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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend October 8, 2005 Phoenix tops Hidden Valley in Skyline tilt By FRANK SILOW Mail Tribune MURPHY — Phoenix and Hidden Valley squared off Friday in a battle of Skyline Conference unbeatens. Both teams unveiled hard-hitting, stingy defenses and offenses that featured some explosive plays. In the end, fifth-ranked Phoenix made a few more big plays and held off a Mustangs’ second-half rally for an 18-15 victory at Mustangs Field. "We did some good things in the first half," said Phoenix coach Gordy Crowston, whose team moved to 5-0 overall and 3-0 in the Skyline. "I don’t think we came out with the same focus in the second half. To their credit, they caught us." In the first half, Phoenix dominated time of possession and built an 18-0 lead. Advertisement The Mustangs (4-2, 2-1 Skyline) only had 15 plays, one first down and held the ball for 6½ out of the first 24 minutes. Hidden Valley’s main offensive weapon, Sam Dollarhide, was limited to just 36 yards on 10 carries, with 17 of that coming on the final play of the half. "We made too many mistakes in the first half," Hidden Valley coach Jim Figoni said. "We cleaned them up and dominated the game in the second half." Joey Shepherd made the first impact play on the game’s opening kickoff. The speedy Phoenix kick returner fielded Jordan Nielsen’s kick at the 15, found a seam up the middle, veered to the outside and raced up the right sideline before being caught from behind by Kyler Kirchner on the Mustangs’ 23. The Pirates capitalized seven plays later when Ben Foster took a pitchout to the left and cut inside for a 6-yard touchdown run on a third-and-goal play. Kylar Wilson’s extra-point kick sailed wide left and the Pirates led 6-0 with 8:30 left in the first quarter. The Mustangs went three-and-out and Phoenix went on another long drive that was prolonged by a roughing the punter penalty. The march ended when Kirchner picked off a Matt Hagert pass at the Hidden Valley 22, but two plays later, Dollarhide coughed up the ball after being tackled by Billy Herman and Justin Travis- Adkins fell on the fumble for the Pirates. Phoenix immediately cashed in when Hagert lofted a perfectly thrown pass to Marty Joseph streaking down the left sideline for a 35-yard touchdown. "It was just a good thrown ball," said the Pirates senior wide receiver, who had five catches for 120 yards. "The defender broke down a little when I slowed, then I blew right by him." Phoenix began the second quarter with an 11-play drive, which was helped along by another roughing the punter penalty. The scoring threat stalled on the Mustangs’ 2 when Foster was tackled short of the goal on a fourth-down play by Dollarhide and sophomore linebacker Jules Devos. The Mustangs couldn’t advance the ball and Phoenix was back in business at the Hidden Valley 40 after a punt. It took only four plays for Hagert to hook up with Ben Decuir for a 19-yard TD. The Phoenix defense was sparked by the play of linebacker Riley Gibson and end Brandon Sanders. "Riley did a great job inside shutting down their running game," said Crowston, "and Sanders was cutting down their lead blockers and Dollarhide didn’t have anywhere to go." The Mustangs came out energized in the second half, taking the kickoff and driving 75 yards in six plays for a touchdown. Dollarhide set the tone by racing around left end for 18 yards on the first play. A personal foul at the end of the run put the ball on the Pirate 44. Ryan VanCleave’s 23-yard reception from quarterback L.B. Draper put the ball at the Phoenix 17, then Dollarhide did the rest. The bruising running back carried three straight times, going in from 5 yards out after being hit by Gibson on the 3. Ryan VanCleave ran in the two-point conversion to cut the Pirates’ lead to 18-8. While the Mustangs finally found an offense, the Pirate attack began sputtering. Besieged by a series of holding calls and eight straight incompletions by Hagert under heavy Mustang pressure, the game’s momentum completely swung. The Pirates best drive of the second half ended on an interception by Kirchner on the Mustangs’ 20. An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against Kirchner for spiking the ball gave the Mustangs possession at their own 11 with 10:17 left in the game. But a revitalized Mustangs offense used almost six minutes in driving down the field for a touchdown to cut their deficit to 18-15. Ryan VanCleave made two spectacular catches on the march — one falling down and catching the ball near the sidelines for 20 yards. Then VanCleave went up between several Pirate defenders and took away what looked like Dan Ritchie’s third intereception of the game for a 24-yard touchdown catch from Draper. Hidden Valley’s final possession ended when Brandon Buich knocked down a Draper fourth-down pass at the Mustangs’ 38 with 44 seconds remaining. Phoenix.........................................12 6 0 0 — 18 Hidden Valley.................................0 0 8 7 — 15 P — Foster 6 run (kick failed) P — Joseph 35 pass from Hagert (run failed) P — Decuir 19 pass from Hagert (run failed) HV — Dollarhide 5 run (R. VanCleave run) HV — R. VanCleave 24 pass from Draper (Nielsen kick) Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. 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