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Grants Pass has little trouble getting past Crater By KRIS HENRY GRANTS PASS - When they took the field Friday night, the host Grants Pass Cavemen had the look of a team wanting to prove that it has something special in mind for the 2001 football season. They accomplished that and more as Grants Pass romped past Crater, 42-7, in the Southern Oregon Conference-opener for both teams at Mel Ingram Field. The Cavemen scored on four of their first five possessions and limited the Comets to just one first down in the first half in one of the more crisply played halves this season for Grants Pass. "It didn't matter what Crater's record was or has been, they're an SOC opponent and we had a job to do," Grants Pass coach Jeff Weiss said of his team's focused effort. "That job was not only to come out hopefully with a win, but to perform the way we are capable of performing, and I thought in the first half, we did a real nice job of accomplishing that." Grants Pass (3-0, 1-0 SOC) marched 80 yards on the game-opening drive, needing only six plays to notch a touchdown thanks to the rugged running of senior Tom Martin. The SOC's second-leading rusher chewed up 57 yards on the opening drive, capping it with a 1-yard score. While the Cavemen couldn't have started any better, Crater (0-3, 0-1 SOC) couldn't have opened the game any worse on offense. The Comets lost three yards on their first play, then lost receiver David Sills for the rest of the game after his left knee was rolled over in a pileup following D.J. Beatty's 1-yard completion to Derrick Poff on Crater's second play. Adding insult to injury, Crater's third play was a pass intended for Trevor Ryan that slipped through his hands and found a home in the arms of GP linebacker Speedy Ortiz. Four plays later, Martin notched the second of his four first-half touchdowns when he slipped through the middle for a 9-yard score. Martin also had TDs of 3 and 17 yards in helping the Cavemen to a 28-0 halftime advantage. In contrast, Crater managed its lone first down with 33 seconds to play in the first half thanks to an encroachment penalty by GP and gains of 2 and 6 yards by Dan Casey. "We didn't compete in the first half," said Crater coach Randy Heath. "They scored real quick, and we didn't respond to it real well." Crater junior Andrew Norum had no answer to why the Comets struggled to get out of the gate against Grants Pass. "We knew what was expected, and we had a good week at practice, but we didn't really come out really prepared or as fired up as we should," said Norum. "At halftime we talked about just coming out and competing. We didn't really care about the scoreboard, it was about coming together as a team." The Comets did that, holding the Cavemen to just 14 points in the second half while countering with a six-play, 45-yard scoring drive of their own in the fourth quarter. Norum and Beatty teamed to keep Grants Pass from its first shutout of the season, with Norum outjumping two Cavemen in the left corner of the end zone for a 16-yard score. Norum finished the game with seven catches for 56 yards, while Beatty was hampered by several dropped balls in completing 12 of 25 passes for 79 yards with two interceptions. As a team, Crater managed only 137 yards of total offense, compared to 306 by Grants Pass. Martin, who was slowed by an injury last week, accounted for almost half of his team's total yards with 18 carries for 122 yards and one reception for 10 yards. "The line was just kicking butt tonight," said Martin. "There were holes everywhere. It didn't matter where I cut back, there was always a hole." Not that the 5-foot-11, 175-pounder made it easy on the Comet defenders in his own right. "He's a football/wrestler guy who understands what he needs to do," said Weiss. "He's a talented kid and a hard runner who is making the most out of his chances this year." Tom Cohen had his least impressive game at QB for the Cavers, going 10-for-19 for 94 yards with one TD and one interception, but Weiss said he was only concerned with the number 42 on the scoreboard. "I don't think Tom Cohen had a great game in terms of what he's been doing in the last two weeks, but he did a good job of directing our offense and being a leader for our offense," said the second-year coach. That leadership will be needed once again next week as the Cavers hit the road to face a North Medford team Weiss expects will be eager to earn redemption following the Tornado's blowout loss at Roseburg. "We have the utmost respect for North Medford and we know we're going to be in for a battle," said Weiss. "We're going to find out what kind of team we have next week. It will be our first real test." Reach reporter Kris Henry at 776-4488, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.