Ken Roberts
For The New Era
Newport’s running game was unaffected by the boggy turf on the Cubs’ field on their way to a 30-20 victory over Sweet Home.
Tristan Metcalf and Cody Hayner combined for over 300 yards of the Cubs’ offense. Metcalf ran for 191 yards and two touchdowns and also caught an 11-yard pass for another score. Hayner ran for 102 yards into the interior of the Husky defense.
The Huskies’ second-half defensive stands in the red zone and the late surge in the fourth quarter kept the score respectable.
“In the second half, we played with a different passion level and different intensity level,” said coach Rob Younger. “We had kids making plays when it came down to crunch time.”
Younger hopes the combination of that second-half passion and playing in front of a Homecoming audience this next week will make the difference.
“We’re going to build on that intensity for these last three home games,” said Younger.
Each team was successful on their first possession of the game. After an opening kick return to midfield, Newport used the pass to quickly open the scoring on a 38-yard pass from Mark Moore to Casee Case.
It took the Huskies a little longer to achieve the same result. Keenan Martin completed a 28-yard pass to Kevin McGuyre early in the drive and Amos Parmenter finished off the effort rushing for 27 yards, including his 10-yard touchdown.
The rest of the half belonged to the Cubs, who scored on three of their next four possessions. Two of the series were entirely on the ground with Metcalf racing to touchdowns of 13 and 34 yards. After facing a second down and 29 the next time on offense, Newport went back to the air as Clark completed passes of 25, 15, and then an 11 yard strike, once again to Metcalf.
In the third quarter, Newport knocked on the goal line door twice, but Sweet Home turned the Cubs away, limiting them to a 21-yard field goal by Pete Gonzalez.
Not until the fourth quarter were the Huskies able to stand up and shine. On a third down and 10 play on their own 47, second half quarterback Ryan Graville tossed the ball to tight end Josh Riggs 12 yards up the field, but Riggs, using a Tim McDowell block, rumbled his way up the sideline for the touchdown.
Newport came right back after recovering an onside kickoff inside Husky territory.
Using Metcalf and Hayner, the Cubs found themselves first and goal at the nine yard line.
On the next play, after first fumbling the snap, the quarterback Moore made a bad decision on a pass in the flat that McGuyre, playing safety for the first time since last year, picked off and returned 91 yards to paydirt. Graville connected with Brent Moyer on a pass for the two-point conversion.
Newport responded by chewing up time off the clock and yards on the ground to find themselves again inside the Husky 20. Once again, McGuyre intercepted a pass in the end zone to stop the Cubs.
But, with just over a minute left, Sweet Home was unable to move the ball, a problem they had all night. The Huskies had just 81 yards rushing, forcing them to use their passing game, which also struggled. Even though Sweet Home threw for more yards,
144 to the Cubs 118, they had to throw many more passes. The Huskies completed just
eight of 27 passes while Newport was more efficient with eight out of 15, despite three Husky interceptions.
Sweet Home, now 0-2 in league play, faces Taft in their Homecoming game this Friday. Like the Huskies, the Tigers have just one win. They lost to Philomath 34-21 last week.
McGuyre, a senior, believes that the Huskies need to step up and make big plays to change the momentum of the game, but he thinks the team should have an additional focus.
“I’m not as worried about the scores of the games,” said McGuyre, who wants the team to enjoy the the whole team experience. “When you have fun and enjoy your teammates, you play better anyway. Those are the memories that you are going to make.”
Game Summary
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
Sweet Home 6 0 0 14 20
Newport 13 14 3 0 30
1st Quarter
New: Mark Moore to Casee Case 38 yd. pass (Pete Gonzalez kick)
SH: Amos Parmenter 10 yd. run (kick failed)
New: Tristan Metcalf 13 yd. run (pass failed)
2
nd Quarter
New: Metcalf 34 yd. run (run failed)
New: Moore to Metcalf 11 yd. pass (Case run)
3rd Quarter
New: Gonzalez 21 yard field goal
4th Quarter
SH: Ryan Graville to Josh Riggs 53 yd. pass (run failed)
SH: Kevin McGuyre 91 yd. interception return (Graville pass to Brent Moyer)
Team Statistics
Rushing: Sweet Home 24-81; New 48-328
Passing: Sweet Home 8-27-1, 144; New 8-15-3, 118
Sacked: SH None New 1-8
Total Offense: Sweet Home 225; New 438
First Downs: Sweet Home 10; New 18
Tackles for Losses: Sweet Home 4; New 3
3rd/4th Down Conversions: Sweet Home 4-14; New 9-16
Penalties: SH 7-65; New 5-35
Turnovers: SH 1 (interception); New 3 (interceptions)
Individual Statistics
Rushing: SH: Parmenter 12-40; Ward 6-22; Moyer 2-15;
Byers 1-4; McDowell 1-4; Graville 2-(-4)
New: Metcalf 17-191; Hayner 17-102
Passing: SH: Martin 5-14, 74: Graville 3-13-1, 70
New: Moore 8-15-3, 118
Receiving: SH: Riggs 3-70; McGuyre 2-40; Macklin 1-20; Moyer 1-13; McDowell 1-1
New: Case 4-74
Kickoffs: SH: Callagan 4-1111 (43 returned); avg. start line: 43 New: 6-218 (49 returned); avg. start line: 29.3
Kick Returns: SH: Macklin 2-29; McDowell 2-11; Parmenter 1-9
New 2-43
Punts: SH: Parmenter 3-110 Avg 36.7; New 1-27 Avg. 27
Punt Returns: None
Interceptions: SH 3 (McGuyre 2, Graville 1); New 1 (Metcalf)
Sacks: SH 1 (Marchbanks)
Tackles: SH: Parmenter 16, McGuyre 13, Marchbanks 11
Huskies JV football
The junior varsity team extended its season record to 6-0, winning again on Thursday at home against Newport by a huge 64-14 margin.
Quarterback Tyler Holly one of the reasons for the Huskies’ success, having another great game with 185 yards passing for three touchdowns,and running one in for a score as well.
Holly hit Sean Potter for three passes including a 73-yard touchdown toss. Another went to Zach Miller for a 35-yard score.
Steven Bidwell had a good game returning kickoffs, one for 40 yards and one for 25 yards, both giving the Huskies good field position. Bidwell also ran a punt back for 40 yards. Bidwell finished with 75 yards rushing in the game, Kyle Sorenson had 50 yards and Patrick Long had 30 yards.
The score was 48-14 at half time and most of the second half was played with a running clock.
Huskies Frosh Football
The Frosh/Soph team scored most of its points in the first half in a 34-14 win against Newport on Oct. 7. Hunter Bidwell had 205 yards rushing and returned kickoffs and punts for more than 150 yards. Jesse Comstock had 65 yards rushing, quarterback Scottie Stockman had 40 yards, Ty Collins had 35 yards rushing and Jon Walters had 30 yards.
Walters also had 25 yards in pass completions.
The Huskies had five players on the sidelines for substitution and Newport had 40 players total.
The offensive and defensive lines played a great game, particularly since they had to play both ways.
– Dick Oglesby