Forest Grove holds off Sandy in season opener

Vikings’ offense struggles, but eventually flexes enough muscle to win, 16-15

By Zack Palmer

The Forest Grove News-Times, Sep 3, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Chase Allgood / News-Times

Forest Grove quarterback Aaron Huson takes a big hit from the Sandy defense during Friday’s non-league season opener. Huson led two second-half scoring drives that propelled the Vikings to a closer-than-anticipated 16-15 victory.

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Optimistic Forest Grove fans hoping to see a season-opening blowout victory were dealt a healthy dose of reality Friday night, as the Vikings sputtered and stammered to a closer-than-anticipated 16-15 victory over Sandy.

Forest Grove’s high-powered offense never got off the ground in the first half as Sandy – a team that went 1-9 last year – limited the Vikings’ vertical passing game and led 7-0 at halftime.

After a stern halftime lecture from head coach Mike McCabe, Forest Grove (1-0) came out and used a power rushing attack to take control of the game. Behind 6-foot-1, 215-pound tailback Konner Boyer and 6-2, 230-pound fullback Austin Howarth, the Vikings pounded the Sandy defense into submission, eventually pulling even at 7-7 on a 5-yard scoring run by Boyer with 3:13 left in the third quarter.

The Vikings went ahead less than a minute later when Howarth dragged down Sandy quarterback Jared Spencer in the end zone for a safety, and the senior fullback put things away with a 1-yard touchdown plunge early in the fourth that made it 16-7.

Sandy (0-1) would get a touchdown and two-point conversion with 38 seconds left to pull within a point, but it was too little, too late for the visiting Pioneers.

“In the first half we were experimenting with some different things and we tried throwing more than we normally do. We missed a lot of opportunities,” McCabe said. “In the locker room [at halftime] they were all kind of shaking their heads, like ‘We know we’re better than this.’

“We came out in the second half and just ran the ball down their throat. We just muscled up.”

Playing a Zero Week endowment game for the first time since 2005, Forest Grove looked rusty in its opener. McCabe said that in addition to having one less week to prepare, the coaching staff was also at a disadvantage since they did not have any game film of Sandy, which was playing its first game under new coach Ray Baker.

“Part of it was first-game jitters, but we also didn’t have a good read on Sandy at all,” McCabe said. “We had no game film, they had a new coach. We didn’t know what they were going to do. It all felt a little rushed.”

Sandy, meanwhile, had plenty of game film on Forest Grove and strong-armed senior quarterback Aaron Huson, who threw for almost 2,000 yards last season. The Pioneers made a concerted effort to take away the deep ball, so Huson was limited to short passes all night. He finished 16-for-27 for 124 yards.

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