Sutter explodes past Chico
Huskies stun the Panthers, hand Chico its first loss of the season Friday
With last year’s contest in mind on Friday night at Wayne Gadberry Field, Chico and Sutter took to the gridiron to battle it out yet again. This time it was the Huskies coming out on top as they defeated the Panthers, 40-0.
“I’m super proud of these guys and the way they battled. Last year things didn’t go our way so it was nice to make a statement tonight with this win,” head coach Ryan Reynolds said.
The first quarter started with a tone-setting drive by Sutter as they used a balanced attack to make long gains before capitalizing on a first and goal opportunity in the red zone.
That’s when Sutter pulled some trickery on the Panthers as quarterback Landon Cooper pitched the ball back to running back Cory Mcintyre. Cooper then managed to sneak his way into the end zone for Mcintyre to find him for an open touchdown pass.
Chico quarterback Marvelous Johnson would try to rally his offense for a responding drive, but he had his hands full with a Husky defense that was flying to the ball.
“I can’t say enough about the play of our defense tonight, we had multiple guys step up in huge impact roles,” Reynolds said.
After both team’s traded turnovers, Sutter would be set up with favorable field position on Chico’s 40-yard line. After a first down run by Colton Dilabo, the Panthers would tidy up their defense forcing the Huskies to kick a field goal. Mcintyre then split the uprights to give his team a 10-0 lead.
With not much working for the Panthers offensively, Sutter would add another score before half when Mcintyre rushed for a 17-yard touchdown. The
Huskies led 17-0 heading into halftime.
“We knew we had to keep up the momentum heading into the second half. We were clicking on all cylinders and we couldn’t let up,” Mcintyre said.
Chico received the ball to start the second half, but it appeared not much had changed in terms of the Panthers advancing the ball. Max Gipson and company where on the ball yet again to hinder any efforts by Chico.
“They were able to get a few yards here and there to start in the third but we really came together and shut things down pretty quick. I’m proud of the way the d-line played tonight,” Gipson said.
After an apparent injury to Johnson, the Panthers had Atticus Mikles takeover as quarterback. Mikles was able to generate some offense, but still couldn’t break into the red zone.
Sutter’s Dilabo and Daniel Cummings would add the final two touchdowns for the Huskies, both coming from 10-yard plus runs. Mcintyre then tacked on another field goal in the second half to give Sutter the win over Chico, 40-0.
Cummings led all Huskies with 106 yards rushing and one touchdown. Mcintyre finished the night with 82 yards.
Under center, Cooper tallied five completions for 74 yards.
Sutter (3-1) will travel to Enterprise next week, while Chico (3-1) will host Shasta.