Document text
Cavemen hold off Grizz's charge By DON HUNT ASHLAND -- The Ashland Grizzlies find themselves in a very unfamiliar position: 0-3 and in a tie for last place in the Southern Oregon Conference. The defending Class 4A state champions threw a scare into Grants Pass Friday night at Walter A. Phillips Field, but when the dust settled the unbeaten and No. 12-ranked Cavemen had emerged with a 14-6 victory. Nathen Olson hooked up with tight end Jake Zeliff on a 53-yard touchdown pass and Brandon Hamada dashed 5 yards to paydirt for Grants Pass' other score as the Cavemen moved to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the SOC. But while Ashland fell to 0-3 for the first time in 15 years, coach Jim Nagel said afterwards that the Grizzlies -- who have endured perhaps the toughest early-season schedule in the state with losses to No. 6 Roseburg, No. 1 Marshfield and now Grants Pass -- have something to build on. Trailing 14-0 at the half, the Grizzlies controlled the Cavemen in the second half and might have tied the game in the final four minutes had Kris Pavilionis not been stripped of the ball at the Grants Pass 6-yard line. "We played our hearts out in the second half and that does give us something to build on," Nagel said. "Our offense finally put together a couple of sustained drives and our defense, other than the one big play and a couple of penalties, played well throughout. "We're 0-3 but 0-2 in the SOC and there's a lot of football still to be played. I'm confident we can still turn this thing around." Sophomore quarterback Mike Allen had his best game of the season for the Grizzlies, completing 12 of 25 passes for 144 yards, including an 8-yard touchdown to Pavilionis. Allen completed six straight passes during one stretch of the second half. Helped immensely by a 34-yard pass to Pavilionis on a post pattern over the middle, he marched the Grizzlies from their own 17-yard line to the Grants Pass 11 in the waning minutes of the game. But that's when Pavilionis lost the ball, and the Grizzly comeback fell short. "He started to feel comfortable back there and make plays," said Nagel of Allen. "He did some excellent things in the second half. "We went into some formations that we hadn't used in a couple of weeks and he knew exactly what we were doing. I think Mike really turned the corner tonight." The Cavemen turned a corner of their own. Friday's victory was just the second over the Grizzlies since Tom Blanchard took over as coach in 1987. Grants Pass meets Roseburg next week in a game that could decide the SOC title. "It feels great," said Blanchard, whose players dumped a bucket of ice water on him in the GP locker room after the game. "We knew it wouldn't be easy to come over here and win on this field, and it wasn't. "I didn't think that fourth quarter would ever end." Grants Pass dominated the first half and got the big play when Olson fired a long pass over the middle to Zeliff, who caught the ball in stride and beat the Grizzly secondary to the end zone for the 53-yard bomb. "That's a brand new play -- we just put it in this week," said Zeliff, who played superbly at tight end and defensive end. "It's called `wide divide.' All I did was split their two safeties." Added Olson: "I just laid it up there for the big guy (Zeliff) to go catch it." Jay Slack tacked on the extra point and the Cavers had a 7-0 lead at the 4:57 mark of the first period. It stayed that way until Grants Pass put together a 73-yard, 7-play drive late in the first half that ended when the hard-running Hamada broke a tackle and squirted 5 yards to paydirt. The big play on that drive was a 27-yard pass from Olson to Robbie Lesher, and the Grizzlies helped out the Cavemen by committing two pass interference penalties. At halftime, the Grizzlies had just three first downs and 61 yards of total offense. A sense of hopelessness was in the air. But with Allen starting to click and with fullback Mac Contreras bulldozing his way to big yardage -- he finished with 131 yards on 19 carries -- the Grizzlies looked like a different team in the second half. Allen went 5-for-5 on the touchdown drive, hitting tight end Sean Schorovsky on a 25-yard crossing pattern for one big play and on a 6-yard pass that carried the ball to the GP 8 before connecting with Pavilionis for the score. However, Schorovsky's PAT try was low and GP's Len Nuanez blocked it, leaving the score 14-6 with 1:18 remaining in the third period. The Grizzlies drove from their own 37 to the Grants Pass 23 on their next possession, but Pavilionis was thrown for a 2-yard loss on a fourth-and-five play by GP free safety Parker Lane. The next drive was thwarted by Pavilionis' fumble deep in Caveman territory. "One of their guys just grabbed my arm and stripped the ball as I was making a move," said Pavilionis, who gained only 28 yards rushing but had four receptions for 68 yards. "I should have covered up the ball better." The Grizzlies had one last chance, gaining possession at their own 48 with 2:47 to play. But a draw play by Contreras gained nothing, Allen was thrown for a six-yard loss and then threw an interception on third down. "We set a lot of goals this year and beating Ashland was one of them," said Grants Pass linebacker Matt Major, who was credited with 21 tackles. "Now it's on to Roseburg." Today's Sports Index Mail Tribune Copyright� The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, OR U.S.A.