Jason Casey
For The New Era
Colton Smith and Hayden McDonald powered Sweet Home past the Sutherlin Bulldogs in a 40-8 win that essentially cemented a second-place league finish for the Huskies with one game left in the regular season.
The dynamic duo accounted for five of Sweet Home’s six touchdowns, including a spectacular play on fourth-and-one from the one-yard line when McDonald, stopped short of the goal line, realized that and seeing his quarterback standing behind him pitched the ball to Smith, who ran it into the end zone.
“McDonald was making good reads,” said Coach Dustin Nichol. “He was planting his foot and getting uphill. He was reading the blocks very well and he was very motivated. His last away game wasn’t so good at Cottage Grove, and I think he wanted some redemption.”
The first touchdown of the game was scored by McDonald on a two-yard plunge into the end zone with a little over a minute left in the first quarter.
His improbable play came midway through the second period. Although the Sutherlin sideline yelled that the McDonald’s knee was down, the referees let the play stand, giving Sweet Home a 14-0 lead at the half.
Throughout the game, fog and moisture were a factor, causing slippery balls and less-than-ideal visibility, forcing the Huskies to huddle up instead of their normal soft huddle on the line of scrimmage. Sutherlin had numerous low snaps, including one from the 13-yard line, when quarterback Cade Meisner was trying to recover one low snap, and Austin James introduced himself to Meisner with a shoulder that knocked Meisner into the ball sending it into the end zone.
It was recovered by Nathan Virtue for a defensive touchdown and a 20-0 lead.
“The (fog) kind of affected the way we could throw,” said Nichol. “You had to keep the ball down. If you got it up into the air, you can’t see it, so it affected some of our routes that we were running, and Colton needs to square his shoulders up and not aim so high.
“His shoulders are aiming up in the air, and he was floating balls this week. Then our receivers, I don’t know what happened. We dropped multiple passes, two for touchdowns that should have been gimmies from a few of our receivers, and that was uncharacteristic.”
After the Huskies stopped the next Bulldog drive, Smith and Keegan Holly connected on a 71-yard touchdown later in the third quarter.
“That guy was playing really far inside so we didn’t really have our slants on pretty much,” said Holly, who finished the game with three receptions for 100 yards and that touchdown. “I beat him outside a couple of times, so we ran a quick slant but I went outside first, and he jumped the route badly. So there was nobody, and they completely took the safety on the other side because we had three receivers and it was just green from there.”
Smith said they do extra work after practice on such plays.
“We just ended up getting the timing down. The first one I threw to him I missed him but we got the timing down, and it was for a 70-yard touchdown.”
In the fourth quarter, Smith found McDonald for a 13-yard touchdown, extending the Husky lead to 34-0. Smith finished the game 11 for 26 with 196 yards passing, 34 rushing and two passing touchdowns and one rushing.
The only touchdown and offense by Sutherlin were on the last drive of the game when JV players were in for the Huskies. Meisner ran it in from eight yards out, with 19 seconds to go in the game, to avoid the shutout. Meisner finished the game 6 for 19 for 50 yards and an interception.
Next week the Huskies travel to Elmira with a home play-in game riding on the line. The last two years they traveled to Marshfield and were blown out by the Pirates both times.
The importance of the game isn’t lost on the players or coach.
“Yeah, it’s a huge game,” said Smith. “We’ve just got to go in and do our assignments, and it’s a game we’re supposed to win so my thought is let’s go win it.
Nichol noted that the Huskies will be playing on “dirt” – natural turf – for the first time all year.
“We are going to go down to Elmira,” he said. “We have had their number for the last three or four years, and we are going to go down in a mud bowl down there. We haven’t played on dirt all year long. We have been on turf basically the entire season, and so that is going to be a culture shock for us.
“The last time we traveled (to) Cottage Grove, I don’t know that we traveled all that well down here either,” he said, referencing the Huskies’ only loss of the season – a big one, 53-12, two weeks ago to the No. 1-ranked Lions.
Sweet Home, currently ranked eighth, must maintain that to guarantee a home play-in game, which is why a win over Elmira (3-3, 1-3 after a 28-7 loss at Sisters) is crucial. The Falcons beat Sutherlin at home 34-8.
“We’ve got a lot riding on that game,” said Holly. “We’ve got a chance for not only a home play-in but maybe a home playoff game. That gives us two more home games if we win and it being Elmira the only team with a grass field and it raining, and it’s gonna be a crap hole down there. Well, we are going to be prepared for it, that’s for sure.”
Scoring Summary
1 2 3 4 final
SH 7 7 14 12 40
S 0 0 0 8 8
1st Quarter
SH – 1:24 Hayden McDonald 11-yard run (PAT Austin Stevens)
2nd Quarter
SH – 7:35 Colton Smith 1-yard run (PAT Stevens)
3rd Quarter
SH – 9:15 Recovered fumble in end zone Nathan Virtue (PAT blocked)
SH – 4:31 Smith 71-yard pass to Keegan Holly (2-pt Smith to Casey Tow)
4th Quarter
SH – 10:44 Smith 13-yard pass to McDonald (2-pt no good)
SH – 1:58 McDonald 2-yard run (PAT missed)
S – Cade Meisner 8-yard run (2-pt Meisner to Andre Smalley)
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Sweet Home – Hayden McDonald 21-179-2; Austin James 14-38; Colton Smith 8-34-1; Gavin Nichols 4-7. Sutherlin – Cade Meisner 9-10-1; Bryce Anderson 1-2; 5-15; Korbyn Jones 1-0.
Passing: Sweet Home – Colton Smith 11-26-2-196. Sutherlin – Cade Meisner 6-19-0-1-50.
Receiving: Sweet Home – Hayden McDonald 2-19-1; Nathan Virtue 2-25; Keegan Holly 3-100-1; Jake Swanson 3-49; Nick Marler 1-3. Sutherlin – Andrew Smiley 2-5; Hunter Fadness 2-9; Tristan Vincent 1-22; Korbyn Jones 1-14.