South Medford limps into top-10 clash

Oct. 7—Banged up but certainly not broken, No. 8-ranked South Medford will look to find a way to do what no one else has done this season when it travels to play No. 1 Sheldon in a matchup sure to get statewide attention Friday.

Both teams enter with identical 5-0 records overall and 3-0 ledgers in South/Central Football Conference play, but there's no denying the discrepancy in varsity experience and, well, overall health for the top-10 clash.

South Medford, which boasts 14 seniors and has outscored its opponents 40-16 on average, had three starters in street clothes last Friday and saw another four helped off the Spiegelberg Stadium turf later that same night. As of Thursday, it was undetermined how many of those injured players will return Friday, although South had received better-than-expected news for some.

Sheldon, conversely, leads the 6A level in scoring at 50 points per game and is tied for second with North Salem in least amount of points allowed at 37 overall — four points shy of state-leading Franklin.

More than half of the Irish roster — 23 of 45 — are seniors and almost all of their starters are returners.

"I would equate this to playing Alabama at the college level," South Medford head coach Bill Singler said with a laugh. "This is the best Sheldon team I've seen in a while. This team is loaded. They've got 23 seniors and they're playing like it.

"We have more than our hands full and we're kind of wounded right now," he added, "but we'll do the best we can and get ready to roll and see what happens. We'll put our best foot forward on Friday."

If there's any added comfort, it's that the scenario really isn't that much different for the underdog Panthers, whose senior class has only ever played Sheldon on its home field in Eugene.

In last year's meeting, South Medford trailed 20-0 before ultimately rallying behind quarterback Deacon Edgar to take the lead with about three minutes left in the third quarter. The Irish were able to counter with the final 20 points of the game to prevail 54-37, but the mid-game surge gave the Panthers confidence moving forward last fall.

Edgar wound up running for 125 yards and two scores and passing for nearly 300 yards with touchdowns to Andrew Walker and Ty Henry to put some pause into the Irish, who were also dinged by an interception return for a score by Isaack Valdez.

"We've played them before when they've been this good," Singler said, "and I think from last year our team has some confidence that offensively we did score some points, so we've shown in the recent past that we can do good things. It showed that we do have athletes in our program and we've got kids who can make plays."

Edgar has completed 79 of 115 passes for 1,177 yards, 12 TDs and four interceptions this season and run for another 189 yards and seven scores.

Walker stands as one of the state's top receivers at 505 yards and seven TDs on 28 receptions, with Henry providing a solid complement at 16 catches for 295 yards and three TDs.

South Medford got a big boost from the play of senior Dylan Espinosa in last week's 33-18 win over Sprague, with the 6-foot-1, 205-pounder rushing for 86 yards and two TDs and also leading the defense with an interception and a host of tackles.

Senior running back Will Greenwood also stepped up in the absence of leading rusher Ryder Scheid (239 yards on 49 carries) with a big kickoff return against the Olympians and is averaging 5.3 yards per carry.

Underclassmen like Makani Manuwai, Tanner Tuggle, Tobias Akpan, Logan Crocker, Alex Varner, Jacob Dalton, Austin Hofeling and Gannen Jones also played considerable roles in allowing South Medford to open 5-0 for the first time since 2011.

The next-man-up Panthers will again look to carry a mindset of accepting the challenge into Friday's game.

"We've had a great season up to this point," Singler said. "We're going to use this as a challenge. As a coach, you want to see which kids are going to respond against adversity and which kids are going to respond, as coaches like to say, when they get punched in the mouth. We'll find out really quickly up there."

Shepherding Sheldon's potent attack is third-year starting quarterback Brock Thomas, who has completed 61 of 90 passes for 1,014 yards, 16 TDs and two interceptions and run 38 times for 251 yards and five scores.

"He's a true dual-threat quarterback," Singler said. "I think he is really terrific when he gets the ball in his hands running the ball, that's where he gives you a lot of trouble, but he can certainly throw it, and Luke Leighton is as good of a receiver as anybody in the state."

The 6-5, 200-pound Leighton boasts 14 catches for 222 yards and four TDs to anchor a deep receiving corps that includes Isaac Peters (11 catches, 249 yards, three TDs), Cade Welch (12 catches, 176 yards, three TDs) and Zach McEwen (nine catches, 108 yards, two TDs).

Senior running back Grafton Robinson scored three times in last year's meeting, and his ability to carry the ball while also slipping out for screen passes provides another weapon for the Irish. Robinson has run 28 times for 263 yards and four TDs while also turning seven receptions into 218 yards and four scores thus far.

And that's even before getting to senior Teitum Tuioti, who has been the gift that keeps on giving for Sheldon after transferring in from Nebraska when his father, Tony, joined the staff at Oregon.

The 6-3, 220-pound Tuioti, who is committed to the Ducks, is rated as the No. 1 senior prospect in Oregon and No. 33 edge defensive lineman in the nation by 247Sports.

Through five games, Tuioti ranks among the state leaders with eight sacks and 18.5 tackles for loss, and averages 8.4 tackles per game for the Irish. As a more than capable tight end, he's also averaging 8.2 yards per catch.

"He's the real deal on both sides of the ball," Singler said of Tuioti, "but he's more dominant on defense. He brings a physicalness and athleticism to the defensive end position. I don't know who's had success blocking him but we're going to have to find ways to combat that.

"But they've got other kids that are capable, too, it's not a one man show. They've got kids up and down their roster."

Senior lineman Josh Merriman (three sacks, eight tackles for loss) is another leading tackler for Sheldon, while sophomore Mana Tuioti (6-0, 205) — Teitum's brother — has made an impact at inside linebacker to complement Leighton, as well as at running back.

"We've got a few skill kids to combat them," Singler said, "but they're playing at a really, really high level and we're going to have to play at an even higher level to give ourselves a chance."

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