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Grants Pass has little trouble with Ashland by Kris Henry ASHLAND - As fast as Ashland gained momentum, it just as quickly went away Friday night at Walter A. Phillips Field. Needing some sign of hope against eighth-ranked Grants Pass, the only sign to come up time after time was "Dead End" as the Cavemen controlled the line of scrimmage and the game for a 36-7 Southern Oregon Conference win. Ashland was put in prime position to send shockwaves through the Caver camp right away after Grants Pass' A.J. Schmitke fumbled the opening kickoff. But after Ashland's Ty Haggard powered his way for 14 yards on the ensuing play, the Grizzlies went backwards from the 12 and were left to try a 32-yard field goal by Eric Lehr. That attempt went wide right. Not long after, so did the Grizzlies' hopes of upsetting Grants Pass (5-0, 3-0 SOC). A little stunned by the start, Caver coach Jeff Weiss said he would have gladly given up three points if it meant keeping Ashland (2-3, 1-2 SOC) from gaining a ray of hope with a quick touchdown. "If they would have had momentum then, I don't know if we would have been able to stop them," he said. As it was, Grants Pass took that momentum and ran with it to remain undefeated in SOC play. On the next series, the Cavers went 80 yards in seven plays, moving ahead 7-0 on Tom Martin's 46-yard dash to the end zone and an extra point by Bruce Voges. Martin added a 3-yard dive into the end zone on the next drive for Grants Pass, then turnovers came into play for Ashland as Bryan Clevenger was intercepted by Tyler York on a pass that bounded off Jesse Broerman's shoulder pads deep in Ashland territory. Quickly capitalizing, Tom Cohen pumped once and then lofted a perfect 21-yard TD pass to Derrick Draper on the ensuing play to give the Cavemen a 21-0 first-quarter lead. "That was big," said Ashland coach Jim Nagel. "We had two opportunities in the first quarter that we couldn't capitalize on and they turned around and turned them into points. You can't do that against a good football team." Clevenger was intercepted two more times by Jeff LaLonde on the night, but the most pivotal turnover came following a 30-yard completion by Clevenger to Haggard. With the ball at the 2, Clevenger took the snap and attempted to lean forward for the end zone but had the ball knocked loose and gathered up by Grants Pass defender Matt Cameron. Beneficiaries of all the Ashland turnovers was a Grants Pass offense that really isn't in need of assistance on most nights anyway. The Cavemen rolled up 407 yards of total offense - 313 on the ground behind 160 from Tom Martin and 97 from Schmitke. "We put our hands out to the defense and just say 'Thanks' because there's nothing else we can do," said GP quarterback Tom Cohen. "Day in and day out, those guys just come out and play awesome. "We found ourselves in the right place at the right time tonight. What was most important is we capitalized on their turnovers, if not with points, at least with taking time off the clock." Cohen completed 11 of 16 passes for 94 yards. His second TD pass went 15 yards to York on a drive set up by LaLonde's first interception. A series later, Schmitke took an inside handoff and ran through two attempted tackles for a 63-yard score to give Grants Pass a 36-0 lead heading into the fourth quarter. Ashland finally broke through with a score on its final series of the game, with Jesse Broerman scooting in from the 1 with 3:36 to play. Broerman finished with 53 yards on 10 carries as his Grizzlies could only muster 218 total yards of offense. "We couldn't get anything on the ground or the air established with any consistency," said Nagel. "They were a little too physical for us." The Cavemen were also on a little bit of a mission. "What we're looking for is a little respect," said Weiss. "We really don't think we have it yet, and we're going to try and establish it with every opponent we play." On the other end of the spectrum is an Ashland team struggling to hit stride. "I don't know if it's frustration as much as it is realization that we have to play pretty darn near perfect football to beat the top teams in this league," Nagel said. Reach reporter Kris Henry at 776-4488, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.