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South aims to draw the line By Kris Henry Updated: Sep 08, 2022 10:05 PM A A 3 View all photos No. 10 Panthers face battle in the trenches with Del Norte; North Medford eager to move on at Bend All eyes expect to be trained on the trenches Friday night at Spiegelberg Stadium, in part because that’s where it all started for South Medford one week ago and also because that’s where Del Norte High of California loves to operate on the gridiron. Freshly pinned with a No. 10 ranking in Oregon’s Class 6A coaches’ poll, South Medford will play host to the Warriors in the first football game at the big stadium of the season and look to build off a promising start that saw the Panthers rout Beaverton, 41-0. Friday’s kickoff at Spiegelberg is 7 p.m. South Medford (1-0) ran for 225 yards and passed for 226 more in a balanced effort that saw the Panthers score on their first six possessions and allow only 229 yards of total offense by the Beavers in the first shutout by South since 2018. “If you’re going to be a good football team, you have to have good line play on both sides of the ball,” said Panthers head coach Bill Singler, “and we got that last week against Beaverton, and it was awesome.” The offensive line of juniors Anthony DelPizzo, Li Moala, Diego Luna and seniors Spencer King and Diego Rios allowed South Medford to set the tone for an offense that seemingly had its way against Beaverton to induce a running clock in the third quarter. “I thought they didn’t make mental mistakes, they stayed on their courses and I thought we ran the ball efficiently downhill, which was a big part of what we want to do,” said Singler. “They opened up some nice holes for Ryder Scheid and Ryder took advantage of them and exploded through the holes.” Scheid officially finished with 100 yards and one touchdown on 12 carries, with Will Greenwood averaging 9.2 yards per carry to go with one TD. A similar approach will be needed Friday night against Del Norte (2-0), which utilizes a wing-T offensive system built on power running and a lot of misdirection. The Warriors have outscored their first two opponents 113-13 and are led by a proven senior class that played a big role in the team going 10-2 one year ago. “You only get about 3 1/2 days to prepare for the wing-T and that’s tough, it’s difficult,” said Singler. “We’ve had our issues with defending that offense in the past but I think that we’re better equipped this year defensively, at least that’s what it looks like in my mind.” Led by interior defensive lineman Makani Manuwai, the Panthers were quick off the ball and stout in a bend-but-don’t-break way against the Beavers. “I’m really happy about our defensive effort,” said Singler, “we came out and established ourselves on both sides of the ball. Beaverton a couple times got down in the red zone area but our guys strapped it up and came up with some big plays and kept them out of the end zone, which was terrific.” “To have a shutout on the road against a Metro team, that says a lot about the improvement we’ve made on that side of the ball,” he added. “We need to take another step this week in that department, and this Del Norte team will obviously present a lot more challenges.” Senior quarterback Cooper Maxwell returns to guide the Warriors and was able to pick and choose his passing opportunities last year, completing 24 of 42 passes for 397 yards, eight TDs and two interceptions in 2021. Maxwell also has the ability to run, but the featured ball carrier will be senior RJ Loftin, who was the Humboldt-Del Norte League’s Big 4 Offensive MVP last year and surpassed the 2,000-yard mark for career rushing two weeks ago. The 5-foot-10, 190-pounder ran 162 times for 1,472 yards and 18 TDs last year and has already picked up where he left off, scoring four times and running for 127 yards on 10 carries in a 71-13 season-opening rout of Kelseyville. Senior Giancarlo Desolenni is another key playmaker for Del Norte, scoring on a 47-yard run and 56-yard reception in the team’s opener. Desolenni was also his team’s leading tackler a year ago and is joined at linebacker by Loftin and Gavin Skerik, while Kai Russell (6-0, 225) stars at defensive end. “You have to be really disciplined against this kind of offense because if you’re not, they’ll make you look silly,” said Singler. “You have to change your mindset a little bit when you play a team like this. It’s not like playing your normal spread offense where you’re trying to get upfield and get to the quarterback. You’ve got to play a little more on the line of scrimmage.” It also doesn’t hurt if you’re able to score early and control the ball on offense, which is something South senior quarterback Deacon Edgar was able to do with aplomb against Beaverton. Edgar completed 9 of 11 passes for 226 yards — all in the first half — and touchdowns to Andrew Walker and Josh Phillips. ‘We’re at our best when we’re running and play-action passing and staying ahead of the chains and making first downs,” said Singler. “We did that last week and it would sure be nice to do that again this week. The best defense against these guys will be to keep them off the field.” NORTH MEDFORD AT BEND: North Medford head coach Nathan Chin and the rest of the Black Tornado have spent the past week putting a 52-6 loss to No. 2 West Linn in their rearview mirror. An early rush of scores by the Lions — 17 points built off special teams and defensive prowess — put North in catch-up mode and the Tornado could never recover. “You have to learn from your mistakes and you’ve got to move forward, that’s the key,” said Chin. “If we could prevent the snowball and make it a football game, you’d feel a little better about it. But those are things that you’ve got to learn from. You kick off Game 1 and go play them and those are the possibilities that you run into.” North Medford managed only 212 yards of total offense, with much of that coming after the game was well in hand for West Linn. Senior Ty Pugliano served as an offensive catalyst with 69 yards rushing on 15 carries and quarterback Caiden Lacey was able to shrug off a pick-six with a TD pass to Kellen Thomey in finishing 8-for-15 for 119 yards. “Our bright spot was definitely Ty,” said Chin. “Regardless of which side of the ball he’s on, you’re always tallying him. He’s either tackling the football or carrying the football.” Chin also said that despite the lopsided score, he felt like his defense played well in limiting West Linn to 304 total yards but will need to clean up a few more things if it’s going to slow Bend, which opened the year with a 48-0 romp over Lincoln. The Lava Bears, who also operate from the wing-T, got three TD runs from quarterback Logan Malinowski, and fellow senior Malakai Nutter has been a proven commodity in the backfield with a blend of power and speed. CALDERA AT GRANTS PASS: Former North Medford head coach Mike Mitchell brings his first-year Bend-area team to Mel Ingram Field, where Grants Pass head coach Brad Page assures he’ll remember to don his headset and not a helmet in his return to the stadium. Jackson Tunick hauled in three TD passes from Jace Blanchard and returned a kick for a score in last week’s promising first step for the Cavemen at Shasta High of California. Page said after the game he was encouraged by what he had seen from his team in a 38-24 victory and was looking forward to seeing how much bigger of a step his team could take in Week 2. Bruxton Leair, Aiden Dietz and Malachi Kinyon led the defensive effort in Week 1 for GP. Have a story idea? Reach sports editor Kris Henry at 541-776-4488, [email protected] or via Twitter @Kris_Henry Anthony DelPizzo, South Medford football Li Moala, South Medford football Ty Pugliano, North Medford football