Marshfield tops North Bend in football league opener

Sep. 19—Marshfield beat North Bend on Friday night at Pete Susick Stadium in the first matchup between the two schools since they were reunited in the same league for sports this fall.

The Pirates beat the Bulldogs 41-13 in the annual rivalry football game, spurred by a trio of second-quarter touchdowns that gave Marshfield a big lead.

The teams were tied through one quarter, but John Lemmons got Marshfield on the scoreboard with a 2-yard touchdown run, followed by a 32-yard run by Mitchell George on a trick play. Mekhi Johnson finished the first-half scoring with a 13-yard pass from quarterback Ashton Fitzgerald Thornton that gave Marshfield a 21-0 halftime lead.

The Bulldogs got life in the third quarter when quarterback Cole Hansen connected with Jason Padgett on a 74-yard catch-and-run touchdown that pulled the Bulldogs within 21-7, but Marshfield answered right back on a drive culminated with a 5-yard scoring run by Kavan Robinson. Lemmons added another score later in the third quarter and the Pirates led 35-7.

North Bend got one more score, on a heads-up play by Peyton Forester, who picked up a fumble by a teammate after a fumble and rambled more than 40 yards for a touchdown. The extra-point kick was blocked.

Lemmons had one more touchdown for the Pirates, an 11-yard burst early in the fourth quarter, and Jonathan Calvert added an interception to help seal up the win.

Last week, fellow Marshfield defensive back Drake Rogers had a pair of interceptions in one of the highlights for the Pirates when they fell at Cascade to snap a long win streak that included the state title last fall.

Marshfield improved to 2-1 overall and 1-0 in the new Class 4A District 4. The Pirates have a big road trip this week to Klamath Union, which edged Hidden Valley 10-8 when the Mustangs missed a field goal on the final play.

North Bend, meanwhile, is home to face another of the Klamath Falls teams, Mazama, which made a big statement Friday by pounding Marist Catholic 42-7, the third straight impressive nonleague win for the Vikings.

In the other league game Friday night, Henley dominated host Ashland 48-19.

COQUILLE 20, NORTH VALLEY 6: The Red Devils overcame an early deficit to beat the Knights and stay perfect on the season.

North Valley got the first touchdown on a pass from Bryson Teal to Leo Freedman. Coquille answered with a defensive score, when Hayden GeDeros recovered a fumble forced by Waylon Messerle and ran 67 yards to the end zone. Levi Hoyle's extra point kick gave the Red Devils the lead for good at 7-6.

Gage Martinez connected with Hunter Layton on a 15-yard scoring pass in the second quarter for Coquille and Hoyle again converted the kick. The final scored came in the fourth on a 2-yard run by Messerle.

"We played well enough to win but we made too many mistakes at the same time," Coquille coach David Thomason said. "We need to maintain possession of the ball better, sustain our blocks longer and tackle more consistently — but I could say that after every game.

"We just need to keep getting better this week. If we just clean up our little mistakes and continue to improve our play, we will be all right."

The Red Devils are one of four teams in Class 3A District 3 to start the season 3-0 before they start playing each other. The others are South Umpqua, St. Mary's and Cascade Christian, Coquille's opponent this week in Medford. The Challengers have outscored their three opponents 163-12, including a 56-0 win over Brookings-Harbor on Friday.

"Cascade Christian is always good and this year is no exception," Thomason said. "We will need to play our best ball of the season to be able to compete with Cascade Christian. Our guys are hungry, so we will just have to get after it."

St. Mary's is at Lakeview this week and South Umpqua hosts North Valley.

South Umpqua is No. 2 and Cascade Christian No. 3 (behind Banks) in the most recent coaches poll. Coquille and St. Mary's are tied for 11th.

BANDON 35, GLIDE 12: The Tigers got a win in their Class 2A District 3 opener at home Friday night.

Bandon improved to 1-1 overall on the season, bouncing back from a 28-21 loss to Colton in the Cranberry Bowl.

The Tigers face one of the top teams in the district Friday night when they travel to Gold Beach for their first road game of the year. The Panthers are 3-0 after winning 36-18 at Yoncalla against the combined North Douglas-Yoncalla squad and have won all three games by at least three scores. Gold Beach is ranked second behind Weston-McEwen in the Class 2A coaches poll.

Reedsport, the other South Coast team in the league, was shut out at Rogue River 22-0 on Friday night and hosts Illinois Valley this week.

MYRTLE POINT 48, CAMAS VALLEY 8: The Bobcats got their first win of the season, dominating the host Hornets on Friday night.

The game was not a league contest, since the teams are in separate divisions of Class 1A District 1. Myrtle Point is in the north division for the eight-player league and has one more nonleague game, at home against Bonanza on Friday, before the league schedule, which includes St. Paul, Perrydale, Falls City, Alsea and Mohawk.

The Bobcats were sixth and Camas Valley seventh in this week's eight-player coaches poll.

POWERS 54, NORTH LAKE 13: The Cruisers came away with an easy win on their last road trip in more than a month Saturday.

Powers improved to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in league play in the six-man District 2 South division.

The Cruisers scored the first 47 points of the game before a couple of late scores by North Lake.

Alex Mahmoud had a pair of touchdown runs (1 and 27 yards) and a 34-yard scoring pass to Charlie Shorb. Rene Sears, meanwhile, had touchdown runs of 43 and 26 yards and a 20-yard touchdown pass to Talon Blanton.

Sears also returned the second-half kickoff 75 yards for a score for the Cruisers, who later got another kickoff return for a touchdown by Patrick Mahmoud. The Cruisers converted most of their extra points, including passes by Sears to Shorb and Blanton to Shorb and runs by Sears and Alex Mahmoud.

The Cruisers host Siletz Valley on Saturday and then are home on consecutive Fridays against Days Creek, Gilchrist and Glendale.

The Cruisers were third in the most recent six-player coaches poll behind the combined Spray-Mitchell-Wheeler team and Triangle Lake.