Jason Casey
For The New Era
Hayden McDonald and Austin James combined for nearly 300 rushing yards and led Sweet Home to a 28-8 win over Sisters in their opening game of Sky-Em play Friday night, Sept. 22.
McDonald finished the game with 178 yards and was kept out of the end zone on the last drive of the game. He had to settle for a 68-yard run to finish off the Outlaws.
The win left the Huskies 4-0 overall and 1-0 to open the league schedule on a Homecoming night that will be the last home game for Sweet Home until __________.
James did find the end zone from two yards out to give Sweet Home an early 6-0 lead. The junior running back’s play has been noticed by his teammates and coach.
”Austin, I’ll tell you, there’s something that has flipped a switch from last year to this year, said Head Coach Dustin Nichol after James finished with 120 yards on 20 carries. “Austin is one of the pleasant surprises because going into the season you just wondered which of the seniors are going to be that go-to guy. Which one is going to flip that switch, turn that corner and start lighting things up and owning their position.
“He is a tool in our toolbox that is great to have.”
After James’ score, Sisters turned the ball over on downs on fourth-and-seven on the Sweet Home 39-yard line. That is where the Huskies went to work again. After three straight runs, quarterback Colton Smith connected with junior tight end Jake Swanson for their first of two touchdowns from 23 yards out to go up 12-0 in the first quarter.
“(Smith) was seeing the field well. He saw Jake really well,” said senior receiver Keegan Holly who led the Huskies in receiving with five catches for 71 yards, but was kept out of the end zone for the first time this season.
“We have been working on how big Jake is and how good of hands he has. We have been really working on ways to get him the ball. It especially helps when our run game has been working like it has been. It’s been ridiculously good lately. When we can pound the run, as soon as we fake the run, it leaves Jake open over the top and Colton has been good about seeing it.”
Smith said that’s what he saw Friday night.
“I saw a 6-foot-5-inch guy matched up against 5-foot-4-inch guys and I took the advantage,” he said after finishing the game six-of-13 for 92 yards and two touchdowns.
He also added 37 rushing yards and a two-point conversion on the ground.
Swanson who had two catches for 32 yards and two touchdowns said, ”Well, on the one (touchdown) out here all I was thinking, ‘Catch the ball, secure it.’ I really didn’t know where I was on the field. I just wanted to make sure I was in bounds. I just saw the pylon and tried to get my foot over it and get the score.”
The Sweet Home defense once again bent but didn’t break. The Huskies haven’t allowed more than one touchdown in any game this season, and have held their opponents to an average of five points per game.
“The defense has got to be an entire team participation,” Nichol said. “If one guy breaks down it can be gonel.
“I thought Hayden McDonald did a good job. I thought Jake Swanson and Boe Baxter on the inside did a good job.I was very proud of our secondary. We didn’t get caught looking into the backfield. On the longer passes they had, it was because we had a bad defense; it wasn’t because the kids were doing anything wrong.”
The Outlaws finished with 518 yards of total offense, but turned the ball over twice on fumbles, and were stopped on fourth down four times, including their last drive of the game from the nine yard line when Taylor Fendell threw to Christopher Luz, but Luz dropped the ball in the endzone and pounded on the turf in frustration.
Fendell finished the game with an efficient 15 of 19 for 193 yards and one touchdown.
The only touchdown for the Outlaws came early in the third quarter when Fendall found Korbin Sharp wide open down the middle of the field with 9:13 to go. On the point after the snap was high and Luz made something out of nothing, bulling over a Husky defender to get the two points. Cutting Sweet Home’s lead to 12-8, that was as close as they would get.
On the next drive Boe Baxter broke the Outlaws’ back and possibly their spirit on a fourth-and-1 run, escaping one tackler and racing to the end zone for a 41-yard touchdown.
After Smith’s two-point run, the score was 20-8.
The penalties that plagued the team the previous week, against Stayton, seemed to be cleaned up. The Huskies only had three penalties, and that wasn’t lost on their coach.
“Let’s just say we had a heart-to-heart this week,” Nichol said. “Like I said I was going to clean some house and get my house in order and I think we did that. We still had some (penalties) out here, but that is some of the emotion of the game it’s a physical game, you’re going to get a few.”.
Friday night, Sept. 29, Sweet Home faces off against Cottage Grove (4-0, 1-0) in what will likely be the toughest game for the Huskies so far.
Cottage Grove beat Elmira 41-18 Sept. 22 and Nichol expects a battle from the No. 2 team in the OSAA. The Huskies are ranked eighth.
“I’m really excited about next week,” Nichol said. “That’s going to be a real test of our mettle, and I’m looking forward to Cottage Grove.
“We’ve set a goal, and we want to be league champions. I’m not saying I’m calling it for us. We are going to have to have the best game that we played in the last two or three years against Cottage Grove, or they’re just going to win. We can’t make mistakes. We’ve really got to limit our mistakes against Cottage Grove.
“They are a very explosive team – a very seasoned team returning a lot of people from a state championship appearance last year. To me, all the pressure is off of us. Everything is on Cottage Grove. They’re the returning league champions with a lot of depth. I told the kids we’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain next Friday night.
“It’s all on Gary and the boys down there.”
Holly said the Huskies expect to win.
“We aren’t afraid to lose; we are ready to win. We know what we are doing. The locker room is different, we have a winning mentality now,” he said.
Scoring Summary
1 2 3 4
SH 12 0 8 8 – 28
Sis 0 0 8 0 – 8
1st quarter
SH – 6:08 Austin James 2 Yd run ( Austin Stevens kick blocked)
SH – Colton Smith 23 Yd pass to Jake Swanson (2-pt conversion failed)
3rd quarter
SIS – 9:13 Fendall 31 Yd pass to Sharp (2-pt conversion Luz Run)
SH – 6:57 Baxter 41 Yd run (2-pt conversion Smith Run)
4th quarter
SH – 9:03 Smith 9 Yd pass to Swanson (2-pt conversion Smith to Mcdonald)
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Sweet Home – Boe Baxter 6-53-1; Austin James 20-120-1; Colton Smith 3-37; Hayden McDonald 12-178. Sisters – Jake Stevens 20-99; Christopher Luz 5- (-)5; Ethan Morgan 12-42; Korbin Sharp 1-2.
Passing: Sweet Home – Colton Smith 6-13-2-92; Jake Swanson 1-1-0-11. Sisters – Taylor Fendell 15-19-1-193.
Receiving: Sweet Home – Keegan Holly 5-71; Jake Swanson 2-32-2. Sisters – Christopher Luz 7-78; Korbin Sharp 5-102; Turner Stutzman 1-7; Tyler Friend 1-5.