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CVC week one is in the books Week one of Central Valley Conference play featured a big rivalry game and a pair of down to the wire showdowns. South Salem 27, North Salem 7 South Salem made sure the Mayor’s Cup didn’t stay at North Salem High for very long. The visiting Saxons used a punishing running game and took advantage of key Viking mistakes to win 27-7 at North and claim their 16th victory in the last 17 games between the two schools. South junior running back Corey Bickler rushed for 110 yards and a touchdown to pace a Saxon ground attack that amassed 282 yards on the night, while junior QB Jonathan Sigado had a solid game in his second start of the year—completing 14 of 22 passes for 111 yards and a pair of scores.
The score remained unchanged as both teams went into the locker room. South had a chance to add a score late in the second quarter,driving to the Viking 6 yard line with just over ten seconds left. But the North defense sacked Sigado, and the Saxons had no more time outs to stop the clock. South improved their lead to 13-0 by scoring on their opening drive of the second half. The Saxons marched 64 yarrds on 13 plays, capped by a 20 yard pass from Sigado to Blake Miller. North responded with a 64 yard drive of their own. Senior Juan Benevidez, who moved from quarterback to running back this season, game through with a 23 yard TD run to cut the lead to 13-7. He finished the game with 109 yards on 17 carrries. But the South defense responded by shutting out the Vikings the rest of the way, while the Saxon offense ground out the yardage and the points. Sigado led his team on a time-consuming 84 yard drive, taking it into the end zone himself from one yard out to push the lead to 20-7 with just over six minutes left in the game. The victory was sealed when North turned the ball over on downs and Bickler scored his TD on a two yard run with 3:45 left in the game South stifled the host Vikings with a strong defense. They knocked starting running back John Cox from the game with a sprained ankle early in the first quarter, and limited North QB Casey Reyes to just 26 yards passing with a heated pass rush. The Saxons (2-1, 1-0 in CVC play) will host Redmond next Friday. North (1-2, 0-1) travels to sixth-ranked West Salem. West Salem 7, Sprague 6 Cross a big item off this season's “to do list” for the West Salem Titans. West, after four years of tuttility, finally got over the hump against rival Sprague—edging the Olympians 7-6 Friday night. It wasn’t easy, and the Titans escaped with a win by just inches when they stopped the Oly’s Tony Wilson just short of the goal line on a two point conversion attempt following a Sprague TD late in the fourth quarter. Through the opening two quarters, it looked as if West—the sixth rated team in the state—would have an easy time against the Olympians. After starting from their own 36 yard line, the Titans used strong running and a half back option pass from Jordan Jenkins to Jordan Bishop to get inside the Sprague 20 yard line on their opening drive. But the Oly defense stiffened, and a 32 yard field goal attempt by Ryan Allen missed with 7 ½ minutes left in the first quarter.
Sprague had a chance to even the score as they responded with a march of their own to the Sprague 30 yard line. But an Adam Kniffin pass to apparently open Colin Casad was picked off by safety Jordan Bishop. The 6-3 Bishop made a leaping catch at the West 7 yard line to end the drive with 6:14 left in the quarter. It remained 7-0 at half. In the second half, Sprague’s defense stifled the normally potent Titan attack—not giving up a single first down to West in the last two quarters. The Olys still struggled most of the game to find any offensive rhythm, as the Titan defense harrased Kniffin in the pocket all night long. Sprague finally got things going with under eight minutes left. Starting from their own 22 yard line, the Olys rode the big shoulders of fullback Tony Wilson—who didn’t carry the ball once in the first half. Wilson packed the ball on six of seven plays before pounding it into the end zone from one yard out with 3:20 left to cut the lead to 7-6. Then came the decisive play of the ball game. Olympians coach Robin Hall opted to go for the two point conversion and the win. The ball was pitched to Wilson on a toss sweep to the left side, with a fake reverse added in for good measure. West’s Jake Simpson slowed Wilson for a moment, and then linebacker Chase Sexton met a leaping Wilson at the goal line, knocking off his helmet and stopping him just inches of paydirt to preserve the Titan’s one point advantage. Sprague had one last opportunity, but West Salem didn’t make it easy.
Jenkins led the West Salem offensive attack with 116 yards rushing on 24 carries. Kniffin topped Sprague with 74 yards on 15 carries. West (3-1, 1-0) will play next Friday night at home against North Salem, while Sprague (1-3, 0-1) will travel to McKay. McNary 20, McKay 17 After a very successful preseason, tenth-ranked McNary found the going tougher in their CVC opener against McKay.
McKay opened the scoring in the game with the first play from scrimmage, as running back Tony Gonzales burst free for a 56 yard TD run to give his team the early 7-0 edge. The Celtics responded with a big play of their own as Brent Williams hit Dustin Boyd with a 45 yard TD pass. The Celtics got their first lead of the night just a play later, when McKay’s Solomon Frank fumbled away the ball just inside his own 35 yard line. Stephen Rodriguez, who rotated at QB for McNary during the game with Williams, was brought in and scored a few plays later on a 20 yard scamper to make it 13-7. McNary made it 20-7 on their next drive, as Williams returned at quarterback. He his Boyd on a 43 yard pass that moved the ball to the McKay 20. A pass interference call against the Scots moved the ball to the 10, and Williams ran it in from there to push the Celtic lead to 20-7. The Scots reduced the deficit to 20-10 just before halftime on a 27 yerd Cole Mahaffey field goal. McNary started the second half with the ball, and moved deep into McKay terrioty before Williams was intercepted by Gil Salcido. The Scots responded with a drive of their own, capped off by Frank’s one yard TD plung to make it 20-17 heading into the fourth quarter. The two teams exchanged a series of punts before McKay got the ball back one final time. On fourth down, Scots quarterback John Brewer was sacked by the McNary defense, giving the ball back to the Celts with just over a minute to play. Celtic star player Zach Brown injured his shoulder during the defensive stand, and his status is questionable for next week. Top performers for the game included McKay’s Tony Gonzales, who had 165 yards rushing on 20 carries—and McNary’s Sam Wilkerson, with 145 yards on 25 carries. McNary (4-0, 1-0 ) gets an early non-league game next week at Clackamas. McKay (1-3, 0-1) hosts Sprague next Friday. Redmond 57, Milwaukie 27 Redmond tuned up for the start to its CVC season next week with an easy, 30 point non-league win at home against Three Rivers opponent Milwaukie. The visiting Mustangs scored first. A 78 yard scamper by tailback Sean Scott set up a 2 yard run by Tim Garcia to give Milwaukie a 7-0 lead.. But Redmond never trailed again as they used a good mix of running and passing to score three times in the first quarter to take a 21-13 advtange, then adding another TD in the second period to lead 27-13 at half.
Panthers quarterback Cody Johnson threw for 271 yards on 13 of 20 passing. Wideout Bo Guthrie had six catches for 160 yards, and also intercepted a pass defensively for Redmond (2-2). The Panthers finally get to their Central Valley Conference schedule next Friday night on the road at South Salem. GAME PHOTOS BY FAS PHOTOGRAPHERS JOHN STRAUCH, NISHA STRAUCH
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South got on the board first after a North miscue on a punt. The ball was snapped over the head of Viking punter Josh Kuenzi, who raced into the end zone and hurriedly got off a short kick that gave the Saxons the ball at the North 14. On the very next play, Sigado tossed the ball in the flat to Zach Dufault, who ran it in to give his team a 7-0 advantage.
After the two sides exchanged punts, West finally mounted a sustained scoring drive that began late in the first quarter, driving 66 yards on 11 plays. Jenkins, rotating at quarterback with Aaron Hire—who sat out last week’s game with a shoulder injury---scored on a 10 yard run to make it 7-0 with just over nine minutes left in the first half.
Titan punter Ryan Allen boomed a 62 yard punt over the head of Oly return man Tyson Giza to pin Sprague back at their own four yard line with 2:13 remaining in the game. Kniffin managed to move his team to mid-field with just over 30 seconds left in the game, but Simpson intercepted his next pass at the Titan 35 to seal the victory.
The host Celtics held off a second half rally by the Scots to come away with a 20-17 win, their first conference victory since 2005.
Redmond’s Ty Nordstrom had the best game of his career--scoring all four Redmond touchdowns in the first half while finishing with 118 yards rushing.