Kyle Holland
For The New Era
After opening their season with two long bus rides home after two hard road losses to Redmond and Banks, the Sweet Home football players were ready for a happier journey Friday night.
They got it on the bus ride home from Independence after beating their longtime rival Central, 21-16.
In a game marred by penalties and some late-game confusion, the Huskies held on to a tight victory over the Panthers, 21-16. Senior running back Wade Paulus led the way for the Huskies, rushing for a school-record 336 yards on 36 carries and three touchdowns.
“We made it a lot harder than it had to be, but good, bad or ugly, when you beat Central it feels good,” Coach Dustin Nichol told the team in his post-game speech.
“I thought the kids played very hard, very consistent,” he said later. “To me, the score wasn’t indicative of how the game went. We took it to Central, I thought. Considering the quality of their program, that was a good win.”
The Huskies took the opening kickoff and turned it into a 15-play, 71-yard drive composed strictly of a ground-and-pound diet for the Panthers. The drive ate up nearly nine minutes of the clock and was capped off with a one-yard touchdown by Paulus to put the Huskies up 7-0 after Hunter Jutte’s kick.
The rest of the first half however, was not so kind to the Huskies. The team saw most of its drives go backwards due to penalties and miscues on offense.
The defense gave up a big pass play for a 42-yard Central touchdown and on special teams the punt team gave up a safety to put the Huskies in a 9-7 hole at halftime.
It didn’t take long into the second half for Sweet Home to re-take the lead. After stopping the Panthers on their first drive of the half, Paulus took a handoff and broke away for an 84-yard touchdown run on Sweet Home’s first offensive play to put the Huskies up 13-9, after a missed extra point.
“I saw their linebacker come up and the next thing I see is Jake (Smith) clobber him and it was an open field from there, nothing was going to stop me,” Paulus said of his big run.
Smith, the fullback, was playing in his first game of the year after serving a two-game suspension. He was big in his first game back, freeing up Paulus on several big runs.
The Husky defense came up big all game, especially in the second half.
Senior Colton Holly finished with two huge interceptions and had another called back on a mysterious pass interference call that ended up extending a Panther drive on a third and 17. The defense would hold tight though, forcing the Panthers to punt later in the drive.
“We got our guys back and we all stepped up tonight and worked as a team. This was a momentum-changing game for us,” Holly said after the game.
Both of Holly’s interceptions came in the fourth quarter while the Panthers were driving; his last was in the end zone with just seconds to play, fizzling the Panthers’ final hopes of a victory.
Holly also recovered an onside kick late in the game that at the time seemed to seal the victory for the Huskies.
After recovering the kick near midfield with less than a minute left and the Panthers down to their final two timeouts, the Huskies lined up in their victory formation to all but seal the deal. However, some miscommunication and bad clock management forced Sweet Home to turn the ball over on downs at the 50 yard line with 17 seconds to play.
Panther quarterback Ben Finnegan threw up a desperation heave into the end zone where Holly came up with a huge game-saving interception to seal the deal.
“Those last few minutes got a little hectic,” Nichol said. “It was a learning experience for me as coach, let’s put it that way.”
He especially credited Holly and Paulus for their contributions.
“Colton Holly. Two picks and a fumble recovery. That saved my bacon at the end. He did a great job.
“Wade did excellent, both on offense and defense. If he hadn’t had a record-breaking game rushing, the player of the game would definitely have gone to Colton Holly, but Wade did a great job.”
He also credited lineman Zach Gill, who played his first game of the season after sitting out for two weeks, for shoring up the Huskies’ attack on both sides of the ball.
“Zach Gill led our offensive line and, with a combination of his being back, the offensive and defensive lines did an excellent job of controlling the game. You get that down, you’re good to go.”
Nichol said the Huskies’ passing attack still needs some work, as junior quarterback Cole Horner managed just three completions in seven attempts for 21 yards.
“We kind of struggled again in our passing game,” he said. “A couple of passes got called back due to holding calls. Whenever we tried a big play, in the second or third quarter, it would come back due to a hold or a lineman down field.
“We had some adversity there. They got four time outs at the end.”
The Huskies are now 1-2 and get their first home game of the year Friday, Sept. 21, at 7 p.m. against Sutherlin on Husky Field. The Bulldogs are also coming off their first victory of the year after beating Coquille 20-6 Friday night.
“They’re a good team, but this is one we can definitely win,” Nichol said. “We’ve got to bring our A game every week from now on. We want to win going into league play.”
He said his team is focused and know better than to be complacent.
“We understand where we’re at in the season and we’re excited about what we have going on, how we’re starting to come together as a team at the right time.”
And then there’s the chance to play at home for the first time all season.
“It’s gonna be weird have to walk to the game instead of driving for hours,” Nichol said.
“It’s going to be nice.”
Scoring Summary
Sweet Home 21, Central 16
Sweet Home 7 0 6 8 — 21
Central 7 2 0 7 — 16
First Quarter
SH – Wade Paulus 1 yard run, Hunter Jutte kick.
C – Kelton Chapman 42 pass from Ben Finnegan, kick good.
Second Quarter
C – Paulus safety on punt return.
Third Quarter
SH – Paulus 84 yard run, kick failed.
Fourth Quarter
SH – Paulus 6 yard run, 2-point conversion pass from Cole Horner to Mitch Keenon.
C – Chapman 27 pass from Finnegan, kick good.
Rushing – Sweet Home 50-376; Paulus 36-336; Jake Smith 4-5; JT Weld 1-9; Spencer Knight 3-18; Cole Horner 5-3; Trever Olson 1-5.
Passing – Cole Horner 3-7-21.
Receiving – Mitch Keenon 2-19; Wade Paulus 1-2.