Jason Casey
Sweet Home came into their season opener against Marist Friday knowing they were in for a tough matchup against a team that had just dropped down from the 5A Division.
That came to fruition in a 28-12 loss, in which the Huskies played tough for three quarters but in the fourth Marist added two late touchdowns to pull away for the win.
“We are onward and upward,” said Head Coach Dustin Nichol. “I think Marist is a top-five team. After this game, it says we can run with a top-five team. It wasn’t until eight minutes in the fourth quarter that we just started getting tired.
“We had four major big plays in either turnover or just giving up big plays. They didn’t grind anything out. They didn’t come up and just smash us in the mouth. They do have some speed, and we have some secondary guys that it’s their first year starting. I think if we play these guys again we make adjustments. We can’t simulate this speed in practice, their routes, and now we got more film on them.”
The first points on the scoreboard came with 7:46 to go in the first quarter with Sweet Home on offense. Senior running back Hayden McDonald fumbled, and the Spartans’ Mathias Collins picked it up and returned it 61 yards to give Marist a 7-0 lead.
In the second quarter, the momentum swung in Sweet Home’s favor after a Marist fumble. On the ensuing drive, on third-and-13, Sweet Home quarterback Colton Smith went left, reversed field and came back to the right side of the field and found Nathan Virtue for a first down.
On fourth down Marist was called for pass interference, which set Sweet Home up on the four yard line. McDonald took the handoff from Smith and stretched out the run and crossed the corner into the end zone. The two-point conversion failed, and the score was 7-6 Marist.
McDonald finished the game with 110 yards and a touchdown.
On the next drive, with 1:46 to go in the first half, Virtue intercepted the ball but Sweet Home was called for roughing the passer and Marist was set up for a 15-yard touchdown, run in by Lucas Patterson, which extended the Spartan lead 14-6.
On the first drive of the second half, the Spartans fumbled the ball away.
Smith hit Casey Tow for a nice gain into the red zone, but the stadium lights went out and caused about a 25-minute game delay. Once the lights came on Sweet Home was called for a holding penalty on third down and Smith was sacked on fourth down.
With 2:50 seconds to go in the third, Tow ran a streak down the middle of the field and was wide open for a 32-yard touchdown to bring the score to 14-12. Tow finished the game with 64 yards and a touchdown. Smith was 13 for 27 for 122 yards and a touchdown.
“It was down to the wire until the fourth quarter, and two or three plays, a couple of good calls we would have been in it until the very end,” said Virtue. “We kind of let off at the end. Maybe we were a little tired. But we will come back for Banks next week. They are probably about the same caliber team as Marist is and we will try to stuff them at home.”
But, that was as close as the game would get. Marist added a touchdown run by Loboy from three yards out. After a three and out by Sweet Home with 4:53, to go Collins iced the game with a 39-yard run to make the final score 28-12.
Center Austin Olin said the Huskies struggled a bit with their line, thanks in part to some pre-season injuries.
“They have a lot of different formations, they’re aggressive, they fly to the ball. I feel like we could of had the upper hand on them if we moved our feet a little more.
“I feel like we need to work on our red zone offense – for sure, our goal line offense, and communication between our new linemen now that we have injuries and everything. It’s a learning process. I think we will end up getting it.”
Senior Jake Swanson, who led the team with six tackles, said the mishaps set the Huskies back.
“We will fix those four things and go to the next game,” Swanson said. “Offensively, I felt like we did a fine one. We just made small mistakes, different things like that. Some of the snaps didn’t go like we wanted, but otherwise, I think we did good on offense.”
Nichol said the Huskies played well on multiple fronts.
“Colton was fine until the fourth quarter. What that tells me is conditioning, conditioning, conditioning.
“Otherwise, you know, this offensive line is so much improved; we were moving the ball, doing counters, passing. It was at the end our guys started getting tired.”
He noted that smoky conditions did impact the conditioning portion of the Huskies’ preparation during daily doubles, which showed at the end of the game.
“We ran out of gas and as a coach that tells me they need to do some more conditioning in practice and that is what I am going to work on myself. Everybody from this game has something to work on. I’ve got a laundry list for myself.”
The Huskies will play Banks at home at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 7. The Braves lost at Gladstone, 35-28 last week.
Game Summary
1 2 3 4 final
SH 0 6 6 0 12
MAR 7 7 0 14 28
1st Quarter
Mar – 7:46 61-yard fumble return Matthias Collins
2nd quarter
SH – 4:41 Hayden McDonald 4-yard run
Mar – 1:36 Lucas Patterson 15-yard run
3rd quarter
SH – 2:50 Colton Smith 32-yard pass to Casey Tow
4th Quarter
Mar – 8:14 Hayden Loboy 3-yard run
Mar – 4:53 Loboy 38-yard run