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Lions run past Black Tornado in opener By Danny Penza Updated: Sep 02, 2022 11:44 PM A A 3 View all photos North Medford head coach Nathan Chin saw firsthand what West Linn’s offense is capable of when he made his debut on the Black Tornado sidelines 12 months ago. Starting his second season at the helm, the Lions didn’t do anything to deter those thoughts Friday night. With new quarterback Sam Leavitt and star receiver Mark Hamper leading the way, second-ranked West Linn’s high-powered offense scored early and often on its way to 45 first-half points as North was handed a 52-7 loss at Willamette High School in Eugene. “We definitely ran into one of the top teams in the state, without a doubt,” said Chin. “We had some mishaps early that didn’t help us and that really had us taking a shot to the gut early, so it took us a little bit to try and catch our wind.” Originally scheduled to be played at Spiegelberg Stadium, Friday night’s game was moved north to Eugene due to poor air quality in Medford as a result of wildfire smoke. West Linn (1-0) scored on every first-half possession, as Leavitt — a Westview transfer who has verbally committed to play at Washington State next season — completed his first six passes and was 12-for-16 with a pair of touchdowns passes before halftime. Leavitt, who threw for nearly 2,300 yards and 28 touchdowns last season, and Hamper fueled the Lions’ first-half onslaught. The Lions took a 7-0 lead less than four minutes into the game when Koffi Kouame capped the opening drive with a 1-yard touchdown run. Following North (0-1) going three-and-out on its first possession, Hamper — who had three touchdown receptions in last year’s game against the Tornado — showed his playmaking ability, scoring on a 61-yard punt return to double West Linn’s lead. West Linn made it 17-0 on Gage Hurych’s 34-yard field goal before Hamper capped the Lions’ 24-point first quarter with an 11-yard TD run on a reverse. “I’ve been telling the kids all week, when you go play top teams you can’t start slow,” said Chin, “you can’t let them get going early with us still trying to catch traction. We have to be hitting on all cylinders early — and they were and we weren’t.” “They do such a great job,” continued Chin, “and obviously (Leavitt’s) such an extremely talented kid, super athletic, he runs and he’s able to throw the ball in different slots. He does a really good job in finding windows (to throw).” It was a different story offensively for North, with senior quarterback Caiden Lacey — who himself was making his first start with the Black Tornado after playing his junior season at Eagle Point — starting 1-for-5 through the air. His sixth pass attempt turned out to be a 30-yard pick-6 by West Linn linebacker Earl Ingle on the first play of the second quarter. Leavitt threw touchdown passes of 17 and 7 yards to Hamper and Wiley Donnerberg, respectively, to push the Lions’ lead to 45-0. North, unofficially, finished with almost as many yards in penalties (30) as it recorded on the ground (39) in the first half. “There were times when we weren’t handling their slant game and we had a few dropped passes early,” said Chin. “They were all challenged and would have been tough catches, but if you can make those catches and take care of some things up front, then we would’ve been able to move the chains and keep hold of the ball a little bit longer.” North got on the scoreboard late in the third quarter when Lacey was able move up in the pocket to elude pressure and then connect with wide-open tight end Kellen Thomey for a 35-yard touchdown pass. Lacey was 7-for-16 passing for 101 yards with a touchdown and one interception. Thomey caught three passes for 49 yards, while Connor Cesaro had four catches for 28 yards. Black Tornado senior running back Ty Pugliano finished with 66 yards on 16 carries. “I think our biggest message is that, No. 1, you have to learn from this and we have to correct the mistakes that happened early in the game,” said Chin, whose team faces Bend (1-0) next Friday night. “And, the second piece, after we’ve learned from what happened, we have to keep our eyes forward. We have a tough conference schedule ahead of us after a nonconference game next week, so we have to learn quickly to be able to get things going for ourselves.” West Linn242170—52 North Medford0070—7 WL — Kouame 1 run (Hurych kick) WL — Hamper 61 punt return (Hurych kick) WL — Hurych 34 field goal WL — Hamper 11 run (Hurych kick) WL — Ingle 30 interception return (Hurych kick) WL — Hamper 17 pass from Leavitt (Hurych kick) WL — Donnerberg 7 pass from Leavitt (Hurych kick) WL — Smiley 70 pass from Leavitt (Hurych kick) NM — Thomey 35 pass fron Lacey (Knobloch-Scott kick) Reach reporter Danny Penza at 541-776-4469 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @penzatopaper. Kellen Thomey, North Medford football Caiden Lacey, North Medford football Ty Pugliano, North Medford football