Marist - C Valley and Lebanon, Air Lancer

Last week I wrote that Lebanon might be having dreams about the possibility of beating Marist.  At the game, I barely had time to put on my gloves to warm my freezing hands, when Silver hit Walcott on a 62 yard td bomb.  Then;

• Lebanon ate up six and a half minutes on thier first series, but missed a field goal. 
• Marist scored quickly and I thought the Lebanon dream was going to be a nightmare.  
• But Lebanon came on strong and pulled within 14-6 early in the second quarter.
• Marist answered quickly, to go up 20-6 with ten minutes left in the second quarter. 
• However, Lebanon then outplayed Marist the rest of the quarter, but stalled out deep in Marist territory right before the half.  After three incomplete passes from the 8, Lebanon attempted a short field goal, but missed.  

Even though Lebanon was down 20-6 at half, they had exploited the Spartan secondary and had a good running combo going in qb Duerr and rb Privatsky.  If they had made their field goals, it would have been 20-12.  I didn't like the way Lebanon was playing their 3-4 D, but it was working.  I thought the Lebanon linebackers were playing way too deep, which would open the door for Marist's running game. On the other hand, Lebanon picked Silver in the first half, which is a rarity.

Second half adjustments.  For the first time all year, Marist ran onto the field like wild banshees.  Marist inserted Walcott into the defensive secondary and was rewarded with a Walcott pick on the first Lebanon series.  Marist's D line picked it up a level or three. Mayes was particularly impressive.  No mercy for Duerr, the Warrior qb. Eventually he was knocked out of the game for a couple of possessions.  Game over.  Marist scored 21 points in the third quarter.

My mind was thinking it was funny watching Lebanon try to go side to side so much.  Trying the corner a few times is okay, but after you've been repeatedly held to no gains or losses, try something else.  It looked like Lebanon was giving Marist's Will Swindling a SPARQ's side to side shuttle test for 48 minutes.  He passed every time.

Coach Greske showed a couple of things for the scouts to think about:

• Chiongbian took two handoffs, his only two carries of the game, to the endzone.  Last week, Silver was the only rusher while the first string was in.
• Going for the jugular with the 62 yd td pass to Walcott on the second play of the game has to go into a scout notebook.  The notebook entry should say "No time to get the feel of the opponent".

Two coolest plays of the game.  A scramblerooskie by Silver on 4th and 12 early in the second quarter.  Silver juked and jived to buy enough time for Paiement to get open for an 18 yard pass.  The other coolest play was a catch by Austin Baird going out of bounds late in the second quarter.  It would have been a highlight reel catch - 45 yards through the air from Silver, Baird tight roping the sidelines, adjusting to the ball in flight, fully laying out, ignoring the defender's bump, and catching the ball before crash landing..... out of  bounds. Darn.   Okay, Mayes pounding the qb over and over was great, but something about the crunch factor disqualifies the hits from being the 'coolest'.  Need another term for crunching qbs.

The reality of the game was that Lebanon was the three seed from their conference.  You've got to be in the elite category to play with Marist.

Crescent Valley.  A 6'4", 185 pound freshman wide receiver,Tanner Sanders, is why the Raiders are still in the playoffs. He caught a key pass in a play-in game that put CV into the lead late in the game against The Dalles-Wahtonka.  I mention this so you'll remember his name in basketball season and to remind you that CV can pass the ball, even though they run far more often then they pass.

While not a statewide elite team like Sherwood, Marist, Mountain View, Jefferson and Wilsonville, Crescent Valley is from the smash mouth Mid-Willamette league that includes Lebanon.  They'll be deeper in personnel, talent and size than Lebanon.  EArlier I noted that had Lebanon made their first half field goals, they would have been in a 20-12 game at halftime. Crescent Valley should be better than that.  Also, keep in mind that Crescent Valley scored 63 points against Churchill last week on a sloppy field.  That's a lot of points.

Will Churchill fans be rooting for Crescent Valley?

Churchill alum Tim Euhus is the offensive coordinator for CV.  That sets up a match up of former NFL player Euhus against former Portland State assistant coach Frank Geske. Let me think.... NFL versus college.  Does Geske have a chance?

Churchill's Great Season

I'm a dinosaur.  My bones tell me that football should be played on grass.  Or mud, if it rains.  When I played ball, passing was almost cheating.  Passing was definitely not macho.  The trenches were where it was at.  But I've had a receiver and qb in my family this decade and I sure like the excitement of the big play through the air.  So I was sad to see the Churchill - CV game played on grass, in sloppy conditions.  In the year 1999, I watched my Sheldon boys lose one in soup at Jefferson.  Passing was impossible.  Fortunately, the next year was when Sheldon and the 4j schools put in artificial turf.  That led to a state quarterfinal, then a state runner up and the next year a championship.

Churchill cut a 20-29 halftime deficit to 27-29 46 seconds into the second half on a Godfrey to Savelich 68 yarder.  Godfrey threw for 286 yards and two tds.   Ingram ran for 199 yards and 4 tds.  A good finish for these seniors.  Remember Tanner Sanders, the Crescent Valley freshman I mentioned earlier for his efforts against the Dalles-Wahtonka?  Against Churchill, he caught a td pass off of a fake field goal attempt and intercepted a pass for a 44 yd pick six.  Marist fans should get ready for Sanders, running back Andre Oglesby and qb Chase Cochran.  They torched Marshfield with 44 points and Churchill with 63 points.  As good as Oglesby is, I don't think he has the speed to get by the Marist linebackers.

Baseball 


Baseball?  A lot of people are probably moving on to other sports or graduation.   But before you move on, please let me know if any of your football players are also baseball players.  I maintain a baseball site, too.  Ashland and Eagle Point won't be in the MWL league for baseball, but I still want to track their baseball players.  I'm not familiar with Eagle Point baseball, but Ashland's qb Jake Scarmanich and Brady Thomas played in the state championship game against North Eugene.  Any Eagle football players projected to play baseball?  Email me at mwlnow@yahoom.com.

Pros in NFL/CFL football

Does your team have any former players who went onto the NFL or CFL?  Let me know if I don't have them on my list.  I think Chad Cota was from Ashland?  Anyway, let me know.  Here's what I have in my initial attempt MWL players in the NFL/CFL

MWL alums playing football in college

I also maintain a list of players who have gone on to play college ball.  I try to keep it to D-I players, but we can fudge a little.  MWL alums who played in college Go back in time as far as you can.  I keep this information because when my kids played at Sheldon, most players didn't know that three former Sheldon players had played in a Super Bowl, much less played in college.  If a Cottage Grove, North Bend or Junction city alum is reading this, let me know if  you've had any college/pro players.  You were in the MWL at one time.

Search

There are search engines in the football and baseball websites.  They are not your regular google search.  They are are targeted so you can find MWL alums/coaches on the MWL website.  Type in the name of the MWL person you want to search for and the search engine will find all of the entries on the MWL website.  If I'm missing someone, let  me know.

Nearing the end of season


Thanks for your support.  I really appreciate your positive comments.  Your comments and purchases of photos help me convince my wife that I should spend too much time maintaining the MWL website.  I also appreciate your critical comments.  They help me reconsider what my wandering mind has been writing.