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Varsity 541 NEWS NOW Beach bacteria thresholds may tighten ... Our View: Who politicized the UCC shootings? Not Obama ... View from 100,000 feet ... Beach bacteria thresholds may tighten ... Our View: Who politicized the UCC shootings? Not Obama ... View from 100,000 feet ... PREP FOOTBALL Ready to rumble Football season kicks off Friday with host of home games Comment By Kris Henry Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Kris Henry Mail Tribune Posted Sep. 2, 2015 at 6:25 PM Updated Sep 2, 2015 at 10:43 PM By Kris Henry Mail Tribune Posted Sep. 2, 2015 at 6:25 PM Updated Sep 2, 2015 at 10:43 PM » Social News South Medford lit up the scoreboard early and often one year ago to open the high school football season in stirring fashion at Sunset High. A repeat is unlikely when the 2015 campaign kicks off Friday at Spiegelberg Stadium, but for differing reasons. First, the Panthers took the Apollos by storm using a deep passing game and turnover-forcing defense to build a 21-0 lead early in the second quarter that will be difficult to duplicate. Second, there won’t be much of a scoreboard to light up Friday after delays have forced the installation of a brand new scoreboard to next week. “Nothing has gone the way we thought it would,” said South Medford Athletic Director Dennis Murphy, noting the scoreboard was to be delivered Aug. 24 but won’t arrive until Friday. “It’s just been one little hiccup after another.” In lieu of the new scoreboard, which will include a message board for pictures and graphics, Murphy said a temporary scoreboard will be pulled out of storage so onlookers can keep track of the game clock and score Friday night. Kickoff is 7 p.m. In other Class 6A action Friday, North Medford opens at Fortuna High in California and Grants Pass plays host to Sherwood. At the 5A level, Crater opens at home versus Dallas and Ashland plays host to Klamath Union, while Eagle Point is at Glencoe. In 4A action, Phoenix is home against South Umpqua, while 3A Cascade Christian opens at home against Henley at U.S. Cellular Community Park and St. Mary’s is on the road at Creswell. As for last year’s 47-28 victory over Sunset, South Medford head coach Bill Singler said he and his staff aren’t getting too far ahead of themselves with grand thoughts heading into this year’s season opener. “I don’t expect us to get off to that kind of start this year,” said Singler. “I expect a different team than we saw; I think we caught them last year a little bit. We made a couple real big plays early in the game on long passes and they turned the ball over. They got off to a rotten start so I know their coaching staff is going to be talking about that. We know we’ll have our hands full because it’s a Metro League team and a team that wants to get its hands back on us from last year’s game.” Neither team is really the same after graduating most of their key contributors, making for an intriguing matchup to see which set of newcomers can mature more quickly under the spotlight of varsity competition. Both teams will be breaking in new quarterbacks and likely using those prospects in tandem as neither squad has settled on a starter. For South Medford, senior Cody Howard-Marthoski will get the starting nod but will alternate series with sophomore Robbie Patterson, as the duo have done throughout offseason workouts. For Sunset, a three-way battle to guide its spread offense has been going on in Portland among juniors Jason DuMont and Satchell Phillips, who shared JV duties in 2014, and senior Scott Wright, who sat out last season. The Apollos also feature sizable but unproven offensive and defensive lines, and will be highlighted by the playmaking abilities of senior running back Caden Carter, who rushed for more than 1,000 yards last year, and senior wideout Alex Stickel, who is one of the state’s top perimeter targets. The strength of Sunset’s defense resides in a linebacker corps that returns junior Nick Wiley and seniors Tommy Schiager and Cody Brown, who all received all-Metro recognition in 2014. Last year, the Panthers racked up 507 yards of total offense after quarterback Craig Contreras completed 15 of 18 passes for 337 yards, five touchdowns and one interception. The ground game also saw Hudson Thomas rush for 133 yards and a score and Makai Manuwai also run for a TD as South Medford improved to 11-4 in season openers since 2000. Manuwai returns in the backfield and the 6-foot-2, 245-pounder is joined by another punishing runner in fellow senior Cristian Ibarra (5-9, 200) to give the Panthers a pair of pile pushers. “Those two guys are both strong, big kids so hopefully they’ll give us some punch inside,” said Singler. “I’m excited to see Makai and Ibarra in a game, I want to see how they’re going to handle themselves.” Sophomore Jaylin Parnell and junior Brandon Salamanca also could see some carries to integrate them into the Panther backfield, with no shortage of weapons on the perimeter, led by sophomores Chase Cota and Kaleb Franklin and junior Bobby Chaney. NORTH MEDFORD AT FORTUNA : North Medford senior Greyson Wolff earned the starting nod at quarterback after an offseason-long battle with junior Chase Warren that culminated with a solid showing during last week’s jamboree at Spiegelberg. “They were neck and neck,” said Black Tornado assistant head coach Jered Gail. “Greyson, in the end, just made a few more plays. He’s a good decision maker and his leadership has been great. Overall we just felt like that was the best decision for our team. Chase didn’t do anything wrong, there really wasn’t a lot separating them, but that’s the decision we made Sunday.” North Medford built a 14-point lead by halftime last year before staving off a late surge by Fortuna for a 41-31 victory. Like last year, the Huskies will already have a game under their belt after routing Wheatland 48-8 last week. Fortuna returns 17 seniors and a handful of starters from last year’s cast that went 8-4 and lost in the second round of the North Coast Section playoffs. The Huskies used their veer attack to amass 249 yards on 49 attempts in last year’s matchup against the Black Tornado, and will again rely heavily on the run with only a handful of passes utilized as a surprise attack on the defense. North Medford head coach Mike Mitchell returned from Sweden on Monday and was back at practice Tuesday after his Uppsala team lost in the semifinals over the weekend to finish 7-4. DALLAS AT CRATER : Crater will be looking to make a statement early on to erase images of three straight losing seasons, and the Comets boast the type of returners to help make that happen. Senior quarterback Matt Struck is strong-armed and capable of hurting teams out of the pocket and has weapons on the perimeter in Garret Dey, Jake Ireland and Spencer Cyr to keep defenses on their toes. Running backs Cavin Gillispie, Tommy Winningham and Jace Godley allow Crater to attack teams in any number of ways. The Comets edged Dallas 28-20 in last year’s meeting. KLAMATH UNION AT ASHLAND : Ashland has the components for a dynamic offense, with returner Kyle Weinberg or Tucker Atteberry at quarterback and receivers Shashi Penn, Walker Shibley and Nicky Weinberg capable of breaking down the defense. The Grizzlies will aim to get more out of their running game with seniors Mason Dow and Michael Pruitt but have the added benefit of a game under their belt to make that happen thanks to last month’s Pacific Rim Bowl win over the Japan All-Stars. EAGLE POINT AT GLENCOE : Something has to give as Eagle Point and Class 6A Glencoe each went winless one year ago at 0-9 apiece. The Eagles boast a sturdy offensive line led by returners Wynn Nevin, Jason Higgison and Taylor Lawler. Junior quarterback Nathaniel Page has a bevy of receiving options to help Eagle Point move the chains. Glencoe has battled low participation numbers and, for the first time in school history, is not fielding a junior varsity team this season. Reach reporter Kris Henry at 541-776-4488, [email protected], www.facebook.com/krishenryMT or www.twitter.com/Kris_Henry By Kris Henry Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Kris Henry Mail Tribune Posted Sep. 2, 2015 at 6:25 PM Updated Sep 2, 2015 at 10:43 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction Schedules & Events --> Recent Scores --> Prep Notebook Kris Henry South’s Cota broke Retzlaff’s school record All apologies to former South Medford standout Matt Retzlaff, who failed to get the recognition he was due last week after it was, in fact, his... Varsity 541 Photos North vs. Grants Pass Crater vs. Ashland Football State of Jefferson Invitational South vs. North North vs. South Eugene South vs. Willamette » More Photo Galleries Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Local Media Group Publications | Contact Us | Advertise | © Copyright Local Media Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.