5 takeaways from Friday's Salem-area high school football games
It’s crunch time in the high school football season, and the playoff races are heating up.
Here are five takeaways from the sixth week of high school football in the Salem area.
1: Silverton stays unbeaten in conference
Senior Jackson Pfeifer rushed for five touchdowns to lead the Silverton Foxes to a 74-52 league victory against 5A Crescent Valley (1-5, 1-4 Mid-Willamette Conference) at home on Friday night.
Foxes’ sophomore quarterback Sawyer Teeney completed 12-of-13 pass attempts for 299 yards. Teeney threw three touchdown passes, including a 60-yard pass to Cohen Mulick.
The Foxes improve to 5-0 in the MWC and 5-1 overall on the season.
Pfeifer rushed five touchdowns for 144 yards on 12 carries, including an 80-yard kick return for a touchdown in the first quarter.
“Overall on defense I would say my tackling,” Pfeifer said on what he could improve on. “On offense, I felt like I didn’t read the holes the best on some plays.”
Senior running back Alex Briseno rushed two touchdowns for the Foxes – 5 yards in the first quarter and 45 yards in the fourth quarter. Junior linebacker Brody Sullivan contributed to the Foxes’ offensive efforts with a 15-yard pick-six in the second quarter.
Silverton will play a nonleague game at McKay (1-4, 1-3 MWC) on Friday at 7 p.m.
2: Sprague wins in dramatic fashion
The Olympians got back to .500 with a dramatic 28-21 win against West Salem on Friday night.
Sprague junior Athan Palmateer scored the game-winning touchdown in the final seconds to bring the Olys’ record to 3-3 overall this season. They are 2-2 in Special District 1.
“We were a little beat up this game, but some younger guys stepped up and played with grit,” Sprague senior Drew Rodriguez said. “We have grown a lot with our tackling and starting games off strong.”
Sprague has three games left against North Salem, South Salem and McNary.
The Olys host the Vikings at 7:15 p.m. Thursday.
3: Dallas wins fourth in a row
The Dragons beat Corvallis 48-26 to earn their fourth victory in a row in the Mid-Willamette Conference.
Dallas quarterback Owen Hess threw for 113 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 100 yards and a touchdown.
Running back Emilio Miranda rushed for 181 yards and three touchdowns for the Dragons, who are now 4-1 this season.
Dallas hasn’t lost since a season-opening 40-29 setback against Silverton.
The Dragons next host South Albany at 7 p.m. Friday.
4: North Salem falls to Grants Pass
The Vikings fell 18-14 to Grants Pass, suffering their second setback of the season.
North Salem is now 4-2 overall and 2-2 in Special District 1.
In their two losses, the Vikings were held to 13 and 14 points by North Medford and Grants Pass respectively.
As of Saturday afternoon, North Salem was No. 24 in the OSAA rankings for Class 6A.
The Vikings have three games left this season against Sprague, West Salem and South Salem.
North Salem plays at the Olympians at 7:15 p.m. Thursday.
5: South Salem puts loss behind them
The Saxons have put their one loss behind them, as they beat McNary 55-19 for their second win in a row.
South Salem now has wins against West Salem and McNary since losing to South Medford on Sept. 23.
“It feels amazing to bounce back from that game,” South Salem senior Tini Tinitali III said. “We moved on from that loss and worried about who was next up and took it game by game.”
As of Saturday afternoon, the Saxons were No. 11 in the OSAA rankings.
South Salem has three games left against Roseburg, Sprague and North Salem.
The Saxons play at Roseburg at 7 p.m. Friday.
“We aren’t where we want to be, but we are definitely headed there,” Tinitali said. “I’m proud of my guys. We just need to keep going and keep grinding like we’ve been doing these past two weeks.”
This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: 5 takeaways from Friday's Salem-area high school football games
