Jackson Baer
For The New Era
The 2010 football season didn’t get off to the best start for Sweet Home Friday, as the inexperienced Huskies fell 56-18 to a high-powered Stayton team.
Stayton took advantage of inexperience and a few miscues committed by the young visitors and took control early, pounding away with its running game and never letting up.
“Stayton played a good game and they were the better team tonight,” said senior quarterback Keenan Martin.
Tyler Blythe ran for 134 yards and three touchdowns on 10 carries for Stayton, while Coby Proctor added 250 total yards and two touchdowns on returns and a reception for another six points.
Sweet Home Coach Dustin Nichol, in his first game as varsity coach, said the Huskies were caught out of position on some big plays and in the mistakes they made, which was indicative of the fact that Sweet Home has only six returning starters this year (see the football preview in the second section of today’s paper).
“I’m not going to take anything away from Stayton €“ they’re a good football team,” he said. “We made them look better by giving up three big plays. The coaches and I looked at the film and I think the lack of experience showed through.
“Their line was big and physical. A couple of their (running backs) were coming back from last year. Those guys have been running backs for I don’t know how long. We don’t have that kind of experience.”
The first quarter finished with Sweet Home trailing 7-0 although the offense showed signs of life. Senior wide receivers Zach Miller and Alex Coakley each had 18-yard receptions and quarterback Keenan Martin added a 20-yard run, but the Huskies were unable to sustain any of their first-quarter drives and struggled to get their running game going.
The Huskies’ troubles continued in the second quarter when a fake punt on fourth-down fell just short around mid-field. Martin later threw an interception with 6:00 remaining and it looked like Sweet Home might go into the half scoreless.
Trailing 20-0, Martin connected with Coakley for a 63-yard reception to set up the Huskies’ first scoring drive. With 2:23 remaining before halftime Martin completed a five-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Wade Paulus. The extra point failed, leaving the Huskies trailing 20-6.
The Eagles weren’t finished putting on their offensive show, scoring again before the half and leading 27-6.
Despite a supportive crowd in the visiting stands, which were overflowing with Husky fans who traveled to support the team, the third quarter started like a recap of the first half. Stayton returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown, stretching its lead to 34-6.
The Huskies never appeared to throw in the towel, even as a comeback became increasingly improbable. A 40-yard pass from Martin to fellow senior Alex Santana resulted in a failed fourth-down conversion halfway through the third quarter.
On the following Stayton possession, junior Jerohn Coleman recovered a fumble to spark the Husky offense. Martin connected again with Santana on the next play for a 30-yard touchdown. The two-point conversion was unsuccessful, making it 34-12.
Sweet Home surprised the Eagles then with an onside kick recovered by junior Jesse Comstock. The momentum was short lived as a Stayton player was injured during the recovery. He was able to leave the field under his own power but the officials called a personal foul on Sweet Home, putting a damper on the onside kick.
On the following drive Martin threw his second interception of the game around mid-field, which resulted in another quick score by the Stayton offense. After this score the Eagles began going for two-point conversions after each touchdown, giving them a 42-12 lead near the end of the third quarter.
A quick offensive series for Sweet Home set up what would be the icing on the cake for Stayton. The Huskies’ punt was returned for a touchdown and once again Stayton went for two points, putting themselves up 50-12 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Huskies showed flashes of big play potential throughout the night, mainly in the passing game. Martin connected with Coakley for a 68-yard touchdown to start the fourth quarter, which was his sixth completion of more than 18 yards. The two-point conversion again failed, leaving Sweet Home trailing 50-18 with most of the quarter left to play.
Stayton added one more score but failed to convert the two-point conversion this time, giving the Huskies a moral victory of sorts, as this was the last scoring play of the game, resulting in the 56-18 final score.
In the second half alone Stayton rushed the ball 26 times, putting up just one pass attempt. One statistical area in which Sweet Home came out ahead was in penalties. The Huskies were whistled for seven for 40 yards while Stayton committed 10 penalties for 93 yards.
Martin finished the night with 11 pass completions in 25 attempts for 253 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions.
Those stats are a bit misleading as he played better than the final line shows.
Another bright spot for Sweet Home was Coakley, who caught four passes for 147 yards and a touchdown. He also handled the punting duties, with three for 115 yards.
“When you look at the game, you think it’s pretty bad on the field. When you start looking at film it’s not as bad as it looked on the field. Same with when you win. These seniors are inexperienced at their positions and now they realize what game speed is,” said head coach Dustin Nichol.
He said the game provided what amounts to a wake-up call for the Huskies.
“It wasn’t the fact that we didn’t hit people. We hit them. It was just the fact that we were a step or half-step out of position,” he said. “Against a good running team, you’re not going to arm tackle those boys from Stayton.”
He said the Huskies were slow getting to the ball on defense and learned that they need to be more aggressive.
“When the ball is snapped, we need to get into them before they get into us,” he said. “If you’re three feet out of position, you’re too slow to react. Those are the types of adjustments we need to make.”
Nichol expects a different approach and attitude at practice this week and on game day Friday.
“After the game I didn’t hear one of them making excuses,” he said of his players. “They were telling me ‘I need to get lower.’ ‘I was sitting and catching.’ ‘I need to get set quicker.’ ‘I need to get off the ball quicker.’
“I think this should be an all-around good learning experience. We’ll see Friday if the learning curve is high or low.”
Sweet Home travels to Cascade Friday to meet a team that lost 20-12 last Friday when North Marion staged a comeback victory. Game time is 7 p.m.
“We will be better motivated, sometimes you have to get kicked in the mouth to be better motivated,” said Coakley.
Scoring Summary
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
SH 0 6 6 6 18
Stayton 7 20 23 6 56
Sweet Home Scoring
2:23 2nd Qtr €“ Keenan Martin 5-yard pass to Wade Paulus. PAT failed.
6:55 3rd Qtr €“ Martin 30-yard pass to Alex Santana. Two-point conversion failed.
11:44 4th Qtr €“ Martin 68-yard pass to Alex Coakley. Two-point conversion failed.
Team Stats
Rushing: SH 25-106; Stay 47-317
Passing: SH 11-25-3, 253; Stay 4-6-1, 71
First Downs: SH 10; Stay 17
Penalties: SH 7-40; Stay 10-93
Turnovers: SH 2; Stay 1
Sweet Home
Total Yards: 359 yards
Rushing: 106 yards
Passing: 253 yards
Individual Rushing: SH: Patrick Long 9-44; Keenon Martin 7-42; Kyle Sorenson 6-15; Hunter Bidwell 2-3; Zack Jackson 1-2.
Individual Passing: Keenan Martin 11-25-2 253.
Individual Receiving: Alex Santana 2-70, 1 TD; Wade Paulus 2-18, 1 TD; Alex Coakley 4-147, 1 TD; Zach Miller 1-18.
Fumble Recovery: Jerohn Coleman 1.
Onside Kick Recovery: Jesse Comstock 1.
Kickoff Returns: Wade Paulus 4-70; Patrick Long 1-8.
Punt Returns: Wade Paulus 1-11.
Kickoffs: Alex Santana 2-75, 1 onside kick; Alex Coakley €“ 1 – 40.
Punts: Alex Coakley €“ 3-115.