Northeastern junior quarterback Cade Houseman had three touchdowns — two through the air and another on the ground — as the Jets beat the Rams 19-6 on Friday night at Conover Field in Springfield.
“I’m excited,” Houseman said. “We’re 2-0 at home. We’re one step closer to where we want to be. I’m excited to play next week.”
Houseman went 13-for-17 for 135 yards, connecting on TD passes to junior Dylan Haggy and freshman Garrett Chadwell. Houseman also rushed for 60 yards and a TD for the Jets (2-1).
It was Northeastern’s first victory over the Rams since 2012.
“It’s one we looked at the beginning of the year as one we had to get,” said Jets coach Jake Buchholtz. “I’ll be honest — in the seven years I’ve been on staff, we’d never beat Greeneview. Our kids are figuring out how to rebound after losses. It was a big win for us. I think our kids played pretty well.”
Northeastern junior running back Hunter Albright rushed for 76 yards on 14 carries, opening up the offense for Houseman and his teammates.
“We finally got our run game going,” Houseman said. “Hunter Albright really ran the ball well today and that got me out of the pocket. The line blocked very well today and that opened the slants up. Overall, we did very well.”
In the first quarter, Houseman hit Haggy on a 31-yard TD pass to give the Jets an early 6-0 lead that stood until halftime.
After stopping the Rams to open the second half, Houseman scored on a 6-yard run to give the Jets a 12-0 lead.
With 6:34 remaining, Houseman hit Chadwell on a 12-yard TD pass to make it 19-0.
The Rams scored with 2:06 remaining as sophomore quarterback Keegan Phillips hit sophomore Jett Daniels on an 11-yard TD pass to make it 19-6. Greeneview attempted an onside kick, but the Jets recovered and ran out the clock to seal the victory.
“They made a couple big plays early on,” said Rams coach Ryan Haines. “I thought our kids responded well, but we were never able to overcome some of the issues that we kind of put on ourselves.”
We’ve got to continue to get better,” Haines said.
The Rams were without several players due to COVID-19 quarantines and injuries, Haines said. Greeneview (1-2) hosts Fairbanks (1-2) next week.
“There are no moral victories in this program,” Haines said. “We’ve got to continue to get better. Our offense has to continue to come along. That’s on us as coaches to get it fixed.”
Northeastern travels to Madison Plains (1-2) in Week 4. The Jets will look to stay healthy this week as it prepares for another Ohio Heritage Conference crossover division matchup.
“We’re still learning how to win,” Buchholtz said. “It’s been a process. Even tonight we had a lot of ‘us’ mistakes. The good news is that its things that we can control. That message for our team is ‘Control what we can control.’ Tonight, they rebounded well. When those mistakes hit, it wasn’t that same doom and gloom feeling that I think we’ve had in the past. I’m proud of our guys.”
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