Corvallis High grabs second in the MWC with late TD

By Kevin Hampton
Gazette-Times reporter

Ninety-five yards.

Ross Orman and his Corvallis High teammates faced that long stretch of turf at Spartan Stadium Friday night with two minutes, 45 seconds left and trailing South Albany by two.

The Spartans could not afford to be conservative, but throwing deep late in a game isn’t always the easiest task.

CHS coach Chris McGowan had just the play.

Orman hit running back Dominic Wooten down the sideline for a 48-yard gain on the first play and the Spartans went the distance in seven plays as Wooten darted up the middle for a 19-yard touchdown run with 39.4 seconds left to give CHS a 16-11 win over the Rebels.

“The coaches set it up beautifully,” Orman said. “We ran that exact play the series before and they keyed on Jason (Martin), so we gave them a pump-fake up the middle and it freed up Dom and gave him one-on-one on the sideline. I just threw it up and he made a good play. He’s a good athlete.”

Orman completed a couple of quick passes and a costly personal foul penalty on the Rebels moved the ball to the 19.

The Spartans had planned to go for a field goal.

“We were trying to chuck it down the field,” Orman said. “We knew they probably were going to play soft and not give up the big (play), so we took what we had. Once we got down to the 30, our plan was just to run it twice and get a field goal. The linemen did a good job and the hole just opened up and Dom was able to put it in, so we’ll take it.”

The Spartans (6-4, 6-1) finish second in the Mid-Willamette Conference with the win over the Rebels (7-3, 5-2) and have a bye in the first round of the 5A state playoffs. Corvallis will travel to Hermiston in two weeks.

Despite the long trip, the Spartans are glad to get a week off. Finishing second also makes the playoff road a little easier.

“It’s really important,” CHS defensive back/receiver Joe Challe said. “We’re a little banged up. We’ve got a lot of sophomores, so a bye week is what’s best for us. If we would have lost, then I don’t know what to say about the playoffs, but since we won I have a pretty good feeling about what we’re going to do in the playoffs.”

Challe was part of a strong defensive effort by the Spartans. He intercepted a South Albany pass to snuff out the Rebels’ final chance. Challe also recovered a fumble and broke up a few passes.

“They put in a quarterback (Billy DeWolfe) that we knew was going to throw,” Challe said of the interception. “He plays JV, he throws a lot in JV. He looked at my side, the side I was on, and I read his eyes and they ran a switch route and he tried to throw it to the post route and I just played behind it, knew that if it was over him that I was going to get the pick, but knew that if they hit him in stride, I was going to be able to hit that tackle and take him down and let the clock run out.”

While the Rebels were able to gain 302 total yards, mostly on the ground, the Spartans made the big defensive plays when South Albany threatened to score. Both teams had touchdowns erased by holding penalties.

The Rebels started the game with a 70-yard drive for a touchdown and it looked as if the Spartans were in for a long night. Instead, they handled the physical game of the Rebels.

“They are difficult,” Challe said. “They pound it at you all game long. But we got ready this week, we came in ready to pound our heads, ready to put our feet on the ground and play them as hard as possible and our line did a great job, our linebackers did a great job and defensive backs came up big.”

Corvallis trailed 8-6 at the half, but hit SA right out of the gate in the third quarter with a long drive that ended with a 25-yard field goal by Orman.

Both teams had drives fizzle out as the time ticked away, then the Rebels put together a drive and took the lead with a 27-yard field goal.

The Spartans looked to be in trouble when Orman was intercepted, but CHS forced a three-and-out and there was time for one more drive.

“It showed that we never give up,” Challe said. “We waited all game for our offense to come up big and they came up big at the biggest time in the game.”

Corvallis 16, South Albany 11

SOUTH ALBANY 8 0 0 3 n 11

CORVALLIS 0 6 3 7 n 16

First quarter

SA: Lane Stutzman 4 run (Jesse Duke run)

Second quarter

CHS: Jason Martin 38 pass from Ross Orman (kick failed)

Third quarter

CHS: Ross Orman 25 field goal

Fourth quarter

SA: Justin Robbins 27 field goal

CHS: Dominic Wooten 19 run (Orman kick)

Rushing: SA n Jesse Duke 28-161, Greg Hoover 9-55, Lane Stutzman 9-49. CHS n Dominic Wooten 20-103

Passing: SA n Zac Hunter 2-5-0 25, Billy DeWolfe, 0-1-1 0. CHS n Ross Orman 12-24-2 156

Receiving: CHS n Jason Martin 3-51; Blair Cavanaugh 6-50; Dominic Wooten 1-48