Corvallis prepares for the playoffs with a 55-6 victory over CV

By Steve Gress

Mid-Valley Sports

Despite leading 28-0 at the half, Corvallis High coach Chris McGowan wasn't that pleased with his team's intensity and execution in the first half of Friday night's Valley League football encounter with Crescent Valley.

McGowan wanted his team to take the steps necessary in the second half to prepare for what is in store next weekend when the Spartans open the 4A playoffs against Summit.

"Crescent Valley played with some fire and we talked all week about trying to get better this week," McGowan said. "On one hand, Crescent Valley was playing hard and our guys were making some stupid mistakes with penalties and execution and stuff."

His team got the message.

The Spartans used long touchdown runs from Jarren Simmons (54) and Kurtis Magee (47) on their first two plays from scrimmage of the second half, and an interception return from Brad Hendrix to take a 48-0 lead less than three minutes in to the third quarter en route to a 55-6 victory over the Raiders.

"I thought there was some stuff that we could have worked on and we made the changes and came out in the second half and did what we could," said Simmons, who led the Spartans with 109 yards on nine carries and two touchdowns.

"I think (McGowan's talk) motivated us. We were real pumped up to play the second half. It was a fun game. We wanted to use this as a stepping stone for the playoffs and improve this week."

Corvallis finished the regular season at 8-1, good for second place in the Valley League after Sprague's 18-16 victory over South Salem. CV finished 0-9. The Spartans will host Summit at 7 p.m. on Nov. 7 at Spartan Field.

The Spartans jumped out 7-0 thanks to a 28-yard run by Simmons, who bounced off several defenders for the score. The Raiders appeared to have come within a point when Jon Dowd broke free up the middle and raced 88 yards for a score on the ensuing kickoff. However, the run was called back for a personal foul well behind the play.

"I thought it was a big turning point," CV coach Rick Riker said. "We didn't recover from that. I thought it took our edge off and we struggled from that point on."

Added Simmons: "I think that brought us down to earth, too. We knew this was a game we had to take seriously and I think they had a little streak right there."

From there it turned ugly for the Raiders. The Spartans intercepted four passes in the first half, two by Jake Roy, to give the CHS offense a short field to work with. The offense took advantage. Billy Clontz used a key block from Aaron McKimmy to score on a 45-yard reverse, and his 32-yard reception put the Spartans on the 2 before Max Chaney scored on fourth down.

The Spartans scored their fourth touchdown of the half after another interception when Chaney found Cory Dickson from eight yards out with 1:30 left in the half.

"I give them a lot of credit," Riker said. "They really covered down on us defensively, they took our receivers out of the game and (quarterback Nick Richey) struggled. When we didn't have guys open he struggled and tried to squeeze it in there and they were picking them."

All four interceptions led to touchdowns, and Hendrix returned a fifth for a score in the third.

"My hat's off to them," McGowan said of CV. "They came out and didn't quit. They were outmatched, but they showed some fire and I don't think we handled it very well. We kind of wore them down. They played well at first and things kind of fell apart for them."

The CHS defense allowed just 38 yards of offense in the first half.

"Their secondary is as good as we've seen," Riker said. "That gave us a lot of trouble. They have a lot of speed and that helps back there."

AJ Mastropietro rushed for 84 yards for the Raiders, who scored on a 10-yard touchdown pass from Adam Johnson to Andy Crowe in the final minute of the game. The score prevented the Spartans from their second consecutive shutout. CHS hadn't been scored on in 127 minutes, 29 seconds when West Albany scored in the second quarter on a game on Oct. 17.

"I'm disappointed a little tonight," Riker said. "I felt like we at times didn't execute. We could have executed better and had better ball security. It was probably more execution and not effort. We've been pretty good with effort all year."

Corvallis 55, Crescent Valley 6

CORVALLIS 7 21 20 7 — 55

CRES. VALLEY 0 0 0 6 — 6

First quarter

CHS — Simmons 28 run (Magee kick), 2:20

Second quarter

CHS — Clontz 45 run (Magee kick), 10:57

CHS — Chaney 1 run (kick failed), 4:31

CHS — Dickson 8 pass from Chaney (Clontz pass from Chaney), 1:30

Third quarter

CHS — Simmons 54 run (Magee kick), 11:40

CHS — Magee 47 run (kick failed), 9:28

CHS — Hendrix 50 INT return (Magee kick), 9:02

Fourth quarter

CHS — Patton 3 run (Magee kick), 7:57

CV — Crowe 10 pass from Johnson (kick failed), :57

Rushing: CHS — Simmons 9-019, Jones 4-9, Clontz 1-45, Magee 2-45, Emmons 1-15, Manning 1-4, Chaney 3-11, Patton 5-4, Aman 8-65, Doty 1-6, Roy 1-0, Ingle 2-minus-3. CV — Mastropietro 20-84, Young 11-24, Dowd 9-8, Gianotti 3-15, Richey 4-minus-20, Johnson 1-miunus-8

Passing: CHS — Chaney 4-7-0 67. CV — Richey 1-7-5 14, Johnson 202-0 3-, Dowd 0-1-0 0

Receiving: CHS — Clontz 1-32, Dickson 2-24, Magee 1-11. CV — Dowd 1-14, Ludwig 1-20, Crowe 1-10