Besides the fumble and the blocked punt, Sweet Home also was intercepted twice.
Junction City’s lone turnover came when Erickson blocked a long field goal attempt late in the fourth quarter.
Sweet Home actually had more total offensive yards than Junction City, 181 to 161. Parmenter was the leading rusher with 12 carries for 69 yards. Riggs caught 5 of Graville’s 7 completions for 53 yards.
Parmenter also led the Huskies in tackles with 14, a season high for any Husky defensive player. Parmenter had one of the two Sweet Home sacks with the other going to Daniel Coonc.
Eighteen Husky seniors were introduced at the beginning of the game. Sixteen of those players started either offensively or defensively. Only eight players will return next year who have had some starting experience.
Game Summary
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
SH 0 0 0 0 0
JC 7 0 0 0 7
1st Quarter
JC: Danford recovers blocked punt (Shelby Brown kick)
Team Statistics
Rushing: Sweet Home 30-129; JC 30-112
Passing: Sweet Home 7-19-2, 57; JC 9-16, 63
Sacked: SH 1-5 ; JC 2-14
Total Offense: Sweet Home 181; JC 161
First Downs: Sweet Home 10; JC 10
Tackles for Losses: Sweet Home 8; JC 4
3rd/4th Down Conversions: Sweet Home 3-15; JC 5-13
Penalties: SH 4-35; JC 11-88
Turnovers: SH 4; JC 1
Individual Statistics
Rushing: SH: Parmenter 12-69; Graville 5-20; Erickson 2-18;
Ward 7-16; Moyer 3-4; McDowell 1-2
JC: Duhn 16-68; Brown 8-34
Passing: SH: Graville 7-17-1, 57; Martin 0-2-1
JC: Brown 8-13, 60; Bay 1-3, 3
Receiving: SH: Riggs 5-53; McGuyre 1-4; Moyer 1-(-1)
JC: Braun 4-36
Kickoffs: SH: Callagan 1-38 (9 returned); avg. start line: 31
JC: 2-85 (0 returned); avg. start line: 27.5
Kick Returns: SH: None; JC 1-9
Punts: SH: Erickson 4-94, 23.5, 1 blocked;
JC: 7-238, average 34
Punt Returns: SH: McGuyre 1-4; JC: 1-8
Interceptions: JC 2
Fumble Recoveries: JC 1
Blocked Kicks: SH 1 (Erickson); JC 1
Sacks: SH 2 (Parmenter, Coonc); JC 1
Tackles: SH: Parmenter 14, Erickson 7, Callagan 6