Special District One prep football preview—week 8
Teams hoping to improve their playoff positioning behind Sheldon
OF NOTE: Thursday night’s football game between West Salem and North Salem was postponed due to excessive smoke from Southern Oregon forest fires. The game has been rescheduled for Saturday at 1:00 pm at North Salem High.
With just two regular season games remaining, teams in Special District One are looking to land in the best possible place in the playoffs---be it for the state title or the newly created Columbia Cup. Here is a look at the games on the docket.
Sprague (4-3) at South Salem (6-1): In the 50th season of the rivalry between Sprague and South Salem, both teams have plenty to play for in South’s homecoming contest.
The host Saxons are currently #10 in the OSAA power rankings—the only Salem-Keizer team in the running for a championship bracket slot. The Saxons did as expected last week, and steamrolled winless Roseburg, 51-13. The game was moved from Southern Oregon to Salem on Saturday due to poor air quality on Friday created by persistent forest fire smoke. Beating a team without a win didn’t help South’s playoff positioning, but it didn’t hurt it, either.
Beating Sprague this week is important to at least remaining at tenth in the rankings. South has another big game next week against North Salem—which lost last week at Sprague. Winning out is the obvious path the Saxons are pursuing, with hopes that it could move them to at least eighth—and give them a first-round home game. The Saxons have played well overall, but not having top-three Sheldon on the schedule doesn’t help them at all, rankings-wise.
Look for South quarterback Daschel Smith (2200 yards, 69% completion rate) to keep slinging the pigskin all over the field to his large stable of receivers—with hopes of duplicating last week’s six touchdown performance. The top performers include transfer Zach Wustigg (623 yards, 11 TDs) and Tini Tinitali (2000-plus career receiving yards, 148 receptions). One big difference this week for the Saxons is the return of Braedy Vogt. The two-way starter at running back and middle linebacker was missing at Saturday’s rescheduled game, due to his sister’s wedding. His presence will be a definite positive.
For #23 Sprague, beating the Saxons will boost their stock in the Columbia Cup playoff picture—with an outside shot at the title bracket. The Olympian running game was decidedly stellar last week, racking up over 200 yards against North Salem. And all-everything receiver Drew Rodriguez had a TD reception and a 25-yard pick six. For the season, he has 29 catches, 548 receiving yards and 9 TD receptions. If that rushing attack can be further complemented by passing from the rapidly maturing Athan Palmateer (736 yards, 8 touchdowns), Sprague will have a legitimate chance at an upset in a game the Saxons are expected to win.
West Salem (1-6) at North Salem (4-3): With the loss last week at Sprague, North Salem saw its stock fall in the power rankings—down to 26th—three slots below the previous week. To put that drop in perspective, the Vikings have fallen below Westview of the Metro League, which has a record of just 2-5.
North’s relatively weak pre-season schedule involving the PIL and a Mt. Hood Conference School not called Central Catholic has dragged them down the list, especially after district losses to North Medford and Grants Pass. Jeff Flood’s squad would like nothing more than finish with two straight home victories—but that second game against South Salem is going to be difficult to say the least, especially if running back Josiah Davis’s broken toe keeps him out of one or both of the remaining games—alert: he has been practicing this week. The Viking defense, which has been solid for most of the season, might have to carry them a bit more to remain in a relatively solid position.
Frankly, #34 West Salem has had a run of bad luck this season. The Titans were already anticipating an uphill battle after graduating 20 out of 22 starters from the previous year. Add in season-ending injuries to athletic transfer wideout Braiden Copeland (week one) and sophomore quarterback Kaden Martirano (week four), and it translates into disaster.
Coach Shawn Stanley had never started worse than 0-2 prior to this year, and beginning 0-6 was a tough pill to swallow—even as their opponents felt no sympathy for one of the local area’s top-performing teams in the last decade.
Beating McNary handily last week (47-7) behind the four TDs from Jimmy Lathen was a decided confidence booster, but the Titans are just looking to play spoiler for rest of this year—and would love nothing more than to beat North this week, and then remain competitive with unbeaten and #3 (should be #1) Sheldon to close out the year at home.
North Medford (4-3) at McNary (0-7): Let’s be blunt here—a McNary win is very remote in the next-to-last game of the regular season. North Medford—ranked 11th (just behind South Salem)—is coming off a 42-6 loss to Sheldon. The Black Tornado had won their previous four games in Special District play after losing twice to open the year. The Celts (#39) were already the least experienced team in the standings, and took a psychological blow last week with four injured starters out against West.
McNary Coach Connor Astley has been preaching positivity all-season long, but it is a theme that may ring a little hollow against a physical Black Tornado squad. North Medford is highly motivated—wanting to stay in the hunt for championship bracket positioning.
Losing to the Celts would cause the Tornado’s power ranking to drop like a rock.
South Medford (5-2) at Roseburg (0-6): South Medford almost inexplicably remained at eighth in the power rankings, despite losing at Grants Pass. The Panthers spotted the host Cavemen a 20-point lead at halftime, and then fell one point short in their comeback bid, a 27-26 loss. The team had several starters out for the GP game after being trounced by Sheldon.
Roseburg should be an easy win for the Panthers. The host Indians still struggle offensively after losing several key starters over the course of the season. Last week—they lost a home game after forest fire smoke shutdown the scheduled Friday home contest versus South Salem, and eventually moved it to South on Saturday afternoon.
Don’t be surprised if this week’s game also gets moved. In either location—Roseburg or Medford--South Medford is the decided favorite, although the expected victory may drop the Panthers in the rankings just because their opponent is still looking for a victory this season.
Sheldon (7-0) at Grants Pass (5-2): The host Cavemen are the Special District’s hottest team—behind Sheldon, that is. Grants Pass has posted three wins in their past four games, including the nail-biting home win against South Medford. The problem for GP is that they’re facing the undisputed king of the Special District in Sheldon—which has yet to lose this season.
The #13 Cavemen lost big at South Salem (47-8) in the opening week of district play. It is easy to expect that Irish quarterback Brock Thomas and the crew will post similar results in week-eight. Still, the Sheldon game has no huge downside for Grants Pass because of Sheldon’s top-3 ranking. On the other side of the coin in week nine, the Cavemen will face a Roseburg team still expected to be winless going into the finale’. And that game will likely drop Grants Pass a notch or two.
5A-Corvallis (0-7) at McKay (1-6): This should be a McKay win in tough Mid Willamette Conference play. As much as I have criticized the OSAA power rankings, this is the time in the season where the rankings are closer to being accurate. The Royal Scots trounced Crescent Valley 51-22 three weeks ago at CV. This week, they play the only team that the Raiders have defeated—the Corvallis Spartans.
McKay is ranked 25th out of the 31 5A football teams. Crescent Valley is 29th, and Corvallis 30th. The transitive property doesn’t always apply to sports (look up the term), but I do think it is fair to say it absolutely comes into play in this case.
Scots junior running back Jamahl Wilson—who set a junior class rushing record against CV with 444 yards and six touchdowns—could have another big game. Not sure it will be a record setter, especially if Corvallis coaches have done their homework, but the Spartans—once a formidable opponent—should not be in this game for long.
The biggest concern Scot fans might have is their team’s ability to finish a ball game—but they have the athletic advantage in this matchup. Coach Brandis Piper can’t just have his team show up and guarantee a win. But if they are mentally and physically ready, then McKay will record win number two of the season. I continue to be impressed with the effort the Scots show on the field—but when they are out-manned, they can only maintain it for about three-quarters.
Scots by at least two TDs.
Of note: the forest fire smoke that has relocated some football games in Southern Oregon has made its way to the Willamette Valley. Practices (and middle school games) in the Salem-Keizer School district were either canceled or moved indoors on Tuesday. Some activities were curtailed on Wednesday as well.