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West alone in first after week four Fourth ranked West Salem is one big step closer to the school's first ever conference football title, while Sprague and South Salem came up with big wins in week four of Central Valley Conference football action played Thursday night due to Friday's statewide teacher inservice. West Salem 31, Redmond 21 West Salem raced out to a 24-7 lead at halftime and made it stand up at the end, beating Redmond 31-21 in a battle of CVC undefeated teams at West Salem High. West got on the board first. The Titans began their second drive at their own ten yard line after a punt by Redmond's Taylor Johnson--but on the second play, fullback Chase Sexton raced 89 yards for a score and an early 7-0 lead.
Redmond responded with an 11 play, 70 yard drive capped off by a Ty Nordstrom 1 yard TD run to make it 17-7. But West re-extended their lead when Jenkins raced 46 yards with the ensuing kickoff to the Redmond 31 yard line. Hire got the Titans into the end zone five plays later when he hit tight end John Gallagher with a 10 yard TD pass to give his team the 24-7 edge at half. After a scoreless third quarter, Redmond cut the lead to 24-14 just 30 seconds into the fourth period when Nordstrom scored on an eight yard TD run. An onside kick attempt by the Panthers failed, and West used the excellent field position to their advantage, as Jenkins--who came on for an injured Hire at quarterback, ran in from two yards out to make it 31-14.
West's defense finished off the game. Cody Johnson was sacked for a loss on first down. After a 17 yard pass to Taylor Johnson to make it third and five, the Titan defense did not allow another completion, and Redmond was forced to turn over the ball on downs. Jenkins led West Salem's rushing attack 143 yards on 28 carries, while Sexton recorded 140 yards on 10 carries. Cody Johnson threw for 247 yards on 16 of 33 passes for Redmond. West (4-0 in CVC play) can clinch at least a tie for the conference title with a home win next week against McKay. Redmond (2-1) will return home to host Sprague. Sprague 15, McNary 11 In a game easily described as sloppy, the Sprague Olympians came away with their first conference win of 2007 with a narrow victory over a still struggling McNary squad. The contest featured as many turnovers as pass completions, and the defenses accounting for the bulk of the scoring. Early, it looked like McNary might run away with the game at Sprague's Olympic Stadium. After the two teams came up empty handed on their opening drives, the Celtics got the first break when Steven Rodriguez returned a short Sprague punt 35 yards to the Oly 18 yard line. Sprague also was flagged for a personal foul--one of four they received on the night--and the Celtics had a first and goal at the Oly nine yard line. But the Sprague defense allowed just two net yards on three plays, and McNary had to settle for a 21 yard field goal to take the early 3-0 lead. The Celts pushed their lead to 5-0 late in the first quarter, when the long snap back to Sprague punter Jordan Dohman was well to his right, and the punter kicked the ball out of the back of the end zone to give McNary a two-point safety. That lead improved to 11-0 when Oly quarterback Adam Kniffin fumbled while being sacked and McNary's Brandon Imperitrice scored on a 16 yard fumble return with 8 1/2 minutes in the first half. But Sprague took advantage of a McNary miscue late in the quarter to cut the lead to 11-8. A poor snap to McNary punter Zach Brown forced him to run the ball, coming up short of the first down and giving the Olympians first down at the Celtic 48. On the second play, Kniffin raced around left end and outsprinted the McNary defense 45 yards to the end zone. Sprague added a two point conversion on another Kniffin run.
McNary quarterback then completed his first pass of the game--covering 13 yards--to fullback Darian Kauffman to give his team a first and goal at the seven yard line. But Williams next completed pass to Dustin Boyd was fumbled on the encusing tackle, and Sprague recovered to ice the victory. For the night, the two teams accumulated less than 300 yards in total offense. Wilson led the Sprague rushing attack with 48 yards on 11 carries. Sprague (1-2 in CVC action) travels to Redmond next week, while McNary (1-3) will return to Keizer to entertain North Salem. South Salem 28, McKay 14 A week after a tough loss to West Salem, the South Salem Saxons kept their conference playoff hopes alive by jumping out to a big lead against McKay and holding on for the victory.
McKay reduced the lead to 21-14 early in the fourth quarter when full back Solomon Frank capped an extended drive with a 16 yard TD run. But South cut the rally short when Sigado drove the Saxons into the red zone, hitting Zach Dufault with a two yard touchdown pass with just under 3 1/2 minutes left to seal the victory. For the game, Sigado had 167 yards passing on 13 of 21 attempts, with no interceptions. Corey Bickler led the South Salem rushing attack with 104 yards on 20 carries. Gonzales topped all rushers for the game with 194 ya4rds on 27 carrries for McKay. The Scots (2-2 in conference play) travel to West Salem next week, while South Salem (2-2) is at Oregon City in the CVC's non-league game. North Salem 13, Rex Putnam 10 Coach Robert Cary's Vikings got a much needed non-league victory at home by rallying to beat Rex Putnam out of the Three Rivers League.
In the second half, both team's defenses stiffened. The only Rex Putnam score came on a field goal. North came up with the game winning points late in the fourth quarter as North's Javier Garcia ran in a Kingsman fumble six yards after the ball was knocked loose by Viking linebacker Ryan Nelson. North Salem (0-3 in the CVC, 2-5 overall) returns to conference play at McNary next Friday.
GAME PHOTOS BY JOE GOTTSCH (WEST-REDMOND) AND NISHA STRAUCH
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After Ryan Allen tacked on a 38 yard field goal to make it 10-0, West added another touchdown as quarterback Aaron Hire hit Sexton with a three yard TD pass, after running back Jordan Jenkins set up the short field with a 52 yard run inside the five yard line. That gave the Titans an early 17-0 advantage.
Redmond reduced the margin to 31-21 when Cody Johnson hit Taylor Johnson with a 23 yard TD pass on fourth down, and had one more chance after West was forced to punt from deep in its own territory, giving the ball to the Panthers at midfield.
Neither team scored in the third quarter, but Sprague got the big break of the game early in the fourth. McNary's Rodriguez was stood up on a run and had the ball stripped out and into the hands of Sprague's Tony Wilson, who rumbled 50 yards for the go ahead touchdown with 10:35 left.
Junior quarterback Jonathan Sigado had three first half touchdown passes--including 15 and 33 yard strikes to Dominic David--to give the Saxons a 21-0 advantage at halftime. The last TD pass to David came with just one second left on the clock.
In the second half, the Royal Scots mounted a comeback behind the strong legs of the conference's leading rusher, Tony Gonzales, who raced 50 yards for a touchdown a little more than a minute into the third quarter to cut the deficit to 21-7.
Jared Lowe--North's third quarterback this season--hit Josh Kuenzi with a 35 yard TD pass late in the first half after spotting the visiting Kingsmen a 7-0 advantage early. The extra point was missed, and Rex Putnam led 7-6 at half.