The Husky football squad put together a complete 48 minute game Friday, upending the Central Panthers 27-7 at Husky field.
In one of the squad’s better overall contests, both the offense and defense jelled, and pushed the Huskies to a 4-3 overall mark and to 3-1 in the league play.
“We played well both offensively and defensively,” Coach Rob Younger said of his Huskies. “Our defense took away their running game and we had adequate pass pressure.”
Coach Younger added that the Husky defensive backs “did an excellent job keeping the ball up front.”
The key to the game, though, was that the Huskies controlled the line of scrimmage, Coach Younger said.
“Out of 48 minutes, I’d say we had the ball 32-35 minutes,” Coach Younger said. “We had three touchdown drives in the first half. We had one 12-play drive and an 11-play drive that ate up a lot of time on the clock. In the second half we had one drive that ate up nine minutes. When you’re up 21-7 and eat up nine minutes of game time, that’s good control.”
Sweet Home rushed 61 times for 269 yards, getting another strong game from running backs Adam Knight and Levi McCubbins.
Knight scored three touchdowns for the second week in a row and racked up 130 yards on 26 carries.
McCubbins scored once and carried 20 times for 93 yards.
Quarterback Brian Seward connected on four of six passing attempts for 37 yards. Overall, the Huskies rolled up 306 offensive yards.
Central rushed just 11 times for 16 yards and completed 20 of 34 passing attempts for 233 yards.
Neither team scored in the first quarter but both put points on the board in the second quarter.
Adam Knight tallied his first TD of the night from the one yard line after Richard Erevia picked off a Central pass at the 17 yard line. The PAT failed.
Central scored its only TD of the evening on a 21-yard pass from Josh Brandt to Jordan Pratt, then booted the PAT for a short-lived 7-6 lead.
The Huskies moved the ball 60 yards for their next TD, as McCubbins plunged in from three yards for the score. Wunker’s kick was good and Sweet Home took a 14-7 lead.
Erevia, who is having an excellent defensive season, picked off Brandt one more time , returning the ball to Central’s 17 yard line.
With less than a minute left in the first half, Knight rushed two yards for the score.
The Huskies rounded out the league game in the fourth quarter when Ricky Stock recovered a Central fumble on the kickoff and set up Knight for a five yard TD.
“We played well,” said quarterback Brian Seward. “We got lucky with some of their turnovers. All three of our running backs ran hard.”
Levi McCubbins said it was a good win for the Husky seniors who hadn’t beaten Central during their high school careers.
“Most of our linemen are seniors and they were motivated to beat Central,” McCubbins said. “They worked very hard. Our offensive line beat their defensive line very play.”
Play of the week awards went to: Offense-Adam Knight; Defense-Brady Simpkins; Special Teams-Jason Huenergardt; Practice-Tomas Rosa.
This week’s game: The Huskies travel to Cascade Friday. The Cougars won their first game of the season over Stayton Friday.
“We need to play consistent football,” Coach Younger said. “Great football teams play every play well, every day.”