As expected, Sweet Home imposed its will on an outmanned Taft squad 55-20 Friday night, setting up this week’s showdown for the league title with Central.
Taft chose to put seven or eight defensive players in the box to take away the Huskies’ running game. Tyler Holly, who has assumed the starting role at quarterback with the hand injury to Keenan Martin, made that an unwise decision. Holly completed 10 of 12 passes for 287 yards, five of those completions for touchdowns.
Holly gave credit for his success to the offensive line’s pass protection.
“I wasn’t touched all night,” he said, “and the receivers got themselves open. It was easy to make reads.”
The Huskies also set the tone with great field position. Alex Santana boomed three kickoffs into the end zone and kept the Tigers inside their 30 on eight of his 12 kickoffs. Alex Coakley punted twice and both pinned the Tigers inside their 20, one of them recovered by Brent Moyer when he hit a Taft player in the back.
Taft was less successful on kickoffs. On the opening kickoff, Brock Cota returned it 30 yards to the Taft 41. Even though the Huskies were unable to forge a first down, Moyer’s punt recovery gave the Huskies new hope at the 15 yard line, with Cota eventually scoring on a one- yard run.
Cota scored his second running touchdown from four yards out after the defense stopped the Tigers cold.
Taft did much better on its second series, but a key Moyer sack forced the hosts into a field goal attempt that they missed.
That’s when the Sweet Home air show began. Holly connected with Tim McDowell, who outraced the Taft defenders for an 80-yard touchdown on the very first play.
The Tigers put together another positive drive, only to stall at the Husky seven-yard line. Sweet Home responded with its longest offensive stint €“ 12 plays. The Huskies mixed up this sequence with inside and outside running as well as three Holly completions, the final one for 24 yards to Sean Potter.
Taft finally broke through with a long kickoff return to the Husky 48 and a first play pass for 48 yards from John Wilkinson to Thomas Lovejoy. From that point on, every kickoff by Taft was an onside attempt, none of which were successful.
Sweet Home scored twice more in the first half, both on passes. First, Holly found Potter again in the endzone from 30 yards out. Then Taylor Tagle scored his first touchdown of the year, eluding Taft tacklers for a 27-yard score.
The Huskies intercepted two Taft passes to erase any doubt about the outcome of the game. Moyer intercepted one and Tagle closed the half with one, sending the Huskies to the locker room with a 41-7 lead.
Sweet Home started where they left off in the third quarter. Potter intercepted a long Tiger pass attempt and then ran it back to the Taft 28. Four plays later, Moyer scored on a seven-yard burst.
But the teams exchanged scores throughout the third quarter. The Wilkinson-to-Lovejoy combo teamed up for a 54-yard strike. Sweet Home immediately responded with the second Holly- to-McDowell touchdown, this time for 55 yards.
Then Taft ate up the rest of the third quarter and tallied the final touchdown of the night with an 11 yard pass to tight end John Beck on the first play of the fourth quarter.
In the fourth quarter, the Huskies went to the rushing game with the second unit to run out the clock. Taft would do the same after the lone play of their starting unit ended with a fumble recovered by Steven Baugus.
Even with the lopsided score, the Huskies only outgained Taft by two yards. Despite Holly’s passing prowess, Taft’s Wilkinson actually threw for 323 yards, exploiting the Husky secondary for some long yardage. This, along with some missed tackles, creates many questions for the game with Central, who will be bringing in the likely all-state quarterback Grant Hedrick, who cannot only throw but has the speed to run as well.
Head coach Rob Younger split the responsibility for the problem between the defensive line not applying enough pressure, putting the secondary at risk. But the secondary also has to improve in its coverage. He also knows that the Huskies have a week to solidify their tackling technique to keep the Panthers under control.
“There’s no question we gave up too many big plays,” indicated Younger. “We have to shore that up.”
Moyer, a key contributor on many of the big plays at Taft, realizes the Huskies need solid coverage and containment to keep Hedrick in check along with some opportunistic big plays.
“We’ll watch a lot of film,” he said, “so we will know what we have to do to be in the right spot to make those big plays.”
Hedrick’s main targets are wideouts Ty Phillips and Jesse Pratt along with tight end Marcus McArdle.
Running back Aiden Braa-Stanley is also a significant threat and caused the Huskies fits last year. Central’s only loss, despite a difficult schedule, came at the hands of Marist, the clear number one team in the state, in the Panthers’ opening game.
“It doesn’t get any better,” said Younger, noting that Sweet Home already has a home state playoff game secure going into the league championship game on Friday at Corvallis High School. “Anybody would be happy with that. We’re going to play hard and win a league championship.”
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
SH 20 21 14 0 55
Taft 0 7 7 6 20
1st Quarter
SH: Brock Cota 1 yd. run (kick failed)
SH: Cota 4 yd. run (Alex Santana kick)
SH: Tim McDowell 80 yd. pass from Tyler Holly (Santana kick)
2nd Quarter
SH: Sean Potter 24 yd. pass from Holly (Santana kick)
Taft: Thomas Lovejoy 48 yd. pass from John Wilkinson (Ricky Nand kick)
SH: Potter 30 yd. pass from Holly (Santana kick)
SH: Taylor Tagle 27 yd. pass from Holly (Santana kick)
3rd Quarter
SH: Brent Moyer 7 yd. run (Santana kick)
Taft: Lovejoy 54 pass from Wilkinson (Nand kick)
SH: McDowell 55 yd. pass from Holly (Santana kick)
4th Quarter
Taft: John Beck 11 yd. pass from Wilkinson (kick failed)
Team Stats
Rushing: Sweet Home 40-163; Taft 28-141
Passing: Sweet Home 10-12-1. 287; Taft 14-28-3, 323
Sacked: SH None; Taft: 2-16
Total Offense: Sweet Home 450; Taft 448
First Downs: Sweet Home 15; Taft 14
Tackles for Losses: Sweet Home 6; Taft 6
3rd/4th Down Conversions: Sweet Home 6-9; Taft 5-11
Penalties: SH 4-15; Taft 5-28
Turnovers: SH 2; Taft 5
Individual Stats
Rushing: SH: Cota 10-57; Moyer 7-27; Potter 1-20; Sorenson 13-20; McDowell 2-19;Tagle 1-14; Coakley 2-11; C.Holly 2-2; T.Holly 2-(-7)
Taft: Whitaker 12-60; Wilkinson 9-50
Passing: SH: T.Holly 10-21-1, 287
Taft: Wilkinson 14-28-3, 323
Receiving: SH: McDowell 2-135; Tagle 4-71; Potter 3-62; Cota 1-19
Taft: Lovejoy 3-109; McNeely 3-91
Kickoffs: SH: Santana 9-466, 34.6 net; Avg start line: 25.4
Taft: Selvidge 4-68; 9.5 net; Avg start line: 50.5
Kick Returns: SH: Cota 1-30
Taft 6-95
Punts: SH: Coakley 2-54 net 27; Taft: McNelly 2-64, net 31
Punt Returns: SH: Bidwell 1-2; Taft: None
Interceptions: SH: 3 (Moyer, Tagle, Potter); Taft 1
Fumble Recoveries: SH 2 (Moyer, Baugus); Taft 1
Sacks: SH 2 (Marchbanks, Moyer & Coakley .5); Taft None
Tackles: SH: Cota 10, McDowell 8, Marchbanks/Baugus 5
* * * * *
The frosh/soph football squad beat Taft 29-24 Thursday, Oct. 22.
Ty Collins scored two touchdowns, one rushing and one receiving. Wade Paulus ran for two more and one two-point conversion.
Colton Holly threw for a TD and Jake Smith was three for three kicking PAT’s.
“Our defense was put into some tough situations and they really stepped up when we needed them to,” Coach Dustin Nichol said. “The Taft receivers knew they had played in a ball game.
“Our defense did an excellent job forming up and putting the pads to the Tigers running backs and receivers. We won while having three turnovers and 80 yards in penalties.
“The goals for this week are to be more consistent and disciplined.”
The Huskies, now 4-3, will host Central Thursday.