Improbable catch on next-to-last play gives Sprague 27-14 victory

By STEVE GRESS
Gazette-Times reporter

SALEM — Cory Dickson fell to the ground, unable to comprehend what he had just witnessed. Neither could his teammates.

Sprague rallied for three touchdowns in the final three minutes to upend Dickson and his teammates as the Olympians came away with an improbable 27-14 Valley League football game that was decided on the next-to-last play.

"They played their hearts out," CHS coach Chris McGowan said on the long walk back to the locker room. "Yeah, this one stings. That is high school football."

The game appeared to be headed to overtime tied at 14 with Sprague content to run out the clock in regulation with the ball at its own 17 and less than 20 seconds remaining. However, quarterback Ryan Ward dropped back to pass, pump-faked and lofted the ball down the sideline.

Corvallis safety Brad Hendrix drifted back to knock the pass down, but the ball slid over his outstretched arms and into the hands of Sprague's Ryan Marshall. Marshall juggled the ball before hauling it in at the CHS 35 and running untouched the rest of the way to give Sprague a 20-14 lead with two seconds left.

The Olympians added a 13-yard fumble return for a score on the ensuing kickoff after the Spartans attempted to lateral the ball.

"It is tough," CHS receiver Billy Clontz said. "We come out and put together a good game and the score doesn't reflect it at all."

Clontz had given the Spartans a 14-7 lead just minutes earlier when he hauled in a 34-yard pass from Jason Tacchini. The ball nearly eluded Clontz, who got just enough of the ball to pull it in at the 10 and stumble into the end zone for the Spartans' first lead with 5:25 to play.

That was a "have to" catch, Clontz said on the sideline.

Sprague opened the game with a 12-play, 65-yard drive that ended in a 1-yard run from Aaron Phillips. From there, the Spartan defense tightened up and kept the Olympians out of the end zone until late in the game.

Corvallis tied the game midway through the second quarter when Tacchini, who finished with 228 yards in the air, hit sophomore Nick Emmons for a 27-yard touchdown and a 7-7 halftime score.

"We said at halftime the team that makes the fewer mistakes is going to win," McGowan said. "And we made some kind of crucial ones. But all in all, the kids played pretty well most of the time."

The Spartans fall to 1-2 and return to action at home next Friday against North Salem.

"It is harder next week," Clontz said. "We are just going to hit it harder next week and come harder every week."

Sprague 27, Corvallis 14

CORVALLIS 0 7 0 7 — 14

SPRAGUE 7 0 0 20 — 27

First quarter

S — Aaron Phillips 1 run (Royce Gorsuch kick), 6:43

Second quarter

CHS — Nick Emmons 27 pass from Jason Tacchini (Cory Dickson kick), 6:03

Fourth quarter

CHS — Billy Clontz 34 pass from Jason Tacchini (Cory Dickson kick), 5:25

S — Brodie Pielstick 2 run (Royce Gorsuch kick), 2:49

S — Ryan Marshall 83 pass from Ryan Ward (Royce Gorsuch kick), :02

S — Derek Bartlemay 13 fumble recovery (no kick), :00

Rushing: CHS — Emmons 10-26, Manning 1-1, Roy 4-20, Strowbridge 4-8, Tacchini 5-(minus 20). S — Pielstick 14-81, Phillips 11-64, Bartlemay 5-26, Marshall 2-6, Reno 3-13, Breza 2-11, Johnson 4-17, Ward 7-36

Passing: CHS — Clontz 15-32-1 228, Chaney 0-1-0 0. S — Ward 4-12-2 122, Hughes 0-1-0 0.

Receiving: CHS — Clontz 5-86, Dickson 5-71, Emmons 3-47, Gerwick 2-14. S — Marshall 2-90, Puopolo 2-32