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57 °F Forecast | Road Cams Saturday, October 9, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Rogue Valley's Finest EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend October 2, 2004 Eagles continue to rise, blank GP By KRIS HENRY Mail Tribune GRANTS PASS — A question buzzing around the Southern Oregon Conference was whether Eagle Point’s football team was for real. The answer supplied by the Eagles Friday night at Mel Ingram Field was a resounding "Yes." A week removed from a historic victory over Roseburg, Eagle Point took another step forward with an efficient dismantling of Grants Pass. Senior quarterback Jered McClellan passed for two touchdowns and ran for another and EP’s defense completely stymied the Cavemen in a 26-0 triumph on homecoming night in Grants Pass. "I thought we were ready to play, but Eagle Point took it to us," said Grants Pass head coach Tom Blanchard. "They’re a better football team than us. We’ve gotta figure out what we can do because you can’t win a game if you don’t score any points." Advertisement Eagle Point (4-0, 2-0 SOC) limited the Cavemen (1-3, 0-1) to 48 yards passing and 191 yards overall, while the Eagles countered with 188 through the air and 192 on the ground for 380 yards of total offense. EP entered the game ranked next-to-last in the SOC in points allowed (27 per game) and total defense (320.3 yards per game), while Grants Pass was first (15 ppg) and second (240.7 ypg), respectively, in those categories. "We were kind of maligned this year giving up quite a few points, so we needed this," Eagles head coach Harry Hedrick said of the first shutout posted by EP in his three years at the school. "This was a good jolt for our defense. If they can play like this for the rest of the year and we shore up some things offensively, we could be pretty good." "Pretty good" is an understatement considering the kind of message sent out Friday by the Eagles. "We looked at the newspaper today and saw that people were wondering if we were contenders or pretenders, and that really got us mad," said EP wide receiver/defensive back Jeremy Carvajal. "We wanted to come in here tonight and really explode and show what we’re all about and show the SOC that we’re here and we’re not going down." After taking the ball over on downs following a 26-yard opening drive by Grants Pass, Eagle Point efficiently marched 73 yards on its first series to take a 7-0 lead. Five different Eagles picked up yardage on the 12-play drive, which was capped by a 10-yard scoring pass from McClellan to Mychal Williams in the back of the end zone. The Cavemen had a chance to answer following an interception by Andrew Gallego on a tipped pass by linebacker Adam Donnelly with 9:53 to go in the second quarter. With the ball at the EP 49, Grants Pass used a new offensive wrinkle by putting tailback Craig Dolmage in shotgun position at quarterback and then repeatedly running the sophomore from that set. Dolmage gained 35 yards on his first five carries, but was sent 2-yards backward on his next run by EP lineman Mike Heppner and then had a 16-yard touchdown scamper nullified by a holding penalty. An incompletion and a snuffed-out reverse by AJ Nichols and Chris Cox gave the ball back on downs to the Eagles at their 21. The game appeared destined for a 7-0 halftime score until Carvajal took over with less than a minute to go until intermission. The 5-foot-10, 170-pound senior hauled in a booming punt by Kevin Berg on his own 34 and then proceeded to break the game open. Carvajal completely fooled the Cavemen when he faked a reverse to Nichols, churned toward the visitor’s sideline and saw the image every punt returner wants to see. "When I turned upfield and looked after that fake, I didn’t see anybody but the punter," said Carvajal, who also had four receptions for 88 yards. "I just followed my blockers and made some cuts from there." Jarad Hawkins supplied the key block in detaining Berg as Carvajal weaved untouched into the end zone. After McClellan’s kick failed, the score stood at 13-0 with 52.6 seconds left in the half. Carvajal’s return marked the second straight week the Eagles have scored on a special teams play. Nichols returned a kickoff for a TD in last week’s 41-34 win over Roseburg. "That was pretty big for us," Carvajal said of his punt return. "It gave us a good push heading into the locker room. All we said in there is now we’ve got to close the door and lock it and throw the key away." The Eagles did that and more as they conjured up more first downs on their first drive of the second half (five) than Grants Pass had in the third and fourth quarters combined (four). EP finished with 12 first downs in the final two quarters in an efficient game of keep-away. Grants Pass was able to hold EP on three straight bids from the 1-yard-line to turn the ball over on downs following the Eagles’ opening drive of the third quarter, but little else went right for Blanchard’s team on this night. If not for Dolmage’s 108 yards on 19 carries, mostly from the shotgun position, the offensive production would have been almost non-existent against the Eagles. "I was proud of Craig," said Blanchard, in the first season of his second run at Grants Pass. "He’d been out all year so this was his first game and he’s probably a tired and sore kid right now. But we’ve got to have more than Craig. We’ve got to be able to throw the ball a little bit, and right now we can’t. We’ll get back to work and see what we can do against Ashland (next Friday)." McClellan and crew didn’t suffer a similar fate against the highly touted Grants Pass defense. The senior tossed a 17-yard touchdown pass to Nichols early in the fourth quarter and added a 10-yard scoring run with 1:35 to play to boost EP’s lead to 26-0. McClellan finished with 61 yards rushing on 11 carries and completed 14 of 18 passes for 188 yards. "He made some nice third-down throws," Hedrick said of his QB. "He’s just had a great year. He’s a good player and just keeps getting better." The Eagles also got 98 yards rushing on 20 carries from Nate Idrogo in only his second game back after an early season car accident. The 5-8, 170-pounder was even more effective at linebacker, continually breaking in from the corner to thwart GP’s game plan. "He’s a solid player and that’s the kind of game we expect from Nate," said Hedrick. "When we lost him I thought we’d feel it more defensively than offensively, and he showed why I felt that way tonight." The Eagles remain on the road next Friday when they face Crater in continuation of a tough road slate for EP. "We’ve got three away games in a row, so to get this first one under our belt against a good football team was real critical," said Hedrick. Reach reporter Kris Henry at 776-4488, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities