The Spartans fall short against Sprague, 14-12

By Steve Gress

Mid-Valley Sports

Aaron McKimmy pulled off his jersey and shoulder pads as the sweat dripped from his body Friday night.

The Corvallis High senior had spent 48-minutes in one of the most grueling football games he had ever played in.

In the end, a four-yard run by John Breza sealed McKimmy and his Corvallis High teammates' fate, and helped Sprague escape with a hard-fought 14-12 Valley League win over the Spartans in a battle of league unbeatens.

"Wore out," was all McKimmy could say. "We gave it our all but ... It was a good game by them and a good game by us."

Breza's four-yard run with under a minute to play on fourth-and-one was the final straw for the Spartans (3-1) and sent them to their first loss. Sprague remains perfect at 4-0, tied with McNary and McKay atop the standings with five games to play.

CHS travels to South Salem on Oct. 3, while Sprague hosts McKay.

"We went with one of the league's best and a couple of mistakes and the game goes the other way," McKimmy said. "We're just going to look to next week. We're going to fix the mistakes we made. We know we'll have a good team next week and if we hang with them, it should be another good one."

Friday night's game was about as close as it could get. Both teams finished with 186 yards of total offense, but it was Sprague picking up the big play to earn the win.

Corvallis took the opening kickoff and marched 59 yards for a 6-0 lead when Kurtis Magee scored on a one-yard run. Nick Emmons set the Spartans up with a 44-yard catch and run on a screen pass from Nick Hubel.

The game turned on the Spartans' next possession when they were forced to punt. The snap to punter Cory Dickson was high and Jon Richards covered the ball in the end zone for a 7-6 lead.

"We thought special teams would be a factor, and we play good special teams. That glitch certainly hurt us and changed the character of the game," CHS coach Chris McGowan said. "We didn't make as many big plays as we are used to. It's one of those things."

In addition to the bad snap, the Spartans missed an extra point and Sprague kept CHS return specialist Ryan Doty in check most of the night.

Sprague took a 14-6 lead into the half as Jesse Amborn broke free from 13 yards out in the second quarter on the first play after a pass interference call gave the Olympians a first down.

The Spartans used a 12-play, 73-yard drive that spanned the end of the third and beginning of the fourth quarter to cut the lead to two on Emmons' 2-yard dive with 9:47 to play. Hubel's pass to Billy Clontz skimmed off the grass and was ruled incomplete on the two-point conversion try, leaving the Spartans down 14-12.

The CHS defense, which spent most of the second half on the field, came up with a fumble at its own 36 with 5:06 to play. However, the Spartans failed to pick up a first down on an incomplete pass on fourth down with 3:50 left.

The Olys ran out the clock, using Breza's fourth-down run to seal the victory.

"We didn't expect it to be like this, because I don't know, we thought we had better matchups on (receiver Ryan Marshall)," Breza said. "We thought we had better running backs. Their defense is fast."

The Spartan defense limited the Olys, a team that had scored 112 points in wins over Crescent Valley and South Albany the past two games, to one offensive touchdown.

"They are playing outstanding," McGowan said of a defense that has allowed three touchdowns the past three games. "(Defensive coordinator) Ron Sather has had some good game plans going in week-in and week-out. They have good character and they have to play with a lot of heart and desire. That is going to keep us in a lot of games."

After moving the ball well the first three weeks, the Spartans struggled to run or pass consistently against a tough Sprague defense that had given up just 13 points in three games.

"We'll get some things rolling on offense a little bit," McGowan said. "Against a tough, physical team you're not always going to be able to score a lot of points so your defense has to step in and do a good job and they did that."

While Friday's loss was tough, McGowan expects his team to bounce back well.

"I think they'll put it behind them pretty quick because we know we have another good football team next week," he said. "Every team we play from here on out is a good team. This team has got some good character qualities to it. They want to win. It will happen for us."

Sprague 14, Corvallis 12

SPRAGUE 7 7 0 0 — 14

CORVALLIS 6 0 0 6 — 12

First quarter

CHS — Magee 1 run (kick failed), 8:57

S — Richards fumble recovery in end zone (Breza kick), 5:04

Second quarter

S — Amborn 13 run (Breza kick), 8:49

Fourth quarter

CHS — Emmons 2 run (pass failed), 9:47

Rushing: S — Breza 12-37, Hughes 4-12, Amborn 5-23, Lee 3-2, Gier 3-7, Richards 4-14, Marshall 2-16, Stephenson 8-11. CHS — Emmons 12-22, Manning 3-16, Magee 5-11, Roy 3-15, Simmons 6-22, Clontz 1-8, Hubel 5-3

Passing: S — Stephenson 5-15-1 64. CHS — Hubel 5-14-2 87, Clontz 0-1-1 0

Receiving: S — Tatman 1-6, Marshall 2-7, Ward 1-22, Gier 1-29. CHS — Clontz 2-3, Dickson 1-28, Emmons 1-44, Harter 1-12