Sweet Home (3-1) suffered a hard-fought 12-20 loss to North Bend (2-2) in their final non-league home game Friday Sept. 27. North Bend capitalized on an early lead and held off Sweet Home’s comeback efforts throughout the game.
“The kids played tough; North Bend came out and executed extremely well. They punched us in the mouth and got up 0-14 early,” head coach Ryan Adams said. “I was really proud of how our kids responded to that and competed the whole time. We just didn’t stay disciplined enough or executed well enough to recover from that rough start. But the team is motivated to get back to work this week and start league play on the right foot.”
Sweet Home’s offense leaned heavily on the run game, with 68% of their plays coming on the ground, averaging four yards per play. Running backs Kaeson Walker and Kayo Ebbs continued to improve, while quarterback Dillan Davis provided excitement with the ball in his hands.
“We did a decent job executing our base run plays at times,” Adams said. “We struggled with consistency, which made it difficult to find a lot of success. Kaeson Walker and Kayo Ebbs continue to get better running every week, and Dillan Davis is always electric with the ball in his hands.”
Special teams were a highlight for the Huskies, aside from one penalty on a punt.
“Our special teams were lights out 95% of the game. We got one effort penalty on our punt, but we’ll take that every time,” Adams said. “Special teams did a great job setting both our offense and defense up nicely in terms of field position.”
Despite the early deficit, Sweet Home remained competitive and fought through adversity, reflecting the coach’s expectations for a challenging contest.
“We knew this was going to be a tough game and North Bend was going to be better than anyone we had faced so far,” Adams said. “But until the kids are able to experience that in real time, it’s difficult to understand and process. I’m proud of how they continued to fight hard and compete all game.”
The Huskies will focus on league play next week, looking to rebound from the loss. The teams first league performance will be at home versus Philomath (4-0) at 7 p.m. on Oct. 4.
