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Varsity 541 NEWS NOW Emergency services, Aug. 25 ... Gold Hill adopts Bee City USA ... Cuckoo's Nest, Pebblestone and Plaisance earn Best of Show at Oregon Wine Competition ... Emergency services, Aug. 25 ... Gold Hill adopts Bee City USA ... Cuckoo's Nest, Pebblestone and Plaisance earn Best of Show at Oregon Wine Competition ... PREP FOOTBALL Streak continues North Medford scores 24 straight points to deny South Medford in 30th rivalry game Comment By Kris Henry Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Kris Henry Mail Tribune Posted Oct. 24, 2015 at 12:05 AM Updated Oct 24, 2015 at 12:21 AM By Kris Henry Mail Tribune Posted Oct. 24, 2015 at 12:05 AM Updated Oct 24, 2015 at 12:21 AM --> North Medford 24, South Medford 14 RECAP: North Medford quarterback Greyson Wolff runs for two touchdowns and the Black Tornado limits South Medford to 80 yards of offense in the second half ... » Read more X North Medford 24, South Medford 14 RECAP: North Medford quarterback Greyson Wolff runs for two touchdowns and the Black Tornado limits South Medford to 80 yards of offense in the second half to pull away for its third straight Black and Blue Game victory. UP NEXT: Next Friday, North Medford at Sheldon; Thurston at South Medford. » Social News South Medford couldn’t have asked for a better start Friday night from its sophomore-led crew in the 30th annual Black and Blue Game at Spiegelberg Stadium. But starting is one thing, finishing is another. North Medford shook off an early 7-0 deficit and scored 24 straight points to pull away for an eventual 24-14 victory and a third straight victory in the cross-town rivalry. “We’re playing South Medford, you know we’re coming out here and playing all four quarters,” said Black Tornado senior quarterback Greyson Wolff. “It didn’t start the way we wanted to but it finished good, and that’s all that counts.” Wolff played an instrumental role in the victory, earning MVP honors as part of the Great American Rivalry Series on hand for the much-anticipated clash. The 6-foot, 180-pound standout ran for a 2-yard touchdown to tie the game in the first quarter, then dashed in from 8-yards out with 21 seconds remaining in the first half to put the Black Tornado ahead for good. He later added a drive-killing interception from his spot in the secondary at safety. Wolff completed 7 of 12 passes for 129 yards and ran 12 times for 20 yards — a number that could’ve been larger had he not been sacked four times (three times by South Medford senior P.J. Amotai). “I thought he managed the game well,” said North Medford head coach Mike Mitchell of Wolff. “He took a few losses, and we’ve got to learn not to take losses, but I thought it was a good solid game by him.” North Medford (4-4, 3-3 SWC) snapped a two-game losing streak with the victory and put itself in better position to secure one of the four automatic berths to the Class 6A state playoffs out of the Southwest Conference. The Black Tornado, which held South to 80 total yards of offense in the second half, closes out the regular season next Friday at third-ranked Sheldon (6-1, 5-0). South Medford (4-4, 3-3) owns key head-to-head victories over Willamette (5-3, 4-2) and Roseburg (1-6, 1-4) heading into its regular season finale next week against Thurston (1-7, 1-5). “We’re still fine,” said South Medford head coach Bill Singler. “It’s a learning experience; we’ve got a lot of young kids,” he added. “We’ve made some strides in a lot of ways, we just weren’t ready to win this game.” The Panthers were in good position early after a defensive stand that included a key third-down sack by sophomore Brandon Ditty and a quick-striking offense that turned in a 46-yard touchdown connection from Robbie Patterson to fellow sophomore Kaleb Franklin on South’s third play from scrimmage. “It was a good start and we were looking to do that because we didn’t want to play from behind,” said Singler. “After that, (North Medford) kind of settled in and they just dominated us up front. They were more physical and I was worried about that. Those guys have been in the weight room and played football a couple years longer than we have and it showed.” South Medford actually held North to another three-and-out and had the ball near midfield on its ensuing series before bogging down with four straight incomplete passes by Patterson. Seizing the opportunity, Wolff found senior fullback Jonathan Collins wide open after he leaked out from the backfield and the screen pass resulted in a momentum-changing 52-yard play to the Panthers’ 4-yard line. “That was huge to start it off,” said Wolff. “It kind of got things going for us and really just turned the game around for us.” After a pair of runs by senior Will Spence, Wolff scored untouched on a 2-yard bootleg for a 7-all score with 2:45 to go in the first quarter. South Medford then used a 30-yard scramble by Patterson and a personal foul penalty to quickly march to the North Medford 20 but was turned away after an ill-fated reverse attempt and two incomplete passes into the end zone. On another drive, the Panthers used a 53-yard run by Franklin to reach the North Medford 25 but a sack by juniors A.J. Raye and Tre Holmes plus an intentional grounding penalty on Patterson left South with a second-and-30 on the Tornado 45. Holmes and sophomore Nicholas Winetrout later combined on another sack to halt the drive. “What really hurt us early were the penalties,” said Singler. “We just shot ourselves in the foot with too many penalties in the first half. You can’t play offensive football when you’re in first-and-long and second-and-long.” North Medford took advantage of excellent field position on its final drive of the first half to take the lead. Starting from the South Medford 40-yard line, the Tornado used an 11-yard pass from Wolff to Joey Hunter and ensuing fourth-down run by Spence to keep the chains moving and, after another chain-moving third-down catch by Tucker Barry, Spence added an 8-yard reception. With 28 seconds to go before halftime, Wolff dropped back into the pocket and, with space in front of him, bolted up the middle and burst right to the end zone for the go-ahead score. “When it was open I took it and it worked out well for us,” Wolff said of utilizing his feet more Friday than in prior games. Wolff’s interception at the Tornado 20-yard line stopped South from gaining a potential answer to open the third quarter and North Medford built a 17-7 advantage when senior placekicker Eric Benitez drilled a 41-yard field goal. Benitez doubles as goalkeeper for the Black Tornado boys soccer team. A 39-yard flea flicker from Spence to Wolff to Barry set the stage for a 7-yard scoring run by Spence for a 24-7 lead with 10:08 to play. Spence, who was bottled up for 17 yards on 11 carries in the first half, helped grind out the clock in the final quarter to finish with 103 yards on 24 carries. Barry had three catches for 52 yards. “They did a good job of kind of taking him away from us with an eight-man front most of the night, but he got his yards eventually,” Mitchell said of Spence, the SWC’s leading rusher. “He just kept slugging for them.” South Medford sophomore Jaylin Parnell halted the Black Tornado’s scoring streak with a powerful 42-yard run through a handful of defenders with 5:59 to go. A fumble recovery by Parnell gave the Panthers another chance with 2½ minutes to play but Raye came up with a big sack on third down to essentially squash the drive. Patterson completed 13 of 31 passes for 131 yards, one TD and one interception while Franklin had seven catches for 72 yards and also ran five times for 61 yards. Parnell had 53 yards rushing and Chase Cota one catch for 21 yards. “We were just off a little bit on a couple things and a lot of that is because of their physicalness,” said Singler. “They were in Robbie’s face and if you looked at the coverage, they were rolled up again on Chase and playing three-deep over the top of it so there really wasn’t a lot of room to throw the ball down the field.” Reach reporter Kris Henry at 541-776-4488, [email protected], www.facebook.com/krishenryMT or www.twitter.com/Kris_Henry By Kris Henry Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Kris Henry Mail Tribune Posted Oct. 24, 2015 at 12:05 AM Updated Oct 24, 2015 at 12:21 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction Schedules & Events --> Recent Scores --> Prep Notebook Kris Henry Challengers make it back on top in softball Winning the Southern Cascade League title seemed like a pretty bold goal this spring considering the recent history of the Cascade Christian... 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