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Photo by Bob Pennell Ashland's Kris Pavilionis gives his all on this attempted reception during the Grizz's 33-22 upset over North Medford on Friday. Grizz swats North, bags playoff berth By DON HUNT ASHLAND -- Put the Ashland High football team in a big game on its own field and it doesn't seem to matter how good the opponent is: The Grizzlies find a way to win. With a state playoff berth on the line, the Grizzlies roared to a 27-7 halftime lead and cruised to a 33-22 upset victory over North Medford Friday night before a jam-packed crowd at Walter A. Phillips Field. The win secured the fourth and final playoff berth in the Southern Oregon Conference for the Grizzlies and kept alive their streak of 15 straight playoff appearances. Ashland (5-4, 4-3 SOC) will meet No. 5-ranked West Linn (8-1) on the road next Friday. North Medford finished the regular season with a 7-2 record and the No. 2 state playoff berth in the SOC. The ninth-ranked Black Tornado squares off against North Bend next Friday at Spiegelberg Stadium. Senior halfback Kris Pavilionis rushed for 107 yards and one touchdown and caught six passes for 102 yards and another score to lead the Grizzlies, who have lost just seven games at home in the 1990s. "We've got too much pride to lose a game like this," said Ashland quarterback Zach Hassell, who completed 13 of 25 passes for 210 yards and one touchdown. "We looked at our game (against Eagle Point) last week as the start of a new season. Now we're 2-0 and headed to the playoffs." North Medford turned the ball over twice during its first three possessions and five times during a disasterous first half. The Tornado came back to make a game of it in the final two periods, but never quite got over the hump. "At the start of the game, everything that could go wrong did go wrong," North Medford coach Rod Rumrey said. "They seemed to make all the big plays. "And for whatever reason, we didn't show up ready to play tonight." On just the second play of the game, North Medford fullback Ken Halpin fumbled the ball away to Hassell -- a linebacker on defense -- at the Tornado 28-yard-line. A 20-yard pass from Hassell to Jesse Jones advanced the ball to the 8 and on the next play Hassell hit fullback Ryan Jones in the right flat for the score. The contest was just 54 seconds old and the Grizzlies had a 7-0 lead. "Getting ahead of them early means a lot because they're such an emotional team," Hassell said. North Medford got a break a few minutes later when Charlie Jensen intercepted a Hassell pass at the Tornado 15, but two plays later Ashland defensive tackle Tyson George returned the favor, intercepting a Nate Mayben pass from point-blank range at the Tornado 6. One play later, Hassell scored on a quarterback sneak from the 1 and the Grizzlies had a 14-0 lead at the 5:14 mark of the first period. "That ball hit me right in the chest and I was like, awright!" George said in the locker room after the game. "That was my first interception ever and I didn't know what to do there for a second." North Medford finally cranked up its potent offense early in the second period. The Tornado drove 88 yards in nine plays with Halpin busting over left tackle for the score. The big play on the drive was a 43-yard screen pass that bounced off Ashland's Ben Holtey and into the arms of Halpin for the huge gainer. But the rest of the half belonged to the Grizzlies. Pavilionis, who has been burdened by a sprained ankle much of the season but is back to 100 percent, raced 35 yards to paydirt to cap a 60-yard drive that made it 21-7 with 5:03 to play in the first half. The Grizzlies then pooched the ensuing kickoff to an open area and Brandon Aleshire pounced on the ball at the North Medford 36. Seven plays later Ryan Jones dashed through a gaping hole over right tackle and Ashland had a 27-7 lead. "That wasn't an onside kick -- we simply kicked the ball to the other side from where we had been kicking it," Ashland coach Jim Nagel said. "We kicked it to an open area and did a good job of getting to the ball." North Medford did try an onside kick to start the second half but the Grizzlies recovered the ball in a pile at the Ashland 45. Three plays later, Hassell and Pavilionis hooked up for a 54-yard touchdown pass on a middle screen and the Grizzlies had a seemingly insurmountable 33-7 lead. But the Black Tornado, which rallied from a 21-3 third-period deficit a week earlier to beat Grants Pass, rallied once more. Mayben scored on an 8-yard run that capped a 45-yard, six-play drive late in the third quarter. The Tornado then tried another onside kick and this one was a successful. Mayben wasted no time in lobbing a 52-yard touchdown pass to Mike Olson and then tacked on a two-point conversion pass to Halpin. Suddenly, North was within 33-22 with 2:47 remaining in the third period and had clearly gained the momentum. The Tornado got the ball right back when its defense held Ashland without a first down, and promptly drove from its own 34 to the Ashland 28. But after a first down pass from Mayben to tight end Colby Gonzales advanced the ball to the 22, two runs by tailback Phil Ouellette went nowhere and Kelly Brown came in to try a 40-yard field goal that would have drawn North Medford within eight points with 10 minutes to play. But the kick was blocked by Ryan Goodman, and the Tornado never again threatened. "`When it was 33-22 we knew we were back in the game," Rumrey said. "And had we made that field goal we really could have made things interesting. "But give Ashland credit. They looked like a playoff team tonight." And for the 15th year in a row, they are. Today's Sports Index Mail Tribune Copyright� The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, OR U.S.A.