OTHELLO — The Othello Huskies (3-2) defended home field Friday as they defeated the Quincy Jacks (0-5) 41-6, off a four-touchdown night by Cain Gonzalez.  

“It mostly just (allows) me to have more confidence in my (offensive) line,” Gonzalez said. “I have confidence, but just to see them perform, whether it's this team, the next team, it is refreshing. It's just refreshing to see that they're working on things, they're getting better, they're doing what they're supposed to do, and that's all I want.” 

The Huskies showed dominance early, with Gonzalez scoring all four of his touchdowns through the run in the first quarter alone. By halftime, Othello built a commanding 41-0 lead over Quincy. From there, the Huskies backups got some playing time as they started the second half. The Jacks capitalized off a special team miscue by Othello to score their lone touchdown in the third quarter.  

Despite the win, the Huskies aren’t satisfied with the way they played, believing they’re capable of a cleaner football game.  

“I thought (Gonzalez) ran the ball excellent (and) the offensive line blocked really well,” Head Coach Jerome Learman said. “We did get to some points where we hurt ourselves. We didn't execute some things too, so things we’ve got to get better at. Always things to get better at, but I am proud of the result, and I do feel like we're getting better. We’ve still got a lot of room for improvement though.” 

The Jacks defense found momentum on the first play of the game as the Huskies fumbled on the opening drive which Quincy successfully recovered. However, they were unable to capitalize on the opportunity, ultimately being forced to punt.  

Othello didn’t waste their time avenging their mistake as Gonzalez broke through the front line for a 55-yard touchdown run on the Huskies’ first play. With momentum firmly back in their control, the Huskies defense forced another Quincy three-and-out before returning the punt to the 7-yard line. Moments later, Gonzalez punched the ball in for his second score of the night, putting the Huskies up 14-0.  

Gonzalez praised his offensive line for opening up running lanes for him throughout the first quarter.  

“That's the only reason, I just did what I was supposed to do, but really, they're the ones who made the game for me. It's what they do. That's the only reason I'm able to perform,” Gonzalez said. 

As the Huskies defense continued to execute with highlight plays like an interception by Jonah Hahn, the offense benefited with favorable field position to start each drive. On their third drive of the game, Gonzalez once again found a gap to break through for a 25-yard touchdown run, juking a defender on his way to the endzone. The Huskies extended their lead to 20-0.  

Gonzalez and the Huskies added one more score with a 42-yard touchdown run to put the finishing touches on a 27-point first quarter.  

Though the Jacks opened the second quarter with the ball, the Huskies defense forced another stalled drive. The Huskies offense now started to lean into their pass game, with Noah Ozuna finding Tyler Suarez over the middle to put Othello at the 13-yard line. Shortly after, Ozuna kept the ball himself for the touchdown.  

On their next offensive drive, Ozuna took another shot downfield, completing a long pass to Hahn to set up another short yardage touchdown by Donny Suarez, extending their lead to 41-0.  

“(Ozuna is) one of the hardest workers, if not the hardest worker on the team, and so proud of that,” Learman said. “He gets better every week. You see him growing not just as a quarterback, but as a leader and things like that. He's getting better every week, and that's nice when someone like that is also one of the hardest workers because it says, ‘Hey, this is the standard, this is what we’ve got to go do.’” 

The two teams went back and forth to close the half, as the Huskies had a chance to score but penalties stunted the drive.  

The second half went quickly with the running clock, however, that didn’t deter the Jacks from trying to finish the game strong. Earlier in the game, quarterback Conner Galloway left the game with an injury, putting the responsibility in Jody Gardner’s hands.  

He seized the opportunity after a bad snap on an Othello punt put the Jacks at the 10-yard line. Moments later, Gardner kept the ball himself on a designed run play for Quincy’s lone touchdown.  

After stumbling in weeks two and three, the Huskies have now stacked back-to-back wins over Ephrata and Quincy, setting themselves up for a road test on Oct. 9 when they travel to play East Valley at 7 p.m.  

Though that won’t prevent Learman from enjoying the win on Friday, he said.  

“I kind of have a 24-hour rule. I'm going to enjoy this for 24 hours, then then start getting right for East Valley,” he said. “Obviously, they're an excellent football team, well coached, have some good athletes. I'm going to enjoy this, and then then start looking at East Valley and figure out what we can try to do to give them our best shot.”  

The Jacks return to their home field when they host Grandview on Oct. 9 at 7 p.m. 

BOX SCORE: 

QNCY: 0-0-6-0: 6 

OTHL: 27-14-0-0: 41

    Jonah Hahn (5) celebrates with the sideline after intercepting a pass from the Quincy Jacks.
  

    The Jacks’ Jody Gardner (11) slips tackles as he navigates traffic with the ball against the Othello Huskies Friday.
  

    Cain Gonzalez (7) braces himself as Jody Gardner (11) from Quincy goes to tackle him along the sideline. Gonzalez had four rushing touchdowns in the first quarter Friday.