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North Medford went into Friday’s matchup with second-ranked Sheldon determined to lay it all on the line at Spiegelberg Stadium. And for 20 minutes, the Black Tornado gave the ballyhooed Irish all it wanted playing in front of its hometown fans for the first time all season. The final 28 minutes, however, belonged almost entirely to Sheldon as the visitors used a late surge in the second quarter and a dominant second half to secure a 35-7 triumph in Southwest Conference action. “I thought we played with heart tonight and got after them a little bit,” said North Medford head coach Mike Mitchell. “I like how they weren’t afraid. They took on somebody that was the No. 2 team in the state and they showed me they can play with anybody, now they have to believe that they can play with anybody.” The Black Tornado (1-3, 1-1 SWC) found itself even on the scoreboard with the preseason SWC favorites through most of the first half until Sheldon (4-0, 1-0) scored twice in the final four minutes to take a 21-7 lead into intermission. “We stayed strong,” said North Medford junior Eli Spence, who had two catches for 70 yards. “Our motive was to just give it all we’ve got every single play and just don’t stop, and I think we did that. I don’t think people were expecting us to do that. They were maybe expecting this kind of final score but I think we showed them that we could fight back with them. They’ve got some guys who can make plays, and all respect to them, but I think we showed them that we can play ball, too.” The game actually couldn’t have started much worse for North Medford, with Sheldon linebacker Jaren Banks stepping in front of a Josh Robbins pass on the third play from scrimmage to give the Irish a short field to work with. Zach Folsom, who finished with 81 yards on 12 carries, capped the quick drive with a 5-yard touchdown run. Instead of letting those troubles mount, the Black Tornado showed its resilience as Robbins and company mounted an 80-yard drive to answer. A roughing the passer penalty helped keep the drive going for North, and Robbins made a key connection with fellow senior Isaac Manuel on a fourth-and-five play for a 22-yard gain to put the Tornado near the goal line. Shortly thereafter, Robbins fought his way into the end zone from 1 yard out and the game was tied. Maintaining that momentum, North Medford found a way to slow the Irish on ensuing possessions, highlighted by a sack from senior Jonathinn Casaday on the first series and then a forced fumble by junior linebacker Thomas Bates on the next that was recovered by senior Brady Haas at the Sheldon 31 one minute into the second quarter. On the latter, however, North Medford had two straight holding penalties take it out of scoring possession. “I’ve got call sheets and I looked up and down but there’s nothing for third-and-35 that looks good,” said Mitchell, who saw Robbins complete 9 of 27 passes for 152 yards and three interceptions. Sheldon found itself with similar issues, taking two steps forward and one step back for most of the first half until junior quarterback Michael Johnson Jr. was able to loft a 35-yard scoring strike to Kimani Quade with 3:42 to go in the second quarter. Johnson finished 7-for-10 passing for 103 yards, rushed 14 times for 75 yards and caught a 19-yard pass from Patrick Herbert. Bad turned to worse moments later when Robbins and senior tailback Harley Robinson banged legs on what was to be a play-action rollout by the QB. Robinson had to be helped off and spent the rest of the game on crutches with ice on his left knee. When that drive stalled, sophomore punter Jett Carpenter, who earlier pinned Sheldon at its own 6, was rushed and could manage only a 15-yard punt to give the Irish the ball back at the North 29. Sheldon ran nearly two minutes off the clock until finally getting a 4-yard TD run by Johnson on a fourth-down play with 43 seconds to go until halftime. “Without that touchdown going into halftime, it could’ve been a different story,” said Sheldon head coach Josh Line. “The kids did a good job of being resilient and getting that one even after we’d had three touchdowns called back in that same drive.” That final tally of the half served as kind of a backbreaker for North, which then had to kickoff to start the second half and saw Johnson find Herbert for a 29-yard score on the opening series. Banks’ second interception immediately followed to leave Sheldon with less than 30 yards to score again, and the Irish did just that moments later as Banks scored from 3 yards out for a 35-7 advantage that was never threatened. “In the second half I think people got tired,” said Manuel, who ran for 72 yards on 20 carries, “but we still pushed ourselves and worked as hard as we could.” That effort, especially in the first half, definitely drew the praise of Line after the game. “North Medford played well,” he said. “They’re a good team and they’re well-coached. Everything we were doing was positive but we kind of stymied some drives there early where we could have had some separation. But that’s on us, and North Medford had a lot to do with our slow start. I tip my hat to them and we’ll just have to get better at maintaining those drives and eliminating those mistakes.” Getting better is something Mitchell said he has seen from his team through four weeks and he only hopes that trend can continue. “I think we’re really growing as a team and I feel good about that,” he said. “We aren’t very good yet but we’re showing signs of life right now that we could be a good football team. We’re going to forget everything negative that happened and, like I told the kids, we’re going to play a Bowl Game next week in the middle of the season. That’s the way we’re treating it and we’re going to try and give South a game, and I think we will.” Reach reporter Kris Henry at 541-776-4488, [email protected], www.facebook.com/krishenryMT or www.twitter.com/Kris_Henry