Zach Jackson and Keenan Martin were named co-Most Valuable Players the 2010 Sweet Home football team’s awards dessert Wednesday at the high school auditorium.
The Huskies, who finished the season 2-3 in league and 3-7 overall with a 35-27 loss at No. 3-ranked Central in the first round of the state playoffs, grew substantially as a team during the season, Coach Dustin Nichol said.
He noted that Sweet Home lost 40-7 to Central in the third week of the season in a “tentative” performance marred by penalties and turnovers, which he attributed to a lack of confidence among the Huskies.
“I saw a lot of people who were saying ‘I hope this’ or ‘I wish that,’” Nichol said.
By the end of the season, he said, the mantra had changed to “I will do that,” which was borne out in the playoffs against the Panthers.
“We were beating those guys in the first half. We went punch for punch with them coming down the stretch,” he said, adding that down to the last play he expected the Huskies to get the ball back and win the game.
Jackson, who sent one opponent to the hospital early in the season, and fired up the Huskies with a key interception and touchdown against Central, was also named Defensive Player of the Year.
Bryce Seiber and Matt Long, both of whom saw their first significant playing time on varsity this year, were named Most Improved.
Jerohn Coleman was named Offensive Lineman of the Year. Regarding Coleman’s performance on the field, Offensive Line Coach Darren Perry said, “We didn’t talk about him because we didn’t have to. We didn’t talk about him getting injured because we didn’t want to.”
Martin and Kyle Sorenson were named Best Backs. Assistant Coach Don Knight said Martin, as quarterback, was “a tremendous leader” and noted that Sorenson gained 5.6 yards per carry to lead the team and probably would have gained more if he hadn’t played on a sprained ankle for the last two games.
Patrick Long was named Most Inspirational Player.
Cody Daniels, Alex Santana and Jesse Comstock were named recipients of the Dick Reynolds Coaches Award, given to players who go beyond their ability, “unsung heroes of the team.”
Third-year varsity letters went to Daniels, Jackson, Martin, Long, Kris Newport and manager Emily Delong.
Second-year letter recipients were DJ Burns, Jerohn Coleman, Matt Long, Zach Miller, Grason Reynolds, Bryce Seiber, Steven Baugus, Alex Coakley, Jesse Comstock, John Markert, Ty Paulino, Kyle Sorenson, Alex Santana and manager Kendell Anderson.
First-year letters went to Alex Larson, Nick Nivison and Dallas Loewen, whom Nichol described as “project kids” – seniors from the Forestry Club who either went out for football for the first time or hadn’t played since the eighth or ninth grade.
“They told me if I got the job they’d play football,” he said, adding that all three exceeded his expectations in their ability to help the team.
Also receiving first-year letters were juniors Ty Collins, Hunter Bidwell, Taylor Conn, Ty Harvey, Scottie Stockman and Alex Armstrong, and sophomores Wade Paulus, Mitch Keenon, Nate Melcher, Josh Wooley, Zane Jackson, Colton Holly, Zach Gill and Trever Olsen.
Nichol said that the sophomores earned their letters by their special-teams play on the varsity, being ready to play when called upon in the varsity games, as well as the JV1 games, and other demonstrated commitment to the team.
Nichol said the Huskies’ improvement was noticed by the other coaches in the league, who named Sweet Home players to 18 spots on the all-league teams.
“We have a lot more in quality of people and respect than the (win-loss) record indicates, he said. “It would have been easy for them to pigeonhole the new team and the new coach.”
First-team selections were: Jerohn Coleman, a unanimous selection at offensive line; Alex Coakley, who was one vote short of a unanimous selection at receiver; Zach Jackson, who was one vote short of a unanimous selection at linebacker; Steven Baugus (offensive line); Keenan Martin (defensive back); and Alex Santana (kicker), who converted a school-record 29 straight extra-point attempts before missing his final try at Central, where he was kicking with an injury.
Second-team selections were Jesse Comstock (offensive line), Cody Daniels (center, linebacker), Patrick Long (defensive end), Keenan Martin (quarterback), Kyle Sorenson (running back) and Alex Santana (defensive back).
Honorable mention selections were: Alex Coakley at punter, where he averaged 35 yards per kick, Jerohn Coleman (defensive line), Jesse Comstock (linebacker), Alex Santana (receiver) and Mitch Keenon, a sophomore who led the team in interceptions with five, at defensive back.
Nichol, who was forced to undergo surgery for a “blown” disc in his back, which forced him to miss two games during his rookie year as head coach, said he particularly appreciated the contributions of the staff he pulled together after getting the job last spring: Randy Whitfield, Ken Kittson, Darren Perry, Don Knight, Jay Horner, Tomas Rosa and Casey Baarson – and former Husky quarterback and veteran coach Tom Horn, who helped coach while Nichol was out.
Knight, a JV coach who assumed some of the varsity coaching responsibilities when Nichol couldn’t be on the sideline, said he expects “big things out of these guys next year” from the JV1 and 2 squads, who won 13 of the 14 games they played this season, some by margins as great as 71-0 and 48-6. Their only loss was to South Albany.
He said the most memorable JV game was at Central, where the Huskies trailed 7-0 at halftime and then marched down the field in the fourth quarter to score, and then tacked on a two-point conversion to win 8-7.
“I told them my expectation was never to lose a game,” Knight said. “In this freshman, sophomore and junior class we have athletes who have the ability to do some special things.”