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Sun sets on North's season Photo by John Gress / for the Mail Tribune North Medford's Travis Poulton (18) dives forward for more yards as Sunset's Chuck Curtis comes in for the tackle in Friday's game. By DON HUNT HILLSBORO - They started a football game here Friday night and a track meet broke out. North Medford sprinted to a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter but eighth-ranked Sunset turned on the afterburners in the second half to post a wild 45-35 first-round playoff victory over the Black Tornado at Hillsboro Stadium. The Apollos, now 9-1, move on to the second round next Friday against Sheldon. North Medford finished its season with a 7-3 record. Quarterback Travis Poulton passed for a season-high 240 yards and two touchdowns and tailback Manny Alegria ran for 152 yards and two scores as the Black Tornado racked up 492 yards of offense compared to 359 by the Apollos. But 10 penalties for 110 yards, some broken plays on defense and a fake punt that backfired early in the second half combined to doom North Medford. "The bottom line is we just didn't play well enough to win," North Medford coach John Beck said. "We did some good things offensively and our kids never quit, but we made too many mistakes to beat a good team like Sunset." With the score tied 14-14 at halftime, North Medford's Justin MacLauchlan ran a fake punt on a fourth down and four play from the Tornado 34-yard line. MacLauchlan was thrown for a 3-yard loss, and three plays later Sunset quarterback Mike Moomaw hit Eric Fromhart with a 25-yard touchdown pass that gave the Apollos their first lead of the night at 21-14. North Medford's Brian Weeks deflected the pass but it ricocheted into Fromhart's hands. "We felt we needed a momentum change at that time and we felt he (MacLauchlan) could make it to the edge and get a first down," Beck said. "The blocking we do on that play is the same we do with our bounce play to Manny (Alegria), and we just felt we could get it blocked and make it work. "But their kids read it and stopped it." The Tornado stormed right back, however, when Poulton found Alegria down the left sideline for a 70-yard touchdown pass that tied the score 21-21 with 6:54 left in the third period. North Medford then stuffed Sunset on its next series, forced a punt and got the ball back in good shape at the Apollos 44. But from that point on, little went right for the visitors from Southern Oregon. On its first play from scrimmage following the punt, the Tornado was called for holding. Two plays after that, Sunset's Rob Sears intercepted a Poulton pass and returned it to the North 24. The Tornado also hit Sears after he ran out of bounds, producing another penalty that advanced the ball to the 12. On the following play, Moomaw scored on a quarterback draw, and Sunset had the lead for good. "It seemed like every time we messed up they made a big play the other way," Poulton said. The next time North got the ball, it was called for two holding penalties and an illegal receiver downfield infraction that negated an 83-yard touchdown strike from Poulton to Alegria. A short punt from the Tornado 8-yard line and a decent return left Sunset with the ball at the North Medford 20, which the Apollos parlayed into a 32-yard field goal by Gavin Smith and a 31-21 lead with 11:49 remaining in the game. The Tornado rallied yet again, quickly driving 88 yards in seven plays. The big plays were a 39-yard scramble by Poulton and a 33-yard pass halfback pass from MacLauchlan to Dustin Brooks that advanced the ball to the Sunset 1. Alegria scored on the next play, slicing the Apollos' lead to 31-28 with 9:14 left to play. Michael Matsuda busted up the middle 50 yards for a touchdown the next time Sunset had the ball, but North Medford countered one last time when Alegria dashed 22 yards to just shy of the goal line, where he fumbled into the end zone and Brooks recovered for a touchdown. Now it was 38-35 with 4:36 to go. North Medford tried an onside kick that failed, and on the very next play Moomaw broke the Tornado's back when he fired a 50-yard scoring strike to a wide-open Robbie Gregg. "We only had 10 guys on the field on that play," Beck admitted after the game. "One of our guys got hurt and we didn't get a substitute out there in time. Naturally, they threw the ball right where our missing guy was supposed to be." Poulton led the Tornado from its own 16 to the Sunset 7 in the final four minutes, but his fourth-down pass to Weeks fell short with 1:10 remaining, and the Apollos ran out the clock. "I just threw a short ball - it didn't have enough juice on it," a disconsolate Poulton said. "If we score there and get the onside kick, who knows, we might have made one more play and gotten a field goal to tie it. "But I guess it just wasn't meant to be." North Medford had the upper hand early when Alan Borelli intercepted a Moomaw pass and returned it 59 yards to the Sunset 17. On the next play, Poulton hit MacLauchlan on a well-executed screen pass for a touchdown, and the Tornado had a 7-0 lead just 3 1/2 minutes into the game. North Medford then drove 85 yards for a touchdown on its next possession with Weeks accounting for 45 of them thanks to a leaping catch at the Sunset 10. Poulton ran the ball in from the 1 four plays later and the Tornado had a 14-0 lead one play into the second quarter. But Sunset used the punishing running of fullback Andy Stewart and touchdowns by Fromhart on a 1-yard run and Gregg on a 17-yard pass from Moomaw to earn a 14-14 tie at the break. Stewart had 117 yards rushing at the half and 136 yards on 19 carries for the game. "I was really surprised they were able to run on us like they did," Beck said. "We weren't coming off blocks like we normally do and then when we got to the ball-carrier we didn't wrap up several times." Reach reporter Don Hunt at 776-4469, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.