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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend October 29, 2005 South Medford�s Ben Weaver, left, tangles with Eagle Point�s Shane Tomich, who fumbles the ball on the play in the first quarter. The turnover led to a Panthers touchdown. Mail Tribune / Andrew Mariman South holds on against Eagles Panthers’ touchdown in second overtime moves them into a share of first and gains a playoff berth By KEVIN GOFF Mail Tribune A collective sigh of relief resonated from the South Medford side at Spiegelberg Stadium Friday night. The Panthers had just survived two fake punts, an onside kick, one miserable third quarter and two overtimes to defeat Eagle Point 27-21 in a Southern Oregon Conference football game. Dan Welcome’s 2-yard scoring plunge in the second overtime of the Kansas Plan format gave South the gut-wrenching victory and kept the Panthers alive in the SOC title chase. "I think we underestimated them," said Panther running back Dan Welcome, who entered the contest with 641 yards rushing and left with just 49 more on 16 carries. "Sitting in the locker room before the game, I could see in other people’s eyes that they might have thought this would be easy. "(Eagle Point) put up a heck of a fight." Advertisement The sloppy contest featured five turnovers by each team and a combined 16 penalties for 132 yards. South (4-4 overall) had negative 9 yards of offense in the third period and just 9 total for the second half. But the defense cranked it up in the extra sessions, holding Eagle Point to negative yardage and forcing Eagles quarterback Brandt Nevin into several hurried throws. "I’m most proud of the kids for the character they showed," said Panther coach Bill Singler. "In OT especially, you could see our defense really step it up and play with more intensity." South Medford’s win clinched a state-playoff berth for the fourth straight season. The Panthers can now look ahead to next Friday’s SOC showdown at home against Roseburg. Both teams are 4-1 in league, the same as North Medford. The Black Tornado can secure the league title next week with a win over Grants Pass, while South can sew up the No. 2 seed with a win and the conference title with a win and a North loss. "We’re in the playoffs, that’s important," said Panther coach Bill Singler. "It’s going to go to the wire, like we knew it would at the start of the season." First, South Medford had to survive Eagle Point, which looked like a long shot at the start of the first overtime. South Medford fumbled away its first possession to set the Eagles up with a possibility of a stunning upset. But the Panthers’ defense held on Eagle Point’s possession, then stifled the Eagles’ offense to start the second OT. Welcome carried three times for 18 yards, the last his 2-yard score to end the contest. It was the Panthers’ offensive deficiency in regulation, however, that allowed Eagle Point to even the game. South Medford produced just 9 yards in the second half — Eagle Point held the ball for over 16 of the 24 minutes — and quarterback Kyle Singler was sacked five times over the final two quarters of regulation. "Offensively, Eagle Point does a lot of things to give you problems," said Singler. "They controlled the ball almost that entire third quarter. We get the ball back and we’re just out of sync, we’re flat and we don’t execute." Nevin connected with Kris Butler on a pair of swing passes for good yardage and Mychal Williams went up to snag an 18-yard completion at the South 26-yard line to set up the Eagles early on in the fourth quarter. Shane Tomich busted in from 1 yard out for a touchdown and Cory Nielsen’s extra point was good to tie the game at 21-all with just under nine minutes to play. Nielsen then recovered his own onside kick to give Eagle Point possession, but Williams was popped on the first play to force a fumble that South pounced on. Neither side could generate much offense over the final eight minutes, setting up the overtime. "It was a good football game, we just couldn’t finish at the end," said Eagles’ coach Harry Hedrick. "That’s how our season’s gone. We get an onside kick and then we fumble it right back. That’s our season in a nutshell." The Panthers started with a flurry in the opening minutes of the game and looked like they could run away to an easy win. Kyle Singler hooked up with Kelly Kline for a 56-yard touchdown bomb with just under two minutes gone for a 7-0 lead. Following an Eagle Point fumble on its first play from scrimmage, Singler again found Kline, this time from 21 yards out for a 14-0 lead with still 10½ to go in the opening quarter. The Eagles (4-5, 1-5 SOC), though, bounced back to march 81 yards on 13 plays, capped off by a 9-yard screen pass to Butler to pull within 14-7. Williams picked off the first of two Singler interceptions to set up another lengthy drive that ended with a 1-yard scoring run by Tomich. After each side lost a fumble, the Panthers went to work from their own 28. Singler found Tony DeSimone for a 27-yard gain down to the Eagle Point 14 and Welcome busted up the middle for 7 more yards to put South inside the 10 yard line. The drive stalled, however, and South Medford lined up for Tommy George’s go-ahead field goal. But on the attempt, the Eagles were flagged for a personal foul and South took advantage with a 2-yard TD run by Singler to go into the half up 21-14. "We came out with some fire on our first couple possessions," said Kyle Singler, who finished with 185 yards on 11 of 20 passing but was just 2-for-8 for 23 yards in the second half. "But Eagle Point held the ball for most of that third quarter. I think that gave them confidence and helped them chip away." Eagle Point held South to 64 yards rushing on 32 attempts, while Butler led the Eagles’ ground game with 59 yards on 14 carries. Nevin completed 19 of 40 for 200 yards with two interceptions and Williams hauled in 10 passes for 102 yards. Kline had three catches for 98 yards — all in the first quarter — to lead South. Reach reporter Kevin Goff at 776-4483 or e-mail South holds on against Eagles ">[email protected] . 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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