West Albany defense holds Spartans offense to 51 yards

By STEVE GRESS
Gazette-Times reporter

Julian Wallace took a few minutes to receive some hugs and encouraging words from his friends and family Friday night before making the long walk over to the locker room.

Wallace and the Corvallis High football team had just suffered a 21-0 Valley League loss to West Albany in the in home opener.

In the past, the loss might not have stung as much. But after ending a 27-game losing streak at the end of last year and opening 2002 with a win last week, Wallace and his teammates have some higher expectations — and a lot to learn.

Some of the learning process began Friday night.

"I don't even think we were prepared," Wallace said. "When we started off the game we weren't even into it. A lot of us were knowing this was a good team, and I think that is still something that we have to overcome. We are used to always being down, and when we get to play good teams we kind of got it in our head, the mental part of it that they are a good team. We have to think we are a good team too."

The Spartans ran into a solid defensive team and never got into a groove offensively. West Albany held the Spartans to one first down and just 22 yards of total offense in the first half.

The Spartans' lone first down came on a 33-yard pass completion from Jason Tacchini to Billy Clontz midway through the second quarter.

"We kind of ran out of options," CHS coach Chris McGowan said. "We couldn't get any kind of rhythm going at all. That is pretty tough, but hopefully, as time goes on, we will find out what works."

Nothing seemed to work for the Spartans. A lot of credit goes to the West Albany defense, which pitched its second consecutive shutout and held the Spartans to 51 total yards of offense.

"Our defense is playing great," West Albany coach Randy Nyquist said. "The kids are really flying around and getting after people and doing a good job. It was a heck of an effort all the way around."

Corvallis' best chance to score came early in the fourth quarter with a first and goal at the 2. However, on fourth down, West Albany's Chris Hathaway intercepted a Tacchini pass in the end zone to keep the shutout intact.

"That was huge," West Albany's Sam McHenry said. "We were talking it up and we really wanted to get a stop."

The Spartans defense also played well. Despite giving up 277 yards in the first half, the Spartans trailed just 14-0 at the break. The defense came up with three first-half turnovers and added a fumble recovery in the second half.

"They are a pretty good offensive team and have a lot of weapons, and we hung in there pretty well," McGowan said. "We played better in the second half, and I think at first we were not playing as aggressively as I would like. I think they are going to keep us in games, and that is a good feeling to know that your defense is solid."

McGowan said the biggest problem offensively was not being able to run the ball and control the time of possession. CHS lost 18 yards on 30 attempts, with several of the losses coming on sacks.

"We were prepared for a good football game and we got one," Nyquist said. "Give (the Spartans) some credit. They played very good defensively. Our defense is tough. I think they are going to score some points."

While West Albany is off to a 2-0 record, the Spartans head back to the drawing board and prepare for next Friday's game at Sprague. The learning process begins soon.

"We take it a week at a time, and we played a really good team this week. So you learn from it and find out kind of where you are at," McGowan said. "We are going to come back Monday and keep getting better from it."

West Albany 21, Corvallis 0

WEST ALBANY 6 8 7 0 — 21

CORVALLIS 0 0 0 0 — 0

First quarter

WA — Chris Hathaway 36 run (pass failed), 2:08

Second quarter

WA — Johnathan Miller 32 pass from Andrew Murphy (Tyler Roberts pass from Murphy), 8:00

Third quarter

WA — Sam McHenry 3 run (Roberts kick), 1:37

Rushing: WA — McHenry 10-40, Hathaway 15-104, Sweet 2-12, Murphy 6-22, Miller 1-(minus 4)

. CHS — Strowbridge 4-10, Chaney 6-6, Manning 4-(minus 2), Emmons 7-7, Clontz 3-6, Tacchini 6-(minus 46)

Passing: WA — Murphy 10-27-2 201. CHS — Tacchini 5-14-2 69

Receiving: WA — Miller 3-73, Sweet 1-24, Roberts 3-64, Morasci 2-39, Covey 1-1. CHS — Emmons 1-(minus 5), Roy 1-14, Dickson 2-27, Clontz 1-33