Sept 16 Recap

The two marquee games last Friday went in opposite directions - a cliffhanger and a landslide.  Churchill moved into the red zone at the end of the Ashland game, only to let the win slip through their fingers.  A couple of miles away, Willamette catapulted themselves into a top 10 ranking with a 55-22 win over Eagle Point.

I attended the Ashland at Churchill game. 

The beginning of the game reminded me of last year's Eagle Point at Churchill game early in the 2010 season.  Churchill let Ashland score twice in the first quarter for a 13-0 Grizzly lead; just like Eagle Point jumped out ahead 14-0 over Churchill in the first quarter of their 2010 game.  The first Ashland score was on a stunning 42 yard keeper by Grizzly soph quarterback, Danial White. That was the start of a 125 yard, three touchdown evening for the Ashland QB.  After a Churchill three and out, Ashland put together another drive, capped by another rushing td by White.  Churchill followed that with another three and out.  At that point it looked like a long night for the Lancers.   

Churchill finally woke up when Andrew Bennion hauled in a TD pass with four minutes left in the second quarter to pull Churchill within  seven, 13-6.  But unlike last year, when Churchill went into the locker room at the half tied 14-14 with Eagle Point, Ashland scored again on a 2 yard run by Jon Volz to give Ashland a 20-6 halftime lead.

Churchill's Tyler Reid played a large part in a quick Lancer score to open the third quarter.  Reid returned the kick off 23 yards to the Churchill 43 yard line.  Three plays later, Reid bolted 22 yards to take the Lancers to the Ashland 20.  Three plays later, Reid hauled in a 17 yard pass from Mitch Reese to make it 20-13 Ashland with 10:23 left in the third.  Plenty of time if you're a Lancer.

Ashland went three and out their next series, and a 39 yard punt by Franklin Lime, who was stellar with his kicking game all night, pushed the Lancers back to their own 19.  Churchill was quickly driving upfield when Ashland recovered a fumble after a big Lancer gainer on a pass play.  It was Danial White time again.  White covered the 40 yards to the end zone by completing a 14 yard pass to Jordan Thompson and then covering the next 26 yards on his own, streaking down the middle of the field all alone for his second long td of the night.  That made it 26-13 with 5:22 left in the third.

Churchill's Kyle Salisbury returned it 24  yards to the Lancer 29, but a penalty on a nice gainer for Churchill led to another three and out.  Ashland was pretty much done with their offense for the night, but another punt by Lime, this one for 44 yards, pushed Churchill back to their own 4.  After quickly trading three and outs, Churchill put together a 14 play drive.  Reese was six for eight on the drive, spreading the ball around to Tucker Molinski, Jake DeZarn (baseball player),  Reid and Bennion.  Reese rewarded himself for his good passing by running it in from the five to make it 26-20 with 7:08 left in the game  - plenty of time to score a td.

A great kick off by Josh Han of the Lancers pinned Ashland on their own 10 yard line.  Ashland needed a long drive in order to kill the clock, strengthen their field position and keep the ball out of Churchill's hands.  The Grizzlies were able to run nine plays, including a 38 yard punt by Lime which went out on the Lancer 19. 

Lancer's last chance
The Lancers had to go 81 yards in just a couple of minutes to win it.  So they jump offside.  1st and 15 from their own 14.  Grizzly Alec Ralston broke up two passes before Lancer qb Reese ran for 14 yards to make it fourth and one. 

Running play?  Nope.  A 5 yard pass to Molinski.   First and ten at the Lancer 30.  Make that the Lancer 29, after a Lancer hold on a nine yard gainer.  After a dropped pass, Reese hit Reid twice.  Once for a first down and again for a nine yard gain, taking the ball to the Ashland 49.  Grizzly soph Mason Montgomery broke up a pass and Griz Conor Morrison tackled Aaron Ingram for a one yard loss on a pass play.  Fourth and two for Churchill.  A face mask penalty gives the Lancers the ball on the Grizzly 45.  On second down, Reid hauls in a pass for 17 yards, but an official throws a flag for clipping on Churchill.  After a discussion between officials, the flag is picked up and a 'no penalty' signal is given.  A couple of plays later, Churchill picks up a first down on a personal foul penalty, moving the ball to the Ashland 14.  Reese scrambles to the ten to make it second and six with 25 seconds remaining.  Griz Sam Giessinger breaks up a well thrown ball in the left corner of the end zone.  A third down pass then sails through the outstretched arms of an uncovered Lancer, and Griz Alec Ralson breaks up the 4th and six pass by Reese to Reid.  Ball goes over Ashland and White takes a knee to end the game. 

Can't get any closer than that.

Stat wise, Ashland out gained Churchill 362 to 256 in yards.  Two of White's td runs were longer than the longest Churchill play, a 23 yard catch by DeZarn, a baseball player.   White has what you call 'moxie'.  Some coaches say 'savvy', but I like the older word, 'moxie'.  If you haven't seen White yet, when you see him you'll know what I'm talking about..... Lime's punting was outrageously good...... Penalties almost killed Ashland, which had 10 on the day for 91 yards.....  Ashland's offense was more balanced than Churchill's.  Four Grizzly receivers had catches of 18  yards or more, and Ashland averaged six yards per carry.  Churchill had three receivers with catches of 18 or more yards, but the Lancer running game was throttled.  For Churchill, it might be a chicken or egg activity.  If the Lancer's backs were more successful, the receivers would have less pressure.  But maybe Air Lancer needs to stretch the field more with it's  passing game, and the runners won't face a brick wall.  Who knows?  Questions like that are why I write and don't coach.

Willamette 55 Eagle Point 22.

I scratched in Willamette for a top ten vote after their lopsided win.  I'm a little hesitant to give the Wolverines the vote as their opponents are a combined 2-7.....  My wife, a principal in the Bethel (Willamette) school district, kept texting me that 'some guy' is going wild and scoring a lot of touchdowns. 'Some Guy', of course is Jordan Visarraga from Willamette, who scored six td's Friday.  He ran the ball 26 times for 211 yards.  He'd still be going,  but he was cut short by crossing the goal line six times.  Willamette qb Dustin Leber gained 77 yards rushing on 11 carries and added another 183 through the air.  I haven't seen any Eagle Point stats, so I'm don't know if they were stopped on the ground, through the air, or both.  Defensivie lineman Trent Waggoner had an almost too long return for a pick six.  Waggoner is a baseball player.  He needs to run some more poles.

Willamette travels to Ashland this weekend in a big game for both teams.  Willamette has given up 38 and 35 points in two road trips.  But Ashland might have to do better than 38 if the Grizzlies want to beat Willamette.  Willamette's lowest offensive production is 40 points.

Springfield 61 Marshfield 13.

Springfield made history when the Millers win established the Millers first ever win streak against Marshfield.  The series has been going since 1951.  The Millers did so in style with back to back 50-6 and 61-13 wins.  This may have been the last meeting between the two schools as Marshfield is likely to go 4A next year.  Marshfield has about 740 students enrolled in the 9th through 12th grades.

If you looked closely at the stats, you noted that Britton Auxier was 16 for 23 for 230 yards. Auxier hit four different receivers for td's. Six different ball carriers gained 275 yards for the Millers, averaging 6.7 yards per carry. 

Springfield hosts Marist Friday.  The Millers are the next MWL team to take the Spartan challenge - 'Can  you score on us"?'  So far it's Marist 109 MWL opponents 0.

Marist 60 North Eugene 0

Smith threw five touchdown passes in twelve passing attempts. Three were to Austin Baird and two to Taylor Walcott.   Eight Spartans carried the ball.

Marist travels to Springfield Friday and North hosts Churchill.

My OregonLive.com poll vote with the actual poll results in parenthesis..

1-1.  Sherwood
2-2.  Marist
3-3.  Corvallis
4-7.  Crescent Valley
5-6.  Mountain View
6-5.  Bend
7-4.  Wilsonville
8-10. Lebanon
9-8.  West Albany
10-9 Willamette

Watch list is Silverton, Hermiston, and Ashland.  Obviously, the Willamette at Ashland game this Friday will say a lot about both teams.

Stats

I haven't found sources for stats for Eagle Point, Marshfield and North Eugene.  I get stats from the other teams either directly from the team, via MaxPreps, or from the school's football team website.  If you can direct me to a source for those three teams or send me stats, I'll update them.  By the way, I corrected some receiving stat errors for Ashland and have uploaded the corrected receiving stats.

MWL players in the pros.
Thanks to a fan for reminding me that there is a seventh Marist player playing football in college.  I hadn't seen Logan Silver on the Holy Cross roster, but he's definitely on the roster.  If you know of anyone else, let me know.  Email me at mwlnow@yahoo.com.  Linfield and the U of O have the largest number of MWL athletes - four.

Vote!
You're not to young to vote in my polls.  I'm ahead of you folks after two weeks of league games. 

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Want to get texted the score of the Marist at Springfield game this Friday?  Follow me on Twitter or
'like me' on Facebook and link it to your cell phone.  If you're at a game, you can text me the score (after each quarter is fine) at 541-337-1311.

September 23 predictions tomorrow.  Looks like MWL fans and I will be on the same page again this week.