Outlasting an undermanned Sisters team, Sweet Home notched its third straight football win of the season, scoring 43 second-half points for a 61-20 victory.
“It was a good second effort,” Coach Dustin Nichol said of the Huskies, who are 3-2 overall and 1-0 in Sky-Em League action going into this Friday’s game against Elmira.
The teams traded touchdowns in the first half as Sisters ground out some long drives, scoring on two runs by Ethan Luloff and a five-yard pass from Tristen Lewis to Nate Kaping for a 20-6 lead midway through the second quarter.
“That Luloff kid can run,” Nichol said. “He’s a really good running back.”
Sweet Home had the ball for three offensive plays in the first quarter, the third a 50-yard scoring run by Wade Paulus.
At that point, the Huskies started to get their motor running smoothly and Spencer Knight capped a Sweet Home drive with a four-yard scoring run just before the half to narrow the hosts’ lead to 20-12, after another failed conversion attempt by Sweet Home.
From there on out, it was all Huskies.
“We made some offensive and defensive adjustments at halftime,” Nichol noted.
Knight said the team was still confident going into the locker room, but coaches didn’t assume anything.
“Coach Nichol told us that the defense needed to step up,” he said.
Sweet Home opened the second half with a 70-yard scoring pass from Cole Horner to Mitch Keenon that capped a four-play drive.
“That first drive of the second half realy set the tone for the rest of the game,” junior Austin Rice said.
Horner followed that up later with a second scoring completion, a 67-yarder to Keenon, finishing the night with four completions in six attempts for 175 yards and two touchdowns, along with an interception.
“We’re just playing really well right now,” the junior quarterback said. “There’s always stuff to work on. I threw a few passes into the dirt, but the receivers are running great routes. We feel a lot better.”
Paulus turned in another big night, rushing 20 times for 202 yards, and Knight was close behind with 10 runs for 114 yards.
Keenon finished with three catches for 136 yards and two scores.
Paulus added another 20-yard scoring run and Knight followed with a 17-yard run for a touchdown. By that point the Outlaws were beginning to fray.
“Our guys came off the field and said, ‘Coach, they’re starting to fight among themselves. They’re imploding,’” Nichol said.
In the fourth quarter, Sweet Home began pulling starters and Colton Holly took over at quarterback, hitting Jake Smith with a short scoring pass and then scoring on a quarterback sneak from two yards out late in the game.
Then Rice put the icing on the cake for Sweet Home with a 60-yard interception return for a final score. Kicker Hunter Jutte connected on his final of three point-after kicks.
“I just read it well and got in front of him and took it back for the score,” said Rice, noting that his last interception return for a score occurred when he was in the eighth grade.
Nichol said the Huskies were able to take advantage of Sisters’ lack of depth.
“We don’t have a lot of depth, in my opinion, but our depth started to wear them down in fourth quarter. We got them out of their game plan. Plus, their attitude kind of finished them off.”
He credited his team with keeping the pressure on.
“They didn’t sit back, start taking it easy,” he said. “They competed right down to the end.
“It was nice to be able to get young guys in in the fourth quarter and get them on film. It was a good thing for our team.”
Sisters’ lack of numbers was a big difference in the game, he said.
“They only had six offensive and defensive linemen the whole game. They dropped down to two freshman and sophomores who had played the night before. Their running backs and secondary were the same. Just enough. Then they dropped off to freshmen and sophomores. They only had four linebackers.”
That likely won’t be the case this week as Elmira comes to town for what, Nichol said, may be a bit of a grudge game.
“Elmira, in our last two games, has left a sour taste in our mouth,” he said, particularly recalling last year’s loss 39-22 to the Falcons, in which Elmira was leading with 11 seconds left in the game, indicated that it was going to take a knee on the final play, and then ran a reverse to score from the 10 yard line.
“We’d like to get a little payback,” Nichol said.
But he said that, although the Falcons are 1-4 and missing a lot of the seniors who made up their lineup last year, “it’s not going to be easy.”
Elmira lost 42-34 Friday to Cottage Grove after beating Stayton 7-6. Its other losses were 42-18 to WJ Mouat of British Columbia, which is still undefeated, 49-12 to Philomath and 24-7 to undefeated Siuslaw, both of which are ranked above Sweet Home in the state football RPI listings.
“They’re good,” Nichol said. “They have three skill-position players coming back.”
Game time is 7 p.m. at Husky Stadium.
Nichol said the Huskies’ resurgence after losses to 5A Redmond and then to Banks in the first two weeks is largely due to having a full team. Their only major loss right now is senior linebacker Josh Wooley, who is out for the season with a torn ACL.
“We have a number of individuals who can make plays for us, but our strength is our team itself,” Nichol said. “The difference between now and and the first of the year is the kids we have back from injuries and suspensions.
“Central was the first game we had everybody back. So far, we just keep getting bettter and better each week. The kids are attentive and responding well – whatever it takes, they just want to win. Where we’re at right now is just having our guys back and healthy.”
Horner said the Huskies are serious.
“In practice everyone is all business,” he said. “There’s no in-fighting, nothing like that.”
Knight echoed that.
“Everybody’s working together really well right now. We had a team meeting after our second loss (to Banks) and we said we have to come together as one group. We need to play together as a group.
“Our offensive linemen are pretty much leaders on the team. They said we should come together and that we shouldn’t lose another game during the regular season.”
Scoring Summary
Sweet Home 61, Sisters 20
Sweet Home 6 12 16 27 — 61
Sisters 6 14 0 0 — 20
First quarter
Sis: Ethan Luloff 20 run (Kick failed)
SH: Wade Paulus 50 run (Run failed)
Second quarter
Sis: Luloff 3 run (Josh Andrade kick)
SH: Paulus 4 run (Pass failed)
Sis: Nathan Kaping 8 pass from Tristen Lewis (Andrade kick)
SH: Mitch Keenon 58 pass from Cole Horner (Run failed)
Third quarter
SH: Paulus 4 run (Paulus run)
SH: Keenon 60 pass from Horner (Paulus run)
Fourth quarter
SH: Spencer Knight 40 run (Run failed)
SH: Jake Smith 2 pass from Colton Holley (Hunter Jutte kick)
SH: Holley 1 run (Jutte kick)
SH: Austin Rice 60 interception return (Jutte kick)
Sweet Home Statistics
Rushing – Sweet Home total: 39-335; Wade Paulus 20-202; Spencer Knight 10-114; Kyler Gaskey 5-11; Colton Holly 2-6; Jacob Smith 2-2.
Passing – Sweet Home total 6-8-180; Cole Horner 4-6-175-1, two touchdowns; Colton Holly 2-2-5-0, one touchdown.
Receiving – Mitch Keenon 3-136, two touchdowns; Colton Holly 3-39; Jacob Smith 1-5.