McKay dominates second half en route to 29-0 Valley win

By STEVE GRESS

Gazette-Times reporter

SALEM - There was a feeling of optimism Friday night as the members of the Corvallis High football team went to the locker room at halftime of their Valley League game at McKay.

The Spartans, who had watched two golden scoring opportunities come up empty, trailed just 7-0 against a team that had battled defending state champion McNary to the wire earlier in the season before eventually falling 19-11.

Then came the second-half kickoff.

McKay took it to the Spartans in the third quarter, scoring on its first two possessions to break open a close game and going on to post a 29-0 win to improve to 4-1. Corvallis drops to 2-3 and will try to regroup Thursday when it hosts South Albany for homecoming.

McKay took the second-half kickoff and marched 75 yards in seven plays as quarterback Trevor Scharer connected with Josh Riddell for a 20-yard score, his second of the game.

Corvallis was forced to punt after three plays and McKay went 79 yards in 14 plays as Riddell and Scharer hooked up for the third time and a 22-0 lead.

"The second half they just ran away with it," CHS defensive back Kurtis Magee said. "The defense was on the field too much and we didn't make big plays on (defense) and we didn't make big plays on (offense) either. We didn't get the crucial third downs that we needed."

McKay ran 40 plays for 208 yards in the second half while CHS managed 16 plays for 29 yards.

"To McKay's credit, they really came out and executed really well," CHS coach Chris McGowan said. "They looked sharp and that is where we want to get to. We are not there yet. I think we just saw a good example of how to come out and play a second half. The game could go either way at halftime, and they stepped it up like they knew how. I hope we can learn from that."

McKay added a touchdown in the fourth quarter after a Corvallis fumble gave the Royal Scots a first down at the Spartan 13. Scharer made it four TD passes when he hit Ben Fennimore from nine yards out.

The first half was a different story as both teams were pretty much equal in statistics and scoring opportunities. The Spartans had a chance for an early lead as they moved to the 11 on their second possession. However, Riddell was able to out-leap Cory Dickson in the end zone for an interception to end the drive.

CHS had another chance to get on the board first early in the second quarter. However, McKay was able to hold when quarterback Jason Tacchini was stopped short on fourth down at the 13.

"We had just as many chances as they had, they just executed on their chances," Magee said. "If we would have punched those in, it would have been all the momentum. The first half would have made all the difference. We stayed with them well in the first half, I think."

McKay used the defensive stop to spark the offense as the Royal Scots completed an 11-play, 87-yard drive with a 7-yard scoring pass to Riddell after the defensive stop.

"I felt OK, we just need to be able to finish," McGowan said of the first half. "We got down a couple of times in scoring position and we didn't finish and then they came out and did finish. We just have to be a little sharper."

The Spartans had passed for more than 500 yards in their last two games, but were limited to 71 yards through the air by the McKay defense. McKay passed for 173 yards and rushed for 167 more with Cody Ferrando gaining 121 yards on 25 carries.

"We're fine," McGowan said. "The guys are going to come back. They want to do right and they want to execute and take it to the next level. I'm not really worried with where we are at. We'll just take it a week at a time."