SUTTER, CA (MPG) - The Sutter Huskies football team easily took care of the Carson Senators in the opening week of the 2023 season with a 54-7 victory on Saturday, August 19.

Sutter has a well balanced offense that allows them to keep opposing teams on their toes instead of the ground and pound attack they have been the last few years.

Huskies head coach Ryan Reynolds told the Dispatch that he knew coming into the season that this was the first season since 2017 where Sutter would be able to throw the ball more on a consistent basis.

Huskies senior quarterback Jagger Beck said during the preseason and postgame of the Carson game they have more weapons now that is going to be better for their offense as a whole and allow the running game to open up.

Beck utilized seven different receivers on the night as he went 17/19 passing, threw four touchdowns, rushed for one, along with 264 yards in the air.

Two of Beck’s main targets on the night were senior wide receiver Jordan Lee and junior wide receiver/running back Dominic Souza. Lee had a couple of deep ball receptions in the first quarter that led to Sutter scores.

Lee ended the night with five receptions for 105 yards receiving and a touchdown reception.

Sutter had a 28-7 lead at the half as the only points Carson scored during the game were off a kick return for a touchdown in the second quarter.

Souza had 154 total yards with three touchdowns as he rushed for 71 and had 83 receiving yards from Beck. Souza gave credit to his line for blocking on the night that allowed him to get into the open field.

“If I didnt have the good blocking, theres no where to run the ball and I wouldn’t have that vision without them,” Souza said. The Huskies produced 535 yards of offense against the Senators in the opening week and included seven different ball carriers on the night as well.

The leading rusher for Sutter against Carson was junior running back Killian Brucie as he had 78 yards on the ground and senior running back Tristan Watkins had a rushing touchdown as well.

As much as there is to talk about the offense, the defense for the Huskies made the statement early it was going to be a grind and they brought it to the Senators.

In the preseason, Reynolds told the Dispatch the secondary was a question mark going into the season because of how young they were with starting two sophomores, one junior and a senior. The secondary showed up against the Senators and made their presence known as they had four total interceptions and combined for over 10 tackles.

The two sophomore safeties in Justice White and Max Bringgold brought the confidence and humbleness that they are years ahead of their time and picked the brains of the older players on defense. Junior defensive back Corey Underwood had one of the interceptions on the night along with the tackle. Senior defensive back Rylan Giovannoni had three tackles in the win.

Bringgold and White left blue streaks of the Sutter uniform all over the Carson white jerseys last Saturday as they were consistently driving the Senators to the ground and in the mix on most of the plays throughout the night. Bringgold could have been a receiver for Carson as he had three interceptions on the night with 63 return yards from them.

White expressed to the Dispatch that he is aware of what the Huskies defense has a repuation of being aggressive and top notch. He told the Dispatch that they will continue to grind and hit people hard.

Additionally on the defensive end, senior defensive linemen Eric St. Onge and Tristan Leal both led Sutter with nine tackles each during the game and St. Onge had six tackles for loss and Leal forced a Carson fumble.

The Huskies play at Chico tonight with kickoff at 7 p.m. Reynolds said the key to victory is going to be stopping their senior running back Dion Coleman. Reynolds added if they can contain him during the game, they will have a good opportunity at a victory.