Brandon Keenon repeated as the Most Valuable Player for the Sweet Home football team at its awards dessert Thursday, Nov. 12.
Keenon led the Huskies, who were significantly short on experience in their line-up this season, to a 4-5 record and a play-in game against Marshfield after finishing tied for second with two other teams in the Sky-Em League at 3-2.
The senior running back finished this season with 1,044 yards on 222 carries and 17 touchdowns, putting him fourth in the list of all-time rushers for Sweet Home (3,196 yards) and in scoring (260 points).
Head Coach Dustin Nichol said it was difficult to moderate Keenon’s time on the field, since he was also a first-team selection at inside linebacker. Keenon suffered a high ankle sprain in the first game, at Crook County, which slowed him a bit and reduced his time on the field in the second game, at Estacada, where the field conditions were not good.
“It was going through my mind, ‘Are we going to play chess here or roll the dice?’” he said. “We decided to play chess.”
That likely reduced Keenon’s output, but kept him playing later in the season. Keenon also was slowed by injuries in the last two games, against Sutherlin and in the play-in matchup in Coos Bay.
“He wasn’t 100 percent the last two games in the season but he didn’t act like it,” Nichol said. “He stepped up and did a great job for us.”
Assistant coaches praised Keenon’s football savvy and leadership.
“He’s lived football his entire life,” said Jay Horner. “He just understands the game. We heard other coaches yelling into their headsets, ‘We told you not to throw to No. 8.”
Assistant Coach Keenon Martin, who played quarterback for the Huskies from 2008 to 2010, called Keenon an “absolute workhorse,” noting that spectators probably did not appreciate the effort they saw from him. He noted that in an average game Keenon was getting hit at least 60 times, often by multiple players since “it always took more than one person to bring him down” and made “half the tackles on defense.”
“It’s hard to take this guy off the field because of how good he is at what he does.”
Keenon was also named Top Defensive Player and Best Back on offense.
Outstanding linemen were seniors Gavin Baskin on offense and George Raborn on defense.
Horner said that Baskin, a three-year varsity player, “has worked hard every year and was the anchor on the line for us this year.”
Raborn, he said, did so on defense. “He was just solid for us all year long,” Horner said, adding that Raborn picked up where he left off after some crucial “big stops” in crucial situations as a junior.
Senior Garrison Whitfield and junior Dan Virtue were both named Best Back on defense.
Assistant Coach Brandon Gaskey said Virtue was “hardly ever out of position” in the defensive backfield.
“You literally could not train someone to do what he did in the defensive backfield,” Gaskey said. “He was in on every play.”
He noted that Virtue, who finished the season with a team-leading 17 catches for 298 yards and two touchdowns, is “one of those kids who never came off the field. He’s phenomenal on the football field.”
Whitfield, who had to miss most of his junior year due to injury, was a leader on defense, coaches said. He was also named Most Inspirational.
“He was a constant positive influence,” said Assistant Coach Brent Gaskey, noting that Whitfield drew “almost unanimous” votes for the honor. “He was always chirping in (teammates’) ears, all the little secrets he’d picked up over the years. He changed the tempo of the game when we had him in.”
Most Improved was junior Josh Rice, who was pressed into service at center after senior Desmond Ely got injured. Rice, who had to miss most of his freshman season with a broken leg, spent a lot of time in the weight room to prepare for this year, and it showed, Horner said.
“I could tell when we started doubles that he’d been working in the off-season,” the coach said, adding that when Rice went in at center during the Sisters game, “he had that deer-in-the-headlights look.
“He found a lot of success because he made mistakes. You can’t find success unless you go out and fail.”
Dick Reynolds Coaches Awards, which go to deserving players not named to other awards, went to seniors Justin Tow and Charlie Guerrero and junior Dillon Stutzman.
As a quarterback, Tow played “a lonely position,” Nichol said. “You’re either the goat or the victor. There are a lot of variables that need to come into play for the success you’re going to have.”
The coach acknowledged that “there are a couple of games I know he’d like to come back,” but noted that Tow finished with 1184 yards, which put him fourth in career passing yards (2,053) for the Huskies.
Guerrero suffered the third concussion of his two-year high school football career at Scio in a pre-season football jamboree and had to sit out for the entire season. He responded by attending “every practice,” the coach said, and assisting coaches with clean-up and other management chores throughout the season.
“He helped me pick up every towel, every dirty pant and jersey after home and away games,” Nichol said, adding that Guerrero stayed in the training room when teammates were in the ice bath, providing required staffing because “you can’t leave them by themselves in there.”
Stutzman was a hard worker who “takes a lot of things personal, how he handles himself on the practice field and in games,” Nichol said.
Brandon Gaskey added that Stutzman “got picked on early in the season” in the defensive backfield, “but toward the end of the season he didn’t get picked on very much. He didn’t give up very many yards.”
Both Keenon and Baskin received third-year letters.
Second-year lettermen were Tow, Whitfield, Raborn, Ely, Gue-rrero, senior Joel Holman and senior Tyler Plebuch.
“Those are your juniors and seniors,” Nichol told the crowd Thursday. “We didn’t have a lot of two- or three-year lettermen. When these guys were freshmen and sophomores, we had senior-driven classes. Not to take anything away from the talent up here as sophomores, it was just that the people in them were equally as talented.
“This is kind of the monster we were kind of dealing with throughout the season.”
Nichol said that the shortage of veterans forced those the Huskies had to play more, unlike when he was their age, when it was “an anomaly” to play both ways.
“These guys right here were juggernauts,” he said. “They were not just two-way, but three-way starters. That takes its toll on the body. It’s not easy, running and hitting every play – 127 plays. Your son was getting hit 127 times a night, running the distance 127 times a night.
“I don’t think people appreciate what these guys did. That 4-5 record is disappointing, but they worked their rear ends off.”
First-year letters went to seniors Jesus Patricio and Ryan Hackworth, both of whom had productive years after being sidelined with injuries earlier; juniors Keanu Aiona, Virtue, Devin Stafford, Stutzman, Austin Taylor, Lee Baltezore, Jake Porter, Rice and Chance Holley; sophomores Bryce Coulter, Kelton Gaskey, Nick Marler, Austin James, Keegan Holly, Bryce Nichols, Conner Duran, Austin Griffin and Justin Kurtz; freshmen Hayden Nichol and Jake Swanson; statistician Caleb Simonis; and managers Kat Kinker and Megan Grajeda.
Junior varsity certificates went to Caiden Knight, Hayden Nichol, Hayden McDonald, Justin Kurtz, Micah Stuart, Miguel McIntyre, Boe Baxter, Nick Marler, Austin Griffin, Keegan Holly, Johnny Lynn, Colton Smith, Gabe Boschee, Jadon Lopez, Damien Shocker, Noah Moore, Dakota Seward, Parker Lemmer, Austin Olin, Robbie Yunke, Logan Cockrell, Conner Duran, Nathan Virtue, Robert Laudill, Austin James, Blake Keeney, Michael Guidry, Gabe Jepson, Austin Sills, Levi Baird, Lance Hanson, Jake Swanson, Christian Morris, Bryce Nichols and Hayden McDonald.