Scott Swanson
Going into this football season, Sweet Home Head Coach Dustin Nichol knew he had a young team, without a lot of experience in starting positions, that would have to gel quickly.
He also predicted that Sisters and Cottage Grove would be the teams to beat in the Sky-Em Conference.
Nichol has gotten the first two parts of that trifecta right.
After Sisters exited Husky Stadium with a 28-14 win Friday night, it was obvious the Outlaws’ No. 6 state ranking wasn’t a fluke.
But what maybe wasn’t so obvious was that Sweet Home was closer than it may have appeared from the score, which has been the case in each of the Huskies’ three losses this season.
Inconsistency, particularly in protection, was a key problem for the Huskies.
A pass from quarterback Justin Tow to Devin Stafford fell just out of bounds in the second quarter, beyond Stafford’s hands and behind the Outlaw defenders, as Tow rushed his throw under pressure. Later, a halfback pass from Brandon Keenon to Dan Virtue was slightly mis-timed and just missed, as Keenon tried to avoid Sisters rushers.
“If Dan had gotten that pass, they never would have caught him,” Nichol said. “That’s the way it’s been in our losses. In three games we’re seven plays away from being unbeaten.”
One problem Friday night was Sweet Home’s inability to stop the Outlaws’ ground game, particularly leading rusher Chance Halley, who finished with 23 carries for 156 yards and an interception that set Sisters up for his second score.
The Husky offense also was unable to open lanes for their rushers. Brandon Keenon finished with 32 yards on 15 carries, far below his normal production.
“We just need to figure out how to block,” Keenon said after the game. “It was tough. I was getting hit before I could really move. It was frustrating. Very frustrating. If they block, we win.”
Fullback George Rayborn said the problem was that players, “including myself,” were missing assignments, which outweighed the bright spots for Sweet Home.
“Good moments in a battle don’t change the outcome,” he said.
Nichol said the offense struggled with Sisters’ tricky defense.
“They were more physical than us. We had issues with our uncovered linemen picking up their stunting backers. Normally, there are people right up in our face, who smash us in the mouth and we know what they’re going to do. And they kind of were a little more deceptive.”
With their ground game going nowhere fast, the Huskies went to the air, with more success in the second half. Tow attempted 23 passes, connecting on 10 of them after the break, including a nifty bulls-eye throw that Virtue took 78 yards for a touchdown early in the third quarter.
“I thought, minus the interception, our receiving corps sold out tonight,” Nichol said. “I think Dan Virtue was player of the game again.”
Virtue said the Huskies had success when they started setting up longer throws with shorter passes.
“You hit a couple of short passes and they try to cheat on those, then you can beat them deep,” he said.
Neither team scored in the first quarter, trading a pair of four-and-outs each, before either team got beyond a four-down series.
Sisters scored twice in the second quarter to take a 14-0 lead into halftime, but the Outlaws didn’t appear to be dominating the game.
Sweet Home opened the third quarter with a four-play series that resulted in Tow’s long touchdown pass, after two penalties set the Huskies back 20 yards.
Penalties were a problem all night – for both teams, who were called for 10 each, Sweet Home for 90 yards and Sisters for 105.
“We regressed on the penalties.” Nichol said. “It was terrible. Both sides of the ball. It was embarrassing.”
The Huskies kept Sisters out of the end zone in the third quarter, but the Outlaws opened the final period with a 69-yard bomb from quarterback Tanner Head to his twin brother Tyler to put them up 21-6.
They followed that up on their next series with a 65-yard run by Halley, off a sweep, which they used effectively against the Huskies all night. That one got called back, though, after an unsportsmanlike-conduct call that resulted when a Sisters player leveled a Sweet Home defender on a nasty late hit.
But the Outlaws kept going, putting together an eight-play, 80-yard drive after that foul to put Halley into the end zone on an eight-yard run for a 28-6 lead.
Sweet Home responded with a 10-play drive of its own, covering 56 yards, capped by a 12-yard run by Keenon. Tow then ran the ball in for a two-point conversion for the final score.
“I knew that this was a league championship-type match-up,” Nichol said. “What this does is it sets us up for the kind of competition we need to learn to play at if we want to get to the next level. They were very aggressive. They wanted to win. I’m not saying our players didn’t, but Sisters was just more physical than us tonight. That just sums it up right there.”
Next up for the Huskies, who finished with 235 total yards to Sisters’ 296, is Cottage Grove, with it’s wide-open air attack. The Lions, 2-2, beat Elmira 55-28 on the road Friday to even their season record at 2-2. They beat Henley 42-33 at home the week before, after losses to Del Norte of Crescent City, Calif. (33-21) and undefeated Marshfield (42-22).
“We’re definitely going to have to work hard on what our assignments are for next week, especially since our opponent is going to be Cottage Grove,” Rayborn said. “We definitely need to study our teams more. Just give them what they won’t expect. We have to improve for next week.”
Virtue said the Huskies need to put the past behind them.
“I think we need to let this game go and just focus on the task ahead and move past this and focus on giving 100 percent for next week.”
Scoring Summary
SH – 0 0 6 8 – 14
Sisters – 0 14 0 14 – 28
Second Quarter
S – Chance Halley 23 run. Ben Saba kick. 9:24
S – Halley 3 run. Saba kick. 6:55
Third Quarter
SH – Daniel Virtue 78 pass from Justin Tow. Kick failed. 10:13
Fourth Quarter
S – Tyler Head 69 pass from Tanner Head. Saba kick. 10:21
S – Halley 8 run. Saba kick. 6:05
SH – Brandon Keenon 8 run. Tow run for PAT. 2:52
Individual Statistics
Rushing
SH – Brandon Keenon 15-32; George Rayborn 1-1; Garrison Whitfield 1-1; Keanu Aiona 4 – (-1). Sisters – Chance Halley 23-156; Mitch Gibney 13-52; Ryan Cook 2-5; Ben Saba 1-(-2); Tanner Head 4 -(-1).
Passing
SH – Justin Tow 13-31-1-203; Brandon Keenon 0-1. Sisters – 3-4-0-82.
Receiving
SH – Daniel Virtue 6-112; Devin Stafford 3-37; Brandon Keenon 2-10; Keanu Aiona 2-4. Sisters – Ben Saba 2-13; Tyler Head 1-39.