Weekly Prep Football Round Up #6
Some blow outs, some dramatic endings mark the past week of play
Games that were close—and games that decidedly were not—marked this past week’s local prep football action. Here is a rundown of games from Special District One—with emphasis on Salem Keizer.
South Salem 55, McNary 19
The host Saxons got an 84-yard kickoff-return for a touchdown from Tini Tinitali as part of their dominating performance in the 55-19 victory over the Celtics (0-6, 0-4).
The Celtics scored on their first possession, an 8-yard TD pass from Jackson Alt to Jake Allen at the end of a seven-minute drive, but couldn’t build on it. South led 41-13 at halftime.
Saxon quarterback Daschel Smith (13-17, 202 yards) passed for four touchdowns, two to Zach Wusstig, who three total catches for 89 yards. The Saxons (5-1, 3-1) picked up 101 yards rushing on 21 carries.
South Salem (5-1, 3-1 in Special District One action) hits the road next week to play at winless Roseburg (0-5). McNary (0-6) travels to West Salem (0-6) in a battle of winless district teams.
Grants Pass 18, North Salem 14
In a tough and physical battle at North Salem High, visiting Grants Pass had the final word offensively to pull out a narrow 18-14 victory.
A scrambling Jace Blanchard hit receiver Luke Morgan inside on a 3 yard TD pass for the go-ahead score with 1:35 left, and the Cavemen downed the Vikings at Littlejohn Field.
North receiver Erick Gonzalez’s 48 yard touchdown catch midway through the second quarter gave the Vikings a 14-6 lead. The Cavemen (4-2, 2-2) pulled within 14-12 on a touchdown pass from Blanchard to Malachi Kinyon just 12 seconds before halftime.
Viks quarterback TC Manumaleuna was 7 for 16 for 140 yards and the touchdown to Gonzalez—who recorded three catches for 107 yards. North running back Josiah Davis rushed for 120 yards and a score, and defensive back Pierce Walker had an interception. The Vikings (4-2, 2-2) will visit Sprague (3-3, 2-2) on Thursday night.
Sprague 28, West Salem 21
It was a dramatic night at Sprague’s Olympic Stadium on Friday.
Sprague quarterback Athan Palmateer’s eight-yard touchdown run with three seconds left gave the Olympians the 28-21 victory over the West Salem Titans.
The Olympians blocked two Titans punts before West Salem came back from a 14-0 deficit and to tie up the contest. The Titans’ comeback was fueled by a blocked kick of their own by Cody Warren, leading to an end zone recovery by Aiden DeWitt with just under ten minutes left in the third quarter, tying the game at 14.
Sprague responded with a clock-gobbling 15 play, 65-yard drive—culminating with a 12-yard pass from Palmateer to Drew Rodriguez to regain the lead at 21-14. The Olys ate up 7:43 of time in the process.
The Titans replied with a long drive of their own—covering 69 yards on 18 plays. West wideout Conner Oertel made a 10-yard touchdown catch from sophomore QB Cole Hansen to pull the Titans into a 21-21 tie with just 3:59 left in the game.
But Sprague had one last possession, and made the most of it, driving 65 yards on 12 plays, culminating with Palmateer’s last second TD run and Kenya Johnson’s PAT to avoid overtime.
Palmateer was 15-25 through the air for 145 yards, including the TD toss to Rodriguez. He also had his two rushing touchdowns.
Sprague victories in this football series have been hard to come by in the last decade, and Olympians’ coach Jay Minyard felt fortunate to record the win over West and his longtime friend and fellow coach Shawn Stanley.
“It was a good feeling for sure,” said Minyard, who had been fighting a cold during the week.
Sprague (2-2 in District play, 3-3 overall) will host North Salem (4-2, 2-2) on Thursday. West Salem (0-6) will entertain McNary (0-6) on Friday.
See Sprague’s winning touchdown by clicking the link HERE.
Sheldon 49, South Medford 0
It was billed as a battle between two unbeaten teams in Special District One play.
But the host (and top-ranked) Irish did whatever they wanted to hand South Medford their first loss of the season.
Sheldon scored on all six of its first-half drives against the short-handed Panthers— who were missing five players due to injury. The Irish forged a 42-0 lead in dominant fashion to set up use of a running clock for the second half of play.
Anything South Medford attempted was decidedly in futility in an important game where both teams entered the contest 5-0 overall and 3-0 in District play.
Athletic Irish senior QB Brock Thomas passed for four touchdowns and ran for two more to pace Sheldon.
South Medford signal caller Deacon Edgar struggled from the start with extreme pressure all night long from the Sheldon D-line, and was unable to come up with many chances to either run or throw against the stifling Sheldon defense.
South Medford unofficially was limited to 90 yards passing and 173 overall in the first half, while Sheldon tallied up 285 yards passing and another 59 rushing — 45 of those coming from the strong legs of Thomas.
For South Medford, Coach Bill Singler said it will all be about how his team responds following its first loss after starting the season 5-0 for the first time in 11 years.
North Medford 42, Roseburg 6
North Medford has been a team on a roll, and the fans were anticipating a big game from their team.
But the excited Spiegelberg Stadium crowd went quickly silent after North Medford quarterback Caiden Lacey was injured on a hard hit on his team’s first play from scrimmage and carted off the field early in the first quarter of the Black Tornado’s 42-6 win over Roseburg on Friday night.
The win was North Medford’s fourth in a row — all coming in Special District One play — allowing the Black Tornado (4-2) to remain in a first-place tie (4-0 in District play) with top-ranked Sheldon (6-0), which dominated No. 8 South Medford 49-0 in Eugene.
JT Knobloch-Scott, the Tornado’s kicker who transferred from Cascade Christian for his senior season, took over under center just as he did when Lacey injured his knee in the Black Tornado’s loss to Bend on Sept. 9.
Knobloch-Scott’s first pass of the game gave the Black Tornado a 7-0 lead, when he hit Connor Cesaro for a 15-yard touchdown pass.
Despite being forced into the line-up after to Lacey’s injury, Knobloch-Scott finished 8-of-12 for 145 yards and four touchdown passes, the last of which went to AJ Pugliano in the third quarter.
On their first four drives of the game, the struggling Indians punted the ball three times and turned it over on downs once.
Roseburg finished with 107 yards of total offense, with 87 of those coming on the ground.
North Medford (4-2 overall) hosts top-ranked Sheldon (6-0) next Friday, while Roseburg (0-5) entertains once-beaten South Salem (5-1).
Central 49, McKay 13 (Saturday)
The skies were clear and temperatures warm, but Central rained on McKay’s homecoming game Saturday afternoon, breaking opening a close game early in the second half, recording 35 unanswered points in a 49-13 win over the Scots.
McKay recorded the first points of the game, engineering a 78 yard drive capped off by a three yard TD run from Jamahl Wilson to give the Scots a 7-0 lead with 3:40 left in the opening quarter.
Central took almost no time to respond, when senior quarterback Chase Nelson found receiver Javier Landros wide open behind the McKay secondary—leading to a 58 yard TD pass. The PAT tied the game at seven with just over two minutes left in the first.
McKay responded with a drive covering 60 yards. The scoring play gobbled up most of the yardage—a 40-yard pass to the speedy Justice Anthony, who out ran the defenders to the end zone. After a procedure call moved back the PAT by 5 yards, the kick was missed to make it 13-7, McKay with 7:22 left in the half. It was the last time the Royal Scots would have the lead.
Central had a long kick return of 32 yards to put the ball at their own 46 yard line. After an eight-yard run, Nelson hit receiver Dominic Castanon with a 31 yard reception to move the ball to the McKay 23. A pair of runs and a short pass later, the Panthers were at the McKay six with a first and goal.
McKay’s defense stiffened. Nelson missed a wide-open receiver in the end zone on the first play, and a two more run plays left Central with a fourth and goal at the two. Nelson took the snap himself off right guard for the touchdown, and the extra point made it 14-13 with just under 5 ½ minutes left until intermission.
McKay ran five plays to get near mid field, but a pass by junior QB Kyrin Fuimaono was picked off by Central’s Andrew Eames at the Panther 46 with 1:56 left in the half.
Nelson then engineered a six-play drive, ending with a six-yard TD pass to running back Kohler Hernandez. The PAT made it 21-13, Central.
McKay was shutout the rest of way, stopped twice in the red zone in the second half.
Central added four touchdowns in the second half. Nelson hit receiver Myles Crandall with a 28-yard TD pass with 5 ½ minutes left in the third to make it 28-13.
It was 35-13 after Kohler Hernandez rumbled 80 yards for another touchdown—after the Panthers defense stopped McKay on downs in the red zone after sacking Fuimaono. With 2:30 left in the third, Central led 35-13.
With 5:36 left in the fourth quarter, Nelson bobbled a snap at the McKay 44-yard line—then took off up the middle of the field for a 44 yard touchdown run to make it 42-13.
The scoring wrapped with two minutes remaining in the game when Panthers defensive back Kirik Kantola picked off a Fuimaono pass and rumbled for a 35 yard TD for the 49-13 final.
McKay’s Wilson—who rushed for a state record 444 yards and six touchdowns last week in a win over Crescent Valley—left the game with four minutes left in the third quarter with an inner (medial) ankle sprain. He had rushed for 150 yards on 26 carries to that point, with the early TD. Wilson had ice on the injury—but indicated it was a relatively minor problem.
Royal Scots Coach Brandis Piper says the game was much closer than the final score indicated.
“We didn’t execute well in all phases and aspects of the game,” said Piper.
“We had opportunities, and weren’t able to capitalize… I am proud our players continued to battle.”
For Central, quarterback Chase Nelson racked up 183 passing yards on 11-17 passing. He threw three touchdowns for the Panthers.
Central (4-2) plays next week at Lebanon (2-3). McKay (1-5) will be at home again next Friday—hosting defending state champion Silverton (5-1). The Foxes outscored Crescent Valley on Friday, 74-52.