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North squeaks past GP photo by Jim Craven By Don Hunt GRANTS PASS � Conventional wisdom suggested that the Grants Pass Cavemen would be lucky to stay within three or four touchdowns of No. 3-ranked North Medford Friday night at Mel Ingram Field. After all, the Black Tornado had romped over its first seven opponents by an average score of 49-7, and its closet game was a 31-0 victory over Roseburg. But before a standing-room only crowd of about 4,500, the inspired Cavemen muscled up to the Tornado all night long. It wasn�t until Kevin Foreman registered a first down on a quarterback keeper with one minute to play that North Medford could kill the clock, take a deep breath and sneak off with a 12-9 victory. "Give the Grants Pass defense all the credit � they handled us much of the night," said North Medford coach Rod Rumrey, whose team clinched no worse than a tie for the Southern Oregon Conference championship by moving to 6-0 in conference play and 8-0 overall. "But if nothing else, our guys hung in there when things weren�t going well and came away with the win." The Tornado finishes its regular season next Friday at Spiegelberg Stadium against No. 7 Ashland with the SOC�s No. 1 state playoff berth on the line. With the loss, Grants Pass fell to 5-3 overall and 3-3 in the SOC, and must defeat South Medford next week to secure a playoff berth. After struggling to generate any offense in the second half, North Medford got a big break with 6:21 to play when Grants Pass quarterback Nathan Olson fumbled the ball away on his own 20-yard line. Clinging to a 6-3 lead at the time, the Tornado scored a much-needed touchdown on a lucky bounce as Foreman�s pass into the end zone from 14 yards out ricocheted off Brian Weeks into the waiting arms of Mike Olson. Kelly Brown�s PAT kick was blocked, but the score gave North Medford a much-needed cushion with 3:42 to play. "I saw him (Weeks) reach for the ball and then he tipped it," Olson said. "It bounced off his hands and into mine. As a defensive back we do a lot of tip drills in practice. I just reacted for the ball and caught it." The insurance touchdown proved to be a huge play, because just one minute and 10 seconds later Olson fired a 64-yard touchdown pass to Parker Lane on a fourth-and-six play that cut the Tornado�s advantage to 12-9. Grants Pass then attempted an onside kick, but North Medford�s Travis Poulton collected the ball and the Tornado was able to run out the clock. "I give them a lot of credit because we thought we were going to come in here and kill �em," said Poulton, who had a key interception in the second half to go along with his onside kick recovery. "But a win is a win." North Medford clearly outplayed the hosts in the first half when the Tornado rang up a 147-31 edge in total offense despite operating without starting tailback Phil Ouellette, who sat out the game with a hamstring pull. But a bad snap led to Kelly Brown missing a 39-yard field goal after North had driven from its own 20 to the GP 22 the first time it had the ball. Late in the half, Foreman slightly overthrew Justin MacLauchlan in the end zone on a fourth-down play. North Medford had still another opportunity to score in the first half after Nate Olson failed to handle a high snap in shot gun formation and the Tornado�s Dan Crawford pounced on the loose ball at the Grants Pass 15. But a screen pass to MacLauchlan lost four yards and then on the next play Foreman was intercepted in the end zone by Tyler York. "We pounded it right at them the first half but didn�t come away with points except for the one time," Foreman said. "And then in the second half their defense got tougher." Curtis Stout scored North Medford�s lone TD in the first half on a 2-yard run. The score was set up by a spectacular 38-yard diving catch by Mike Olson that advanced the ball to the 2. Grants Pass put together its best drive of the night to start the second half. Fueled by Nathan Olson�s 27-yard scramble and a 22-yard pass from Olson to Ferron Carlson that tipped off the hands of Luke Lathen, the Cavemen drove from their own 29 to the North Medford 12. But the drive stalled there and Grants Pass had to settle Bruce Voges� 30-yard field goal that cut North Medford�s lead to 6-3. Nathan Olson suffered yet another fumbled exchange from center on that drive, giving him five such mishandled snaps on the night. North Medford recovered only one of them, but that was the one that led to its winning touchdown. "That�s the most simplistic play in football and it hasn�t been a problem all season," Grants Pass coach Jeff Weiss said. "I have no idea why it was a problem tonight." Weiss couldn�t have been more pleased with his team�s defensive performance, then added that North Medford "didn�t look like the same team we saw on film." "They�re going to go a long ways in the playoffs," he said. If the Cavemen play like they did Friday, they might go a ways themselves. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.