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Indians rout South Drew Fleming photo By Don Hunt The Roseburg Indians didn�t win a lot of style points Friday night at Spiegelberg Stadium. No double-reverse passes. No hook and laterals. No fake punts. Not even a double somersault from the pike position off the stadium roof. The No. 10-ranked Indians went with what has worked best for coach Thurman Bell the past 30 years: smashmouth football. Fullback Matt Manser ran for 125 yards and one touchdown, quarterback Scott Bone added 82 yards rushing and tailback Conway Bixby chipped in 69 yards and one TD as the Indians rolled to a 28-0 victory over South Medford. The win improved Roseburg to 6-2 overall and 5-1 in the Southern Oregon Conference, while South Medford fell to 3-4 overall and 3-3 in the SOC. "We went back to Roseburg football � the veer offense and the running game," Bell said. "We�ve had a lot of injuries in our offensive line, but tonight we had everyone back. "I think we did a pretty good job, especially considering we were going against an 11-man front much of the night." Never mind that the Indians didn�t complete a pass until the final play of the third period. They ran the ball 52 times for 304 yards, picking up 19 first downs along the way. "We spent the whole week in practice working on the veer," said Manser, a 5-foot-10, 212-pound junior who went over the 100-yard mark for the first time this season. "The line really came together tonight. I had some huge holes to run through." Manser rumbled 22 yards up the middle on the game�s first play from scrimmage and then capped a 61-yard, seven-play drive with a 2-yard touchdown run just three minutes and 15 seconds into the contest. South Medford reached into its bag of tricks on its first play when quarterback Boomer Marshall hit Ryan Benson on a 35-yard flea-flicker pass that advanced the ball to the Roseburg 27. Tailback Jimmie Maddox then carried three straight times for 11 yards as the Panthers moved to the 16. But one play later, Maddox fumbled the ball way, and the Panthers never again threatened to score. The Indians made it 14-0 when Bixby sped 5 yards to paydirt on an option play with 7:28 remaining in the second period. But South Medford�s defense stiffened after that as Roseburg didn�t score again until nine minutes remained in the game when Bone hit tight end Joe Newton on a 27-yard touchdown pass. The Indians� final score came on a 6-yard run by Rod Cope with 1:39 to play. "Our kids played hard the whole game," South Medford coach Bill Singler said. "They took it to us early with their running game, but we made some adjustments and were able to slow them down. "They�re a top-10 team. They�re big and physical and they�ve got some good backs. But I liked the way we competed. "The last two years when we played Roseburg, the game was out of hand by halftime, but that wasn�t the case tonight." Desperate to get on the scoreboard, the Panthers tried a fake punt on a fourth-and-nine play from the Roseburg 42 late in the third period. Maddox was stopped three yards shy of a first down at the 36. Bone then completed his first pass of the night � a 9-yarder to Manser. Four plays later he hooked up with Bixby on a screen that was good for 28 yards to the South Medford 24. And two plays after that he hit Newton in the end zone. "When you run the ball as much as we do, the defensive backs start flying up and disregarding the pass," Newton said. "We went play-action, and I was wide open." South Medford finished with just 67 yards rushing and 179 yards in total offense. Marshall, the Panthers� sophomore quarterback, completed 7 of 20 passes for 112 yards with one interception. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.