Just two Salem-Keizer teams came away with wins last week—but both South Salem and North Salem kept their records perfect with the victories. Everyone else struggled mightily against their respective competition. Here is the rundown.
South Salem 48, Grants Pass 7
South only needed a half to close the deal against the visiting and previously unbeaten Cavemen.
Saxons quarterback Daschel Smith threw for five touchdowns on 21 of 24 passes and 218 yards in just two quarters of work. Zach Wusstig had two of the TD grabs—46 and 45 yards respectively, while Tini Tinitali caught a touchdown pass and added two interceptions defensively. South Salem led it 48-0 at halftime, and the game moved to a running clock in the second half.
Grants Pass quarterback Jace Blanchard scored the only TD for his team late in the third quarter on a two-yard run.
South Salem (3-0) will host South Medford (3-0) on Friday night.
North Salem 26, Roseburg 0
On a night where the Vikings honored the passing of longtime assistant coach Ken Slack, North Salem brought a strong run game and stellar defense to shutdown Roseburg for the victory. Senior running back Josiah Davis was the story in the first half for North—scoring three touchdowns of 8, 20 and 21 yards. He finished the half with 119 yards on 13 carries.
Defensively, the Vikings smothered the visiting Indians, limiting them to a net of zero yards in the first two quarters, with two yards rushing and -2 yards passing. They have allowed a state-fewest three points in their first three contests.
In the second half, the North Salem defense continued to limit Roseburg—which finished with just 86 yards offensively. The Vikings added one additional score—an 87 yard scamper by speedy wingback DeMari Thompson—the 5A 100 and 200 meter champion last spring. Watch the Thompson run here. Davis was injured on North’s last offensive play and had to be helped off the field. He indicated after the game that the injury was minor.
Roseburg junior RB Cayden Eckel finished the night with 61 yards rushing. Quarterback Brogan Rackley—who was pushed into the starting job after sophomore signal caller Owen Bentea was injured last week—managed just 16 yards passing on 4-13 attempts. He was also intercepted twice.
North Salem (3-0) travels to North Medford (1-2) next Friday.
North Medford 35, West Salem 14
The visiting Black Tornado struggled to score against their first two opponents this season, but found room to run and pass against the younger and smaller West Salem Titans Friday—dominating in their 35-14 win at West.
North Medford led it 22-0 at halftime, thanks to the combined efforts of quarterback Caiden Lacey and the dynamic brotherly duo of senior RB Ty Pugliano and junior receiver AJ Pugliano.
Lacey set up a two yard TD run by Ty Pugliano with a QB scramble into the red zone. North Medford led it 7-0 early in the first quarter.
The second Tornado touchdown was a 10 yard TD pass from Lacey to AJ Pugliano, set up by a steady diet of physical runs by Ty Pugliano. The missed PAT made the score 13-0.
North Medford added a 39 yard field goal to make it 16-0, and then recorded one more touchdown late in the half on a 15 yard run by Ty Pugliano. The blocked extra point made it 22-0, Black Tornado.
In the second half, Lacey went to the air again for North Medford—once again finding AJ Pugliano in the end zone from four yards out. The PAT made it 29-0.
West Salem finally got on the board when sophomore quarterback Kaden Martirano found Tommy Slack with a 66-yard TD pass. Martirano was actually hit as he threw, and Slack came back for the underthrown ball—weaving through the defense to score West Salem’s first points to make it 29-7.
North Medford scored its final TD with under three minutes left on a seven yard run to make it 35-7.
West Salem capped off the scoring with a nifty 60 yard TD run from Carson Evenson to reach the final count of 35-14.
Coach Shawn Stanley says the size of North Medford was a huge factor in the game, and his team couldn’t counter the obvious advantage.
West Salem ended the game with 267 yards in total offense. Martirano finished 12-20 for 180 yards with the 66-yard TD strike to Slack, and one interception. Slack had 132 yards on seven receptions. Tommy Lathen added 29 yards on five carries for the Titans rushing attack.
West Salem (0-3) hits the road for week four, facing Grants Pass (1-2).
Sheldon 41, Sprague 0
The Sprague Olympians had the difficult task of traveling to Eugene to face top-ranked Sheldon to open Special District One play. And unfortunately, the host Irish were as good as advertised.
Sheldon quarterback Brock Thomas threw for five touchdowns as the Irish pounded the Olys 41-0 to improve their record to 3-0.
“Our kids battled in the physical sense,” says Sprague coach Jay Minyard, “But their speed was too much for us.”
“I was proud of how we played.”
Sheldon accumulated 365 yards in total offense, including 280 yards passing by Thomas.
Sprague managed just 58 yards on the night, including 31 yards passing by junior Athan Palmateer on 4 of 13 passes with one interception. Kenya Johnson led all rushers with 37 yards on eight carries.
Sprague (1-2) will play at home Friday against Roseburg (0-2).
South Medford 55, McNary 21
McNary’s road game at South Medford started with great promise on Friday. McNary’s Hunter Ruberto intercepted a pass that bounced off the hands of a Panther receiver, and a few moments later, Ruberto scored the game’s first touchdown on a six yard run to give the Celtics the early 7-0 lead.
But the good feelings didn’t last long, as the host team scored the next three touchdowns, in route to a 55-21 win to improve South Medford to a 3-0 record and 1-0 in Special District One play.
South Medford rolled up nearly 500 yards in total offense on the night at Spiegelberg Stadium. Panthers quarterback Deacon Edgar overcame the early interception to throw five touchdowns on 18 of 24 passes for 267 yards on the night—including two each to seniors Ty Henry and Andrew Walker. The home team also racked up nearly 170 yards on the ground to keep the visiting Celtics off balance.
McNary still had plenty to like about the performance in the loss.
“Offensively, we continued to run the ball effectively, thanks to the o-line,” said an encouraged coach Connor Astley.
“Defensively, the boys played hard, and we did a lot of things right. We made them earn every first down.”
Still, some measure of miscommunication led to a few big plays for the Panthers during the game and the 55 points yielded.
For McNary offensively, running back Jake Allen had 54 yards on nine carries, including a 14 yard TD in the second half. Ruberto tallied 33 yards on nine carries, including the opening TD. Quarterback Jackson Alt finished 9-18 passing for 126 yards, with one interception and a 66-yard touchdown pass to senior Jabol Balos in the second quarter.
McNary (0-3) will entertain top-ranked Sheldon (3-0) in Keizer on Friday.
South Albany 39, McKay 8
As McKay head coach Brandis Piper pointed out prior to the start of the 5A football season, there are no nights-off in the hyper competitive Mid Willamette Conference.
The Scots found that out in a big way last Friday, as their normally high-octane offense sputtered for most of the night against a stout South Albany defense.
McKay came into the game averaging over 36 points a game. Friday night, they were shutout until very late in the game, falling decisively to the RedHawks 39-8.
South Albany shutdown the Scots normally productive running offense, limiting junior running back Jamahl Wilson to just 32 yards on nine carries, and stuffing quarterback Kyrin Fuimaono for -26 yards on three carries. That translated into a number of offensive “three plays and out” on the night, and goose eggs on the scoreboard for three quarters.
South Albany, in the meantime, used their powerful run attack to generate well over three hundred yards on the ground. The RedHawks scored three touchdowns in the first half to lead 19-0 at the break, and they scored three more TDs before McKay got a touchdown pass with under five minutes left in the game.
Anthony Vestal anchored the South Albany run game with 122 yards on seven carries, with touchdown runs of 13 and 56 yards.
For McKay, Fuimaono was 11 of 18 for 118 yards, with an interception, and a late 43 yard TD pass to Justice Anthony.
McKay takes a break from Mid Willamette Conference play this week, traveling to Galena, Nevada (halfway between Reno and Tahoe) for a non-league contest.