Having lost two of their top running backs to injury, the most recent six days earlier, Sweet Home’s football team could have been forgiven if they’d displayed something of a limp at La Pine Thursday.
Not a chance.
The Huskies found their rhythm in the second quarter, rolling up 479 total yards to bomb the hapless Hawks for 35 points in the second quarter and 20 more in the second half to exit with a 55-0 win Thursday night.
Hunter Jutte caught four touchdown passes and ran for another, and Eric Flierl caught another scoring pass and Branden Keenon added a TD on the ground in an explosion of offense.
“Our guys did a really good job, both offensively, defensively and on special teams,” Coach Dustin Nichol said.
“To be honest, La Pine is not that good of a football team. It took a little bit for us to get going, but we won really big.”
Unfortunately, Sweet Home also lost big roster-wise when yet another starter, Kevin Seiber, went down in the first quarter with a compound tibia fracture, right above his ankle.
Seiber was a starter at fullback and linebacker and a key special teams player, including serving as the Huskies’ long snapper.
Seiber is the sixth starter and the third running back with a season-ending injury thus far, most in the last few games.
Senior Spencer Knight has a hamstring injury, senior JT Weld had surgery last week for a broken collarbone, and tight end and lineman Brycen Mitten had three pins put in for a broken hand. Cole Ashcraft, who took Seiber’s spot at linebacker, rolled his ankle later in the game and had to come out, and offensive tackle Michael Moser had to come out of the game with a knee injury.
“It’s just been one beautiful thing after another,” Nichol said. “That’s how it went. We won big and a lot of JV guys got to play in the fourth quarter.”
Jutte’s touchdown catches, all from Cole Horner, were for 10, 13, 65 and eight yards, the first three in the second quarter. Horner finished with 13 completions in 20 attempts for 241 yards.
Stepping in at running back, Jutte rushed for 105 yards on six carries, including the touchdown. Keenon added another 125 yards on 13 carries.
Horner said the win came after “a good week of practice” and the Huskies’ focus intensified after Seiber went down.
“That gave us some spark,” he said. “We had to show up and play.”
With a resurgent Junction City coming to Husky Field Friday night for Homecoming, Nichol said his team is in for a challenge, particularly since most of the starters will be playing both ways, at least until they see how things are going.
“We went from six or seven guys going both ways to nine,” he said. “Cole Horner is going to be a starting linebacker. That’s a change because up till now he’s been able to be on the sideline with me during defensive series and we could talk about strategy.”
The Tigers are 5-1 after suffering their first loss of the season Friday, 35-6, to Cottage Grove. Junction City has beaten La Pine 34-22 and Sisters 48-13.
Under new coach Richard Milne, a 1994 alum who helped the Tigers to state titles in both football and basketball, Junction City is running a Double Wing offense that Nichol said is a straightforward challenge.
“This Junction City offense is going to test their manhood,” he said of his increasingly young team. “They run right at you. Double wing. Misdirection. Off-tackle. They say, ‘Here we are. Try to stop us.’”
Despite the injuries, the Husky players remain “optimistic,” he said.
“We’re plugging away. This is the game to go to the playoffs. If we win this game, we’re in.”
Scoring Summary
SH – 0 35 13 7 – 55
LP – 0 0 0 0 – 0
Second Quarter
SH – Hunter Jutte, 5 run. Jutte kick.
Second Quarter
SH – Jutte 13 pass from Cole Horner. Kick failed.
SH – Eric Flierl 9 pass from Horner. Jutte kick.
SH – Jutte 65 pass from Horner. Jutte kick.
SH – Jutte 10 pass from Horner. Jutte kick.
Third Quarter
SH – Branden Keenon 5 run. Jutte kick.
SH – Flierl 6 pass from Horner. Jacob Maas kick.
SH – Jutte 8 pass from Horner. Kick good.
Rushing – Sweet Home total 238. Hunter Jutte 6-105; Branden Keenon 13-125.
Passing – Sweet Home total 241 yards. Cole Horner 13-20-0-241.
Receiving – Jutte 8-165; Flierl 5-65.