Week Five Prep Football Round Up
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Week Five Prep Football Round Up
Including: the best local performance you didn’t see
There were plenty of competitive games this past week involving Salem-Keizer Schools. Here is the rundown for week number five.
McKay 51, Crescent Valley 22 (5A): This is a game that got very little media love—in fact, no newspaper dropped by Crescent Valley High for the game between the Raiders and the McKay Royal Scots. It is easy to understand. CV had just one victory in the first four weeks, and the visiting Royal Scots were winless in Mid Willamette Conference play.
But McKay recorded its first W of the year with an outstanding individual performance from junior running back Jamahl Wilson who carried the ball 30 times for 444 yards and six touchdowns in the Scots dominating win in Corvallis.
McKay jumped out to a 17-0 lead, and saw the Raiders cut the lead to 24-16 in the third quarter. The Scots gave up one more score while recording four more TDs themselves to secure the victory.
Coach Brandis Piper was quick to give the big men up front plenty of credit for the victory.
“Our offensive line stepped up and played very well,” said Piper.
“The defense also forced multiple turnovers and a safety for us.”
McKay assistant coach KJ McCrae said Wilson put together easily his best game as a Royal Scot.
“Yeah he runs hard… he runs like that in practice too,” cracked McCrae with a chuckle.
“It's nice to see him finally show his skill-set.”
The Royal Scots (1-4) next host Central (3-2) in a Saturday game at 3:00 pm.
Here is a video clip of provided by McKay assistant coach KJ McCrae of one of the Wilson TD runs.
ADDED NOTE: Wilson’s 444 yards rushing is a McKay High School record. and an Oregon record for a junior footballer. Coach Piper says the total yardage is seventh all-time, according to the OSAA.
North Salem 21, McNary 7: North rebounded from their first loss last week at North Medford, while McNary took another step forward as a young team in a 21-7 victory for the visiting Vikings.
North Salem senior running back Josiah Davis—who was denied the end zone at Spiegelberg Stadium in week four—rushed for a pair of touchdowns for the Vikings. North quarterback TC Manumaleuna also had a big 53 touchdown pass to Erick Gonzalez just before the half time break to give his team the 21-7 margin that remained unchanged in the second half.
Manumaleuna was just 3 of 6 passing for a total of 69 yards on the night with one interception. Josiah Davis rushed for 133 yards on 21 carries, with touchdown scampers of three and one yards.
McNary senior quarterback Jackson Alt threw a TD pass—a 10 yarder to Evan Lawson—for the Celts’ only score of the game. Alt finished the game 15-23 for 130 yards with the touchdown and two interceptions.
Celtics running back Jake Allen had another solid game for his team as well, rushing for 124 yards on 21 carries, and catching four passes for 28 yards.
“He was explosive when he was hitting holes,” said McNary head coach Connor Astley of Allen.
“He was able to hit cut-back lanes, and even had a spin move down the sideline to extend the play for another 10 yards—which was fun to watch.”
Astley also had high praise for linebacker Hunter Ruberto on the defensive side of the ball.
“(Hunter) was in on almost every tackle, wrapping legs and taking guys to the ground.”
Jabol Belos also had an interception in the second quarter for the Celts.
McNary (0-5) travels to South Salem (4-1) next Friday, while North Salem (4-1) will host Grants Pass (3-2).
South Salem 35, West Salem 7: The winless West Salem Titans scored first on a pick-six, but were simply too short handed to generate an effective offensive game. That helped South Salem overcome early miscues and pull away in the second half for their fourth win in five games.
Defensive back Jameson Lowery got the Titans on the scoreboard with 4 ½ minutes left in the first quarter after picking off South Salem quarterback Daschel Smith, and then sprinting 30 yards down the sideline to pay dirt. The extra point made in 7-0, West.
The Saxons had made two mistakes earlier in the quarter when they looked poised to score.
With just under ten minutes left in the first period, South decided to go for it in West territory on fourth down, but Smith—under pressure—ended up throwing his pass away, turning the ball back to West on downs.
About three clock minutes later, the Saxons connected on a long pass from Smith to Jaxon Watson to the West Salem ten—but Watson lost the ball as he went to the turf, and it rolled into the end zone for a touchback.
Throwing the ball frequently all night, the Saxons finally got on the board with just over nine minutes left in the second quarter, when Smith found Zach Wustigg on a 25 yard TD pass, to tie the game at seven.
South took the lead for good with a big play on special teams. West was punting deep in its own end, but punter Connor Oertel couldn’t handle the snap at the goal line. Saxon defensive lineman Hatimu Letisi skidded into the end zone and covered the ball—giving his team the 14-7 lead—which was the score at halftime.
There was no more scoring until 2 ½ minutes were left in the third quarter. South lined up in the Wildcat formation at their won 31, Wustigg took the direct snap and weaved his way through the West Salem defense for a 69 yard touchdown run. That made it 21-7.
South would score twice more—both in the fourth quarter. Tini Tinitali caught a 33 yard TD pass from Smith to start the fourth for a 28-7 advantage, and Wustigg scored his third TD of the night with seven minutes left on a 26 yard pass from Smith for the final margin of 35-7.
Smith threw the ball 49 times for the Saxons, completing 31 passes for 353 yards with an interception and the three TDs. Wustigg led South on the ground with 113 yards on seven carries, while Tinitali topped the receiving totals with 80 yards on seven catches.
West was hampered by the loss of sophomore starting quarterback Kaden Martirano, who was injured last week against Grants Pass, and is lost for the season. Coach Shawn Stanley rotated senior Jimmy Lathen and sophomore Cole Hansen at the position—and while they had some big plays in isolation, the two combined for 117 yards through the air, but two interceptions help bring some promising drives to an abrupt halt. Connor Evenson had 62 yards rushing on 14 carries.
The host Titans held the ball for 28 of the 48 minutes in the game, but only ran 55 plays to the 73 plays on the South Salem side of the ledger. West also failed to convert on 11 of their 13 third down opportunities.
South Salem (4-1) returns home on Friday to host winless McNary. West will try to pick up their first win on the road against Sprague (2-3).
Here is one of the touchdowns scored by Wustigg for South Salem, courtesy of Full Access Sports.
South Medford 33, Sprague 18: The visiting Olympians scored first in the early road game at Spiegleberg Stadium. In fact, Sprague scored on their first two possessions at South Medford’s homecoming contest.
Coach Jay Minyard described it as a “great game,” but said that three Sprague fumbles in the middle quarters were the difference when the Olympians gave up three straight scores to the host Panthers.
Sprague got on the board first when Colorado State-bound senior Drew Rodriguez pulled in a 33-yard touchdown pass from starting quarterback Athan Palmateer. Sprague has struggled with PATs all season, and missed the first attempt to lead it 6-0. See the TD pass video by clicking here.
After South Medford responded with a touchdown of their own on a 52 yard pass play, Sprague again got to the end zone—this time handing the ball to Barik Hill on a three-yard run to make it 12-7, Sprague. Hill finished the game with 91 yards on 18 carries.
South Medford scored on quarterback Deacon Edgar’s 15-yard run near the end of the first quarter and regained the lead at 14-12. Another Edgar run of one-yard midway through the second quarter pushed the score to 20-12 at halftime.
Dylan Espinosa increased the South Medford advantage to 26-12 on a four-yard TD run that capped off a 5 ½ minute drive with just four minutes left in the third.
Sprague scored once more on a five-yard run by Kenya Johnson, to make it 26-18 with a chance to tie.
But South Medford had a huge return on the ensuing kickoff, putting them in Sprague territory. A few plays later, Espinosa was back in the end zone with another four yard TD run, and South Medford slammed the door shut at 33-18.
Rodriguez topped Sprague’s air attack with five catches—four of them in the second half—for 69 yards and the first quarter touchdown. Athan Palmateer finished with 79 yards on 8-15 passing, with two interceptions to go with the Rodriguez TD. He also added 58 yards rushing on eight carries.
Sprague (2-3) returns home next Friday to entertain West Salem (0-5). South Medford (5-0) puts their unbeaten record on the line next Friday in Eugene, visiting top-ranked Sheldon (5-0).
The other Special District One games included North Medford’s 20-14 win at Grants Pass. The Cavemen were deep in North Medford territory with ninety seconds left, but were turned away on a fourth and four play to give the Black Tornado their fifth straight win over GP. North Medford (3-2) will entertain winless Roseburg next week, while Grants Pass (2-3) visits North Salem (4-1).
The final contest from last week was over early. Top ranked Sheldon (5-0) continues to roll through the opposition, pounding (0-5) Roseburg, 56-0. Irish quarterback Brock Thomas threw for 232 yards and four touchdowns, and added another 67 yards on the ground with two TDs in the victory.
Sheldon and South Medford play at Sheldon next Friday in a battle of top-ten unbeatens.