Jackson Baer
For The New Era
Sweet Home’s showdown with Cottage Grove in a battle for second place in the Sky-Em conference race turned out to be a knock-down, drag-out affair Friday night.
The Lions gave the Huskies all they could handle. Led by four rushing touchdowns from junior Wade Paulus, Sweet Home came out on top with a 34-28 victory in double overtime.
“I’ve never been in a game like this before,” said Coach Dustin Nichol. “I’m glad it came out our way.”
“It was one of the hardest games I’ve ever played in,” said senior Jesse Comstock. “A lot of guys made some really big plays.”
Sweet Home struck first on a 20-yard rushing touchdown by Paulus with 2:00 left in the first quarter. Paulus capped the drive with five straight runs.
The PAT was good by new kicker, senior Kyle Winslow, who was recently added from the soccer team. This was Winslow’s first football game in his life and he adds a kicking element to an already strong team.
“I was obviously nervous. I had nerves running through me,” said Winslow. “This team has a bunch of great guys and I’m excited to play with them.”
Cottage Grove responded with a 68-yard touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Scotty Hitner to junior Brian Spindler to even the score at 7-7. Hitner was making his first start for the Lions and added an effective passing game for the home team.
Hitner connected with fellow sophomore Oscar Rauda with 4:27 to play in the second quarter for a 26-yard touchdown pass, on fourth and twenty-three, giving the Lions a 13-7 lead after they missed the extra point. Sweet Home was unable to score again in the first half and went into the locker room trailing by six.
“Cottage Grove changed things up and they were prepared well to play this game,” Nichol said. “It was not the team we were expecting to see, with the new quarterback.”
Sweet Home’s sophomore signal caller, Cole Horner, hit junior Mitch Keenon on the first play of the third quarter for a 39-yard completion. Horner finished the drive with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Keenon at the 10:12 mark and Winslow added another PAT to give the Huskies a 14-13.
Hitner responded with another touchdown pass to Rauda, this one for 21 yards with 2:18 left in the third quarter. Cottage Grove regained the lead at 20-14 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Huskies finally found the end zone again with 4:52 left in the fourth quarter. Paulus rushed for his second touchdown, a six-yard run to tie the score at 20-20. The PAT failed after a bad snap.
The Lions drove down the field but the Huskies stopped them at the Sweet Home 29-yard line and the game went into overtime.
Sweet Home got the ball first at the 25-yard line and promptly scored on three straight runs by Paulus. The Huskies went for two and converted on a pitch from Colton Holly to Hunter Bidwell.
Cottage Grove responded by converting a fourth and seven into a 13-yard touchdown pass from Hitner to senior Zach Borrelli. The Lions then scored on their own two-point conversion and the score was tied at 28-28.
Cottage Grove got the ball first in the second overtime and was called for offensive pass interference, pushing the ball back to the 40-yard line. Junior Jacob Smith deflected the second-down pass and Comstock sacked Hitner on third down to set up fourth and long.
The fourth-down pass was incomplete and the Huskies took over at the 25-yard line. Paulus ran in, two plays later, for a five-yard touchdown to give the Huskies a 34-28 win in the second overtime.
“I was running on fumes; the whole team was gassed,” Paulus said. “(Jerohn) Coleman made a great block. This was the most exciting game I’ve ever played. They came to play but we played to our potential.”
It was a hard-fought game by both teams and the win secures the second seed in the playoffs for Sweet Home, now 3-1 in league and 6-2 overall.
“It felt really good,” said Cole Horner. “Zach (Gill) made a hole for Wade (Paulus) and he ran it right in. They put up a good fight but we were able to come back and win.”
Sweet Home will host a surging Sisters team at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 27, at Husky Field. The Outlaws come into town having won their last two games, 21-14 over Cottage Grove at home and 47-22 at La Pine, to improve to 2-6 for the season.
“Sisters is improving,” Nichol said. “I expect the same thing from them that we saw tonight.”
Summary
1st 2nd 3rd 4th OT 2OT Total
SH 7 0 7 6 8 6 34
CG 7 6 7 0 8 0 28
Team Statistics
Rushing: SH 54-312; CG 27-43
Passing: SH 7-15-104-1 TD, 1 INT; CG 22-36-275; 4 TD, 1 INT
First Downs: SH 13;CG 10
Penalties: SH 6-55; CG 8-80
Turnovers: SH 3; CG 2
Total Yards: 416 yards Individual Rushing:
Wade Paulus 34-26; 4 TD; Hunter Bidwell 10-41; Spencer Knight 1-3
Cole Horner 3-7; Jacob Smith 5-31; Jesse Comstock 1-4
Individual Passing:
Cole Horner 7-15-104; 1 TD; 1 INT
Individual Receiving:
Mitch Keenon 4-75; 1 TD; Scottie Stockman 1-13; Colton Holly 1-10
Quin Wise 1-6
Interceptions: Mitch Keenon