Ken Roberts
Sports Writer
After a 41-13 thumping in Sweet Home’s homecoming game, the Central Panthers couldn’t wait to get back home themselves.
It was pick your poison night for the Panthers’ offense. They tried to run up the middle and were punished by Rob Martin at the line seven times, his linebacking brother Brandon five times, or any of a number of other players in the ever-changing defensive rotation.
And Trevor Fine, Central’s quarterback, probably wished their normal starter, Felixiano Mendoza, was there. Fine was sacked four times, either by the big boys Rob Martin and Chad Smith or by the speed of Seth Graves and a combination of Tomas Rosa and Sky Brown.
“Once we get to know the other team’s style of play, we can do the job,” said Rob Martin. “Everyone was clicking together. Everyone knew their jobs.”
When Fine threw in their run and shoot, it was usually short flat passes where the receivers were consistently wrapped up, led by Tyler Emmert and Travis Smith. When Fine did pass upfield, the ball was picked off four times for interceptions. With the coaches’ diligence in game preparation for each opponent, Emmert said all the offenses begin to look alike.
“The run and shoot tries to put the defense in a lot of one on one situations,” said Emmert. “We just had to work on form and make sure we wrapped up on the tackle.”
And that they did. Indeed the Central offense looked like Newport’s of the previous week, a dismal failure. In their first possession, Tim Matuszak snagged an interception which puts him in a tie for the school’s career mark. In the next five possessions, Central introduced their punter, Francisco Vega, to the crowd. On four of those five possessions, the Panthers ran only three plays.
Defensively, Central stacked the line of scrimmage to control Sweet Home’s running game. Except for one play they did a decent job. The Huskies’ opening touchdown half way through the first quarter was the only breakaway run the Panthers allowed. On the option right, Donny Cliver used a new blocking scheme designed to put him one on one with smaller defensive backs. He used his strength and athletic ability to escape tackles and reverse direction for a 43 yard run.
In their next series, the Huskies used two first down runs by Graves and Travis Smith plus a Cliver to Mike Severns pass, which covered 25 yards after Severns put a good move on the defensive back. Graves carried the ball the final two yards for the score.
Central’s only score of the half occurred when a Panther lineman hindered Cliver’s follow through on a pass, which was picked off by Lenny Vidana for a 15 yard return early in the second quarter.
As has been their habit, the Huskies came storming back. With Central selling out on the run, Sweet Home was content to grind it out on the ground and then go to the air for the big plays. That pattern led to two more Husky touchdowns in the second quarter. Both the big pass plays went to Ricky Howe, one for 47 yards and the other for 24 yards. Graves and Brandon Miner tacked on the finishing blows with short runs.
“We wanted to control the down and distance situations,” said coach Rob Younger, “where we are in control of what we do on second and third downs.”
The Huskies were extremely proficient on first and second down with all but one of their first downs or touchdowns coming on those plays. In the second half, Younger knew that they could have split the seam downfield a few more times on passes, but he chose to run time off the clock instead. That strategy accompanied by three interceptions kept Sweet Home comfortably in front.
On the first of the interceptions, Brandon Martin relived some memories of his days as a junior high fullback as he romped into the endzone from 36 yards out. Martin recognized the play, a screen pass that they had just run, and sat back in his zone waiting for it.
“I felt like I was going a million miles an hour,” said Martin, who hopes Coach Younger might one day reconsider using him as a fullback for one play.
Central followed up quickly with their lone offensive drive of 65 yards and a touchdown when Fine threaded the needle on a 15 yard pass play to Anton Waterman. Sweet Home didn’t threaten again until the fourth quarter following Miner’s recovery on a Cliver punt that was touched incidentally by a Central player at the Panther 29 yard line. That drive stalled at the seven but two plays later Charles Murray, who was playing despite suffering from a persistant shoulder injury, intercepted Fine’s pass and returned it to the 10 yard line.
After a holding penalty moved the ball back to the 20, Cliver hooked up with Howe, who made a one handed catch for the final touchdown as they continued their personal streak of at least one touchdown per game.
“He’s tall and an easy target,” said Cliver. “I trust him. He catches anything.”
Howe credits the coaches for knowing the perfect moment and the perfect pass for the situation.
“The coach waits until it happens,” said Howe.
For the night, Cliver was 8-13 for 157 yards, including 3 passes for 43 yards to Severns.
Cliver, Howe, and Severns were quick to deflect the praise to the offensive line for their improved pass protection. The line play also led to 170 yards rushing, averaging over 5 yards a carry on a night when Central put all their energy into stopping the running attack. Central, which had been ranked in the top ten in the state prior to their loss to Sisters last week, was held to less than 100 yards rushing and 135 yards passing.
The Huskies stay at home this Friday to start Capital Conference play, hosting a 3-0 Molalla, whom Younger feels is, along with Sisters, is in the top three in the league. The Indians, more of an unknown with their new head coach Tim Baker, has defeated the new Hillsboro high school, Liberty, 41-0, Astoria 28-14, and Seaside 46-14.
“We need to learn never to underestimate our opponents or overestimate our own abilities,” said Younger. “In this league, we need to be ready each and every week.”
(Check the Scoreboard in the paper or on the Internet for this week’s statistics.)