West in control of CVC
Titans pound South; sit alone in first place
October 16, 2009

The West Salem Titans scored 60 points for a second straight game and separated themselves from the pack in the Central Valley Conference's fourth week of action.

West Salem 60, South Salem 27

In a battle of the remaining CVC unbeatens, it wasn't even close. West Salem dominated early and often, scoring on its first seven possessions of the game enroute to a 60-27 win at South Salem.

West took just over two minutes to get on the board, as Kaden Robago ran it in from four yards out to make it 6-0 Titans. South took their ownly lead of the game on the very next play--Jake Fohn returned the kickoff 95 yards for the touchdown and the extra point gave South a temporary 7-6 advantage.

But West would score the next three touchdowns--two more short TD romps for Robago and a 20 yard pass from Brett Smith to Cole Pittman to lead 28-7 with seven minutes remaining in the half.

The Saxons got a 72 yard touchdown run on their next possession to reduce the margin to 28-14, but they got no closer than 14 points the rest of the game. The Titans led 47-20 at halftime.

Smith seemed fully recovered from a cracked elbow that had kept him out of three games, rushing for 161 yards and two touchdowns, and throwing for four more TDs on 12 of 18 passing and 289 yards. Sal Herrera added another 152 yards on the ground on 25 carries, and Pittman tallied 247 receiving yards on just seven catches.

South quarterback Conor Lynch was 8 for 15 passing for 147 yards and two touchdowns. Wall had just six carries for 97 yards.

West Salem outgained the host Saxons 655-304 for the game.

West Salem (4-0) will have a bye next week before hosting Redmond on Oct. 30. South Salem (3-1) travels to eighth ranked Sprague for a game that will likely determine the conference's number-two seed in the state playoffs.

McKay 39, Redmond 14

The McKay Royal Scots snapped a three game losing streak with a 39-14 homecoming victory over the Redmond Panthers.

Angel Delao led a methodical running game with 125 yards on 17 carries. In all, eight ball carriers got in the action to combine for 338 yards on the ground.

Ian Silbernagel capped off McKay’s first drive of the night with a 14 yard scamper off of the option for a 6-0 lead. The main struggle for the evening for McKay was converting extra points as they missed on three of six attempts.

The second quarter saw a McKay offensive explosion as Major Harris scored on runs of 24 and 11 yards, and Majed Abderasul hauled in a 45-yard touchdown pass from Silbernagel for a 26-0 Royal Scot halftime lead.

The second half got sloppy as both teams were flagged for numerous penalties. The two teams combined for 20 infractions on the night.

But Silbernagel connected on two more scoring tosses, 14 yards to Abderasul and 26 yards to Harris to put the game away.

Redmond’s offense was held to 223 yards and only 28 yards rushing on the evening.

McKay (1-2) faces North Salem next Friday in a game that will help determine the CVC's fourth and final playoff spot. Redmond (0-3) will host McNary.

Sprague 56, North Salem 21

After being outscored in last week's 17 touchdown shootout at West Salem, the Sprague Olympians made sure there wasn't a repeat, pounding visiting North Salem.

Sprague scored on its first two possessions to take 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter before North--helped by a series of Sprague penalties--marched 75 yards on 13 plays to record a touchdown on Drew Bolliger's four yard run to make things interesting early at 14-7.

But the Olympians responded with two more touchdowns in quick fashion. Brian Conklin ran for a 48 yard TD on the very next drive--a two play affair--to move Sprague's lead to 21-7. less than two minutes later, Sprague took advantage of a short North Salem punt, and Jeff Kidd hit wingback Chad Coburn with 42 yard TD pass to make it 28-7.

North rebounded with a 14 play, 83 yard drive--assisted again by Sprague defensive penalties. Bolliger scampered into the end zone on a 17 yard run to make it 28-14 with 2:21 remaining in the half.

Sprague used the remaining time well, marching 63 yards in just over 90 seconds. Corburn ran it in from five yards out and the Olympians lead 35-14 at half.

Sprague started with the ball in the second half and scored quickly on a 57 yard run by Conklin on the first play from scirmmage. They added another score four minutes later on a 32 yard run by Coburn to lead 49-14. Both teams added fourth quarter touchdowns for the final margin of victory.

Kidd was a perfect 9-9 passing for Sprague for 162 yards and a TD. Conklin had 122 yards rushing and two TDs on just five carries, while Coburn tallied 144 yards in offense--74 rushing and 72 receiving--for three TDs.

North's Drew Bolliger rushed eight times for 49 yards and two TDs, and Brandon Aldis added 52 rushing yards on 13 carries.

North (1-2) travels to McKay next week, while Sprague (3-1) will entertain South Salem.

McNary 27, Lakeridge 14

McNary did not provide a very happy return to Keizer for former coach Tom Smythe, as the Celtics jumped out to a 14-0 lead enroute to a 27-14 non-conference win over Smythe and his Lakeridge Pacers.

The Celtics dominated the first half, scoring on TD runs by Tyler Gordon (six yards) and Zach Olpet (two yards) in the first quarter, and on a safety with a quarterback sack in the end zone.

Lakeridge made it interesting in the fourth quarter, scoring two touchdowns after struggling on offense most of the ball game. Set up by a long punt return, Pacer quarterback Tom Knecht hooked up with Zach Buehler for a 14 yard TD pass, and then another 18 yard pass from Knecht to Blake Dutton after a McNary fumble to tie it up at 14 with 9 1/2 minutes remaining.

But the Celtics rallied. Junior Dan Hockanson, who came in at quarterback in the second half, capped off an extended Celts drive with a one yard plunge to make it 20-14. After Lakeridge stalled on its next drive, McNary offense never left the field, with Gordon scoring on a one yard run with less than 20 seconds left to seal the victory.

Gordon rushed for 100 yards on 16 carries for the Celtics, and Olpet chipped in 63 yards on another 16 carries.

McNary (0-2 in CVC play) returns to conference play next week at Redmond.