6A/5A FOOTBALL: Kelly powers Comets in romp

Sep. 3—NORTH BEND — In his first career start at the position, Crater's Andrew Kelly did what all good running backs do — see an opportunity and run with it.

And on an opening night when the Comets' offense could do no wrong, the senior Kelly rushed for three first-half touchdowns, including blazing a 64-yard trail up the sideline for a TD en route to Crater's 52-0 victory over North Bend on Friday.

"Our offense was operating on all cylinders tonight," said Crater coach Berk Brown. "I was very, very pleased with how our offense operated."

The Comets (1-0) racked up 49 first-half points.

Junior quarterback Shane Wood scored the game's first touchdown when he had to jump to catch a high snap and still found a path to paydirt, weaving his way up the middle for 12 yards into the end zone.

Wood also had touchdown throws of 27 yards (to Scott Price in the first quarter) and 43 yards (to Spencer Bramucci down the right sideline in the second).

"(Wood) really showed a lot of growth from his sophomore year," said Brown. "He was making the right reads and putting the ball where it needed to go."

In addition to his long touchdown run, Kelly also punched in TDs from 2 and 5 yards out.

"This is his first year playing running back and he stepped up," said Brown. "When he had to stick his foot in the ground and go vertical, he did. He's been a quarterback, a slot receiver and I think we finally found him a home at running back."

Defensively, the Comets limited the Lava Bears to around 100 yards of total offense.

"We were just flying around on defense and that was good to see carry over from last season," said Brown.

Crater212830—0

North Bend0000—0

C — Wood 12 run (Schatz kick)

C — Kelly 2 run (Schatz kick)

C — Price 27 pass from Wood (Schatz kick)

C — Kelly 5 run (Schatz kick)

C — Kelly 64 run (Schatz kick)

C — Bramucci 43 pass from Wood (Schatz kick)

C — FG Schatz 28

EAGLE POINT 54, ASHLAND 33: At La Pine, Eagle Point senior running back David Brown exploded for 300 yards and seven touchdown runs to power the Eagles to a win over Ashland in its season opener.

Brown scored four of Eagle Point's first five touchdowns, helping the Eagles (1-0) build a 27-13 lead going into halftime. He then added touchdown runs of 40, 62 and 52 yards to account for all but one of Eagle Point's scores in the game, which was originally scheduled to be played in Eagle Point but moved due to air quality concerns.

Ashland running back Gavin White scored a pair of touchdowns, while sophomore quarterback Jojo Harrower threw three TD passes — two to Caden Negra and one to Crosby Lehnerz.

This was the nonconference matchup between Ashland and Eagle Point in the last 43 years.

Ashland76613—33

Eagle Point13141314—54

A — White 5 run (Wildman kick)

EP — Graves 16 pass from Livingston (kick failed)

EP — Brown 11 run (Cordle kick)

EP — Brown 22 run (Cordle kick)

A — Negra 10 pass from Harrower (kick failed)

EP — Brown 9 run (Cordle kick)

EP — Brown 2 run (kick failed)

A — Negra 2 pass from Harrower (kick failed)

EP — Brown 40 run (Cordle kick)

A — White 2 run (pass failed)

EP — Brown 62 run (Cordle kick)

A — Lehnerz 3 pass from Harrower (White run)

EP — Brown 52 run (Cordle kick)

GRANTS PASS 38, SHASTA (Calif.) 24: At Shasta, Calif., Jackson Tunick provided a momentum-changing 78-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and hauled in three TD passes from Jace Blanchard as Grants Pass made a winner of head coach Brad Page in his debut.

Tunick scored on passes of 39, 26 and 3 yards from Blanchard, who completed 15 of 26 passes for 234 yards and no interceptions. Tunick finished with eight catches for 110 yards.

Trevor Reeves also had a solid night for the Cavemen (1-0), rushing 19 times for 116 yards and one TD as GP racked up 394 yards of total offense.

Bruxton Leair led the defensive effort with nine tackles and Malachi Kinyon had an interception.

Grants Pass71777—38

Shasta0888—24

GP — Reeves 7 run (Leach kick)

GP — Tunick 39 pass from Blanchard (Leach kick)

GP— FG Leach 39

S — No. 26 5 run (No. 26 run)

GP — Tunick 78 kickoff return (Leach kick)

S — Fleming 3 run (Schuette run)

GP — Tunick 26 pass from Blanchard (Leach kick)

S — No. 26 2 run (Schuette run)

GP — Tunick 3 pass from Blanchard (Leach kick)