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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend September 11, 2004 Resilient Tornado trips up Rams By KRIS HENRY Mail Tribune Rod Rumrey has learned quite a bit about his North Medford football team in the past two weeks. The Black Tornado has a lot of issues, but perseverance isn’t one of them. Decimated by injuries and facing their second tough test in as many weeks, North Medford overcame it all to post a 45-28 victory over Central Catholic Friday night at Spiegelberg Stadium. "That has a lot to do with some inner qualities we have with these players," said Rumrey, who’s in his second tour as head coach of the Tornado. "I just couldn’t be more proud of some of the things I’m seeing with the way we’ve handled adversity. "They never back off no matter how tired they get or no matter who’s able to play. They just hang in there and I’m really proud of that." Advertisement On a night when injuries cost North the services of starters Ryan Weisz, Lorenzo Arenas, Johnny Vaigafa and Drew Herrera and slowed a handful of others, the Black Tornado (2-0) had to dig deep to overcome the Rams (0-1). Senior Josh Casebere was thrust into the role of one-man wrecking crew at tailback due to Weisz’s head injury and responded with a career-high 32 carries for 160 yards and two touchdowns. He also turned a simple screen pass into a 65-yard score to halt Central Catholic’s hopes of a comeback midway through the fourth quarter. "He doesn’t say much but he doesn’t really have to because we all know what he can do," North senior quarterback Ben Running said of the 5-foot-7, 168-pound tailback. "We just give him the ball and watch him run. You give him a little bit of a hole and he’s gone. Nobody’s going to catch him if he gets out in the open." Although Casebeer said he was tired after playing nearly every possession of the contest, he added he wouldn’t have had it any other way Friday night. "It was fun," said the first-year starter who doubles as a cornerback. "They can give it to me as many times as they want. I love getting the ball." When Casebere wasn’t doing the trick against the Rams, Running was having his way with the Central Catholic secondary as he continually found senior Kyle Williamson for one clutch reception after another. Williamson finished with six receptions for 89 yards and two TDs as Running completed 13 of 19 passes for 293 yards, three scores and one interception. "Kyle’s pretty banged up, too, but he stepped it up pretty big," said Running, who also intercepted his Ram counterpart. "If we needed 6 yards, we could go to Kyle on a hitch. If we needed 15, go to Kyle on an out. He was running good routes and getting open, and he’s got great hands so you know he’s going to catch it." But with the good has also come the bad thus far for North, which lost three of four fumbles and pushed its turnover total to nine in two games. "Obviously we have some things to shore up and No. 1 is taking care of the football," said Rumrey, whose team had five turnovers last week against Lakeridge. "I can’t believe the number of turnovers we’ve had in two ballgames. If we get that stuff shored up, we can be an awfully good football team." The brunt of Central Catholic’s success on offense came via defensive lapses by the Tornado, which allowed Ram receivers to get behind them in open territory for three of their four scores. Central Catholic quarterback Mark Grbavac started the game 0-for-7 before hooking up with tailback Brad Lindsey on an 18-yard screen play. On the next play, Grbavac scrambled around before finding Anthony Button all alone in the back of the end zone for a 23-yard score to put the Rams ahead 7-0. North answered with 17 straight points, highlighted by a career-best 45-yard field goal by senior Nick Taylor, before Button got behind the defense again for a 42-yard score to make it 17-14 at halftime. North’s makeshift offense put two more TDs on the board in the third quarter, while the Tornado defense held Central Catholic’s spread offense of four and five receivers to minus-6 yards in the period. The Rams, who compiled 305 yards of total offense, didn’t step into North territory until there was 7:38 to play in the game. Under pressure by Steve Johnson and Tim Endecott all night, and with Eric Stroh doing a fantastic job of shadowing leading Rams receiver Riley Showalter, Grbavac completed only 9 of 36 passes for 195 yards with two interceptions. "We know we have the potential to have a very good defensive football team but we’ve been tested," said Rumrey. "We’ve been spread out and abused at times because of what our opponents are doing, but I think we’ll get there." Whether the Tornado will have the services of its typical crew is another question entirely. "It looks like with all the injuries there’s nothing over two weeks," said Rumrey, whose team plays at top-ranked Clackamas next Friday and then opens the Southern Oregon Conference schedule Sept. 24 at Ashland. Reach reporter Kris Henry at 776-4488, or e-mail [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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