Document text
Sprague gives North the boot By DON HUNT SALEM -- North Medford's football season went down the drain in a rainstorm here Friday night, but it wasn't the weather that waylayed the Black Tornado. It was three roughing the punter penalties. Sprague used two of them as springboards to the end zone en route to a 20-12 victory over the Tornado in a second-round Class 4A state playoff game at Sprague High. The win lifted the 10th-ranked Olympians (10-1) into the quarterfinals, where they'll meet No. 4 Tigard next week. "All three penalties were crucial because they kept drives going after our defense had stopped them," North Medford coach Rod Rumrey said. "Unbelievable." Despite the costly infractions, North Medford battled back from a 20-6 halftime deficit. The Tornado drove 53 yards in 14 plays the first time it had the ball in the second half and scored on a 3-yard sweep by Curtis Stout. Kelly Brown's PAT kick hit the left goal post, leaving the score 20-12, but North had finally seized the momentum on the muddy, rain-soaked field. And the Tornado finally got a break of its own with 10 minutes left in the game when Charlie Jensen made an acrobatic, juggling interception of a Mike DeMuniz pass at the Sprague 35-yard line. "I turned around and saw a wounded duck floating towards me," Jensen said. "I knocked it up in the air, kept it alive and was able to get ahold of it for the pick. "Right then I thought, we're going right in and tie this thing up." Two plays gained only one yard before North Medford quarterback Nate Mayben passed the ball toward a wide-open Mike Olson at the Sprague 20. But Olson slipped and fell just as the ball arrived, and the pass fell incomplete. On the next play, Mayben was hit from behind as he ran the option, the ball squirted loose and the Olympians' Chad Boyd fell on it at the Sprague 32. It was that kind of night for the Tornado, which finished its season with an 8-3 record. "I never saw the guy (Boyd)," Mayben said. "I think he punched the ball out as he tackled me. "If we don't fumble the ball there, then I think the game turns out differently." Mayben, who came into the game with 1,908 yards passing and 18 touchdowns, was clearly hindered by the field conditions. Rain and winds gusting to 30 mph pelted the field throughout the first half and again in the fourth quarter. Mayben was 7-for-13 for 39 yards, with two interceptions. "It wasn't the best conditions, but I'm not going to make excuses," he said. "You've got to overcome stuff like that -- it's part of football -- and I didn't do that." North Medford's first roughing-the-punter penalty came midway through the first period. On the very next play, Sprague fullback Josh Jackson sped 65 yards on a toss sweep for a touchdown. One of the North Medford players pulled off Jackson's left shoe near the line of scrimmage, but the 5-foot-11, 180-pound senior somehow negotiated the muddy field without it. "I knew I'd lost my shoe but I just ran as hard as I could and never looked back," shrugged Jackson, who finished with 93 yards on 11 carries. Gerrit Southard tacked on the extra point and Sprague had a 7-0 lead. North Medford marched 65 yards for its first touchdown. The big play was an 18-yard screen pass from Mayben to Olson that advanced the ball to the Sprague 6. Two plays later Halpin bulled over left guard for the score. But Brown's kick was low and got blocked, leaving Sprague with a 7-6 lead at the 8:07 mark of the first half. North Medford's second roughing-the-punter penalty enabled the Olympians to drive 74 yards for a score two minutes before the first half ended. Landon Ross got the touchdown on a 4-yard run, and Southard again nailed the PAT for a 14-6 Olympians lead. The Tornado was still in decent shape at that point, but Sprague tacked on another score before the intermission after Mayben threw an interception that Ryan Petersen returned 27 yards to the North 13. Appropriately enough, Petersen also got the touchdown, hauling in a 6-yard lob in the corner of the end zone from DeMuniz. "That pass just slipped out of my hand as I was throwing it," Mayben said. "It went about two miles high and was way underthrown." The teams were almost dead-even in total offense. North Medford ran for 155 yards and passed for 39 for 194 total, while Sprague ran for 163 and passed for 34 for 197 total. Each team had three turnovers. But only one team pummeled the punter, and it paid the price. "The first one was a good call," Rumrey said, "the second one I thought we got blocked into the kicker, and the third one -- our kids weren't even supposed to be in the neighborhood," Rumrey said. Interestingly, the referee who called each of the penalties was former Medford High standout Andy Vobora. "In a game like this, a couple of plays like that can make the difference," Sprague coach Robin Hill said. "But I thought they were all good calls." North's defensive presence was hampered early in the first half when lineman Adam Barr was forced to the sidelines with a broken ankle. Today's Sports Index Mail Tribune Copyright� The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, OR U.S.A.