By JEREMY RAINES | For the Reporter

Helena – On a cool fall night in Helena, head coach Richie Busby and his Huskies looked to build off the momentum they had coming off two consecutive wins, including a win against the Chelsea Hornets for the first time in school history in their last outing.

In a homecoming, region matchup, the 2-4 Huskies squared off against a 4-2 Carver team that started its season off hot winning four of its first five games, before losing two straight including a home game against Pelham last Saturday.

Thanks to an unbelievable defensive performance by the Huskies, who seemed to keep the Carver quarterback on his heels scrambling each play, Helena held the Rams to just 37 total yards in the game to pick up its third straight win in shutout fashion by a final score of 16-0.

“Our defense played unbelievable all night,” Busby said. “For the offense to come back after they were struggling. We had some kids get hurt, and we had to move a center in. We had a bad snap on that last drive, but we were able to physically dominate them and put it away.”

The Huskies struck first with an impressive 10-play 72-yard drive that was capped off by a beautiful 27-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Luke Stamba to sophomore receiver Jayden Jackson for the first score of the game and a 7-0 lead with 4:39 left in the opening quarter.

Those were the only points scored until the 2:40 mark of the second quarter when the stingy Huskies’ defense forced the Rams into a safety after a mishandled snap that gave Helena a 9-0 lead heading into the halftime break.

Helena’s offense threatened on its very first drive of the second half after forcing the Rams to fumble during their first drive, but solid defense by Carver cut the Helena offense short and forced them to punt.

The two teams swapped great defensive stances for the entire third quarter and into the fourth quarter.

Stamba, however, was able to get the Helena offense rolling again thanks to some strong leadership. Stamba had an impressively strong run that saw him take a hard hit at the beginning of the run, but he refused to give up on the play as he pushed forward to pick up even more yards after contact before finally being forced out of bounds.

Another mistake, however, this time on a bad snap, kept Helena from capitalizing on the offensive success.

The defense continued to play lights out, however, which helped the offense stay relaxed.

Helena finally found its way back into the end zone on a Luke Stamba 6-yard touchdown run shortly after to cap off a 67-yard drive with 2:31 left to play.

With a 16-0 lead and the defense playing as sound as it was, the Rams were unable to make any noise over the final couple of minutes.

After the game, coach Busby was fired up with his team huddled around him, before he stated that it was great to get his seniors a homecoming win, and Husky Nation its first home win of the season.

Helena recorded 157 rushing yards on 42 carries in the game, and 37 yards through the air completing 4-of-9 pass attempts. The 194 total yards was coupled with eight first downs.

On the other side of the ball, the greedy Husky defense held the Carver Rams to only 37 total yards.

The Huskies improved to 3-4 on the season, and the Rams fell to 4-3.

Busby and his crew will waste no time reviewing film and prepping for next Friday as they prepare to welcome in the undefeated and region-leading Jackson-Olin Mustangs who picked up their seventh win of the season on Friday against Pelham.