Scott Swanson
D-Day is Friday.
That is the message that is seared into the minds of the entire Sweet Home football team as it awaits its showdown with Cottage Grove with the league title on the line.
If the Huskies win, it will be their first conference championship since 2004.
Sweet Home warmed up for the Big One last Friday with a systematic 50-22 demolishing of Junction City in its first rainy-day game of the season.
“I was very please with how my guys came out and played,” Coach Dustin Nichol said of his 6-2 team, which is 4-0 in league, tied for the lead with Cottage Grove.
“Last week (against La Pine) we came out like a ball of fire and then got complacent.”
That didn’t happen Friday, as the first-stringers ran up a 19-0 lead before Junction City finally got on the scoreboard late in the second quarter.
David Miller, 21, comes close to picking off a Junction City pass as Trever Olson, 22, and Austin Rice close in behind him.
After linebacker Cole Horner snuffed the Tigers’ opening drive with an interception of Cody Miller’s pass with 9:38 on the clock, the Huskies took over and 21 seconds and 21 yards later, Wade Paulus was in the end zone for Sweet Home’s first score.
Austin Rice recovered a bobbled kickoff and returned it 45 yards to the three, where Jacob Smith somersaulted into the end zone for another touchdown and then kicked the extra point to make it 13-0.
Horner, at quarterback, then took the Huskies to the air, connecting with Mitch Keenon for the first of Keenon’s two touchdown receptions to give Sweet Home that 19-0 lead.
Paulus scored another touchdown, on a six-yard run and Horner hit Keenon for a two-point conversion, then found him again for another touchdown with two seconds left to give Sweet Home a 34-8 lead going into the locker room.
The Huskies opened the third quarter with a six-play drive, with Paulus carrying on every play, marching 62 yards for their sixth touchdown of the night before they hit their first real hiccup, a safety on their next possession after they were pushed deep into their own territory by a Junction City punt and Horner got caught in the end zone as he tried to pass.
But on their next possession the junior varsity took over, freshman Brandon Keeney carrying seven straight times for 45 yards until he was stripped of the ball at the six-yard line.
That’s when Tiger quarterback Bryon Brown, who had nine carries for 178 yards, scampered 85 yards for the hosts’ second touchdown with one second left in the third quarter to make it 41-16.
But sophomore Kyler Gaskey showed flashes of brilliance in responding with a 58-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-two after back-up quarterback Colton Holly got the Huskies rolling with a 32-yard pass to Keeney following a penalty and a sack that had Sweet Home looking at a first-and-24 to re-establish the lead, 47-16.
“It’s great to be behind a strong line,” Gaskey said, noting that he finds the varsity game “more competitive, harder-hitting and faster game speed.”
“It’s definitely a bigger reward,” he said.
Playing against a nearly all freshman and sophomore defense, Brown hit Joe Schacher with a 10-yard screen pass midway through the final period to close the gap slightly to 47-22, but Sweet Home responded with a 21-yard field goal with 19 seconds left to finish with 50 points.
“Our varsity guys stayed with the game plan and by doing that they gave some time for the JV guys, who did not get a game this week,” Nichol said, crediting the efforts of Gaskey and Brandon Keenon.
Once again Paulus accounted for the largest amount of Sweet Home’s 455 total rushing yards, finishing with 279 yards on 27 carries. With Spencer Knight unable to play due to illness, Gaskey contributed 124 more on 11 carries.
Horner completed seven of nine pass attempts and Holly added one more.
Mitch Keenon finished with six catches for 114 yards.
“The timing was perfect,” he said of his chemistry with Horner. “
The offensive line gets the credit for most of that offensive production, Nichol and players said.
“We have a great line,” Paulus said. “That line has worked together I don’t know how many years. They move together as one on that first 6-inch step and I know there’s going to be room for me. Then there’s Jake Smith. He’s a bulldozer.”
Center Nate Melcher said the linemen have reached the point that they are confident in each other and “we know what the other guys are thinking. All 11 guys work together, six inches at a time.”
Defensively, the Huskies were able to contain Junction City’s air attack, limiting the Tigers to four completions in 16 attempts for 51 yards.
“We’ve been preparing for Junction City and Cottage Grove,” said senior defensive back Colton Schilling, who had two monster hits on hapless Junction City receivers who went up for balls in the second half. “We set up the right defense for that. I think by next Friday night we’ll be ready.”
Cottage Grove, 8-1, beat Sisters 41-20 Friday night and quarterback Scotty Hitner was 17-for-31 for 209 yards through the air. Running back Brian Spindler had 11 carries for 113 yards. The Lions are ranked fifth in the OSAA RPI 4A listing, while Sweet Home is 11th.
Nichol said this is one of the more anticipated match-ups the Huskies have had in recent years, particularly since both teams are undefeated in league and have beaten common opponents by fairly comparable margins.
“Coach (Gary) Roberts and I are pretty good friends and after the second game he’s been texting me, telling me to keep winning so we could have a big finale at our place,” he said.
“I told him I’d bring a couple of generators so we can keep the lights on,” he added, referring jokingly to a game three years ago when the stadium lights went out midway through a game with the Lions.
The teams are “polar opposites” in playing styles, he said.
“They’ll throw the ball 40 to 60 times a game,” he said. Hitner, who transferred into the Lions’ program last year, “changed the whole dynamics of their game plan.”
Nichol said Friday’s game, which starts at 7 p.m. at Husky Stadium, may be a good tune-up for the playoffs, which will begin Nov. 1 with play-in games for the No. 2 teams from the Sky-Em, Cowapa, Oregon West, Tri-Valley, Far West and Skyline leagues, along with the highest-ranked No. 3 or hybrid league. The first round of bracket play will be held Nov. 9 and 10.
“One of us will get some good momentum going into the playoffs,” Nichol said.
Players said they’re ready for the match-up, but that they’re confident that Sweet Home’s pressure will pay off.
“We’ll have a good first half, I think,” Melcher said. “I think they’re going to give up in the second half. We have a lot of steam and we don’t give up. We make the other team quit.”
“We need to work together and we can’t come out flat,” Paulus said. “We need to come out on fire, ready to play ball right away. If we play Husky football, they’re going to break just like every other team we’ve beaten.”
Scoring Summary
Sweet Home – 13 21 7 9 — 50
Junction City – 0 8 8 6 — 22
First quarter
SH: Wade Paulus 5 run (kick failed) 8:59
SH: Jake Smith 3 run (Smith kick) 3:07
Second quarter
SH: Mitch Keenon 10 pass from Cole Horner (kick failed) 4:55
JC: Bryon Brown 56 run (Brown run) 3:37
SH: Paulus 40 run (Keenon pass from Horner) 2:09
SH: Keenon 50 pass from Horner (Smith kick) 0:02
Third quarter
SH: Paulus 23 run (Smith kick) 9:20
JC: Safety 7:41
JC: Bryon Brown 85 run (run failed) 0:01
Fourth quarter
JC: Joe Schacher 74-yard run (run failed) 9:37
SH: Kyler Gaskey 58 run (kick failed) 2:26
SH: Smith 24 field goal 0:19
Individual statistics
Rushing: Sweet Home – Wade Paulus 27-279; Kyler Gasky 11-124, Brandon Keenon 9-50; Jacob Smith 2-9; Trever Olson 1-2; Cole Horner 1- (-9); Total rushing 51-455.
Junction City – Bryon Brown 13-182; Joe Schacher 9-107; Kanon Seitz 4-23; Cody Miller 2-(-5); Total rushing 28-307.
Passing: Sweet Home – Cole Horner 7-9-0-99; Colton Holly 1-1-0-25. Junction City – Cody Miller 2-11-35; Bryon Brown 2-5-16.
Receiving: Sweet Home – Keenon 6-114, Brycen Mitten 1-8, Colton Holly 1-5; Ashton Stutzman 1-5. Junction City – Bryon Brown 1-25; Joe Schacher 2-20.