Albany Democrat-Herald

ADAIR VILLAGE - Santiam Christian overcame some Homecoming jitters quickly and blew past Harrisburg 49-14 in a PacWest football game Friday night.

The host Eagles beat their namesakes in every phase of the game but mostly on defense. Santiam Christian limited Harrisburg to just 81 total yards in the first half while building a 36-6 lead.

SC coach Steve Woods pl

ayed his reserves the entire second half but it didn't make much difference. The Eagle backups simply added on.

"It's good to get them playing time especially with the playoffs ahead," said Woods. "We lost a couple of people last year and had to rely on ou

r bench so it's good they got some game experience."

Mostly it was a lesson in balance. The Santiam Christian defense totally shut down the Harrisburg running game, limiting it to just 121 yards, most of that in the second half against the reserves.

The de

fensive effort was rewarded with a balanced offensive attack that scored from everywhere and almost in every fashion.

SC used a controlled march to get on the board first with an eight-play drive ending in Keith Petersen's 22-yard touchdown run.

Those ear

ly jitters showed a little for Santiam Christian when Harrisburg got the ball back and used just four plays to cut the lead to one. A 35-yard halfback pass from Brody McGowen to Cody Kinman set up Ryan Smith's 16 yard score.

It was the last gasp for Harri

sburg.

SC went to the air next with Demetri Howerton finding Andrew Seumalo over the middle. The big tight end did the rest scampering 55 yards to pad the lead.

The hosts scored three more times in the half, one a dazzling 71-yard run by Petersen and ano

ther a sideline pass for a 10-yard TD to Seumalo.

"We were pretty balanced out there and that was nice," said Woods. "It was Homecoming and I thought we weren't very disciplined early."

Once that problem was solved the rout was on.

In the second half Wood

s' bench gave him plenty more.

On their first possession Santiam Christian marched 70 yards in just 12 plays with senior Stephen Foster carrying five times and finishing the scoring drive.

Foster broke loss again just before the end of the third period, th

is time for a 79-yard spring down the far sideline.

Harrisburg finally got on the board again late scoring with just 36 seconds to play after recovering an SC fumble on the 28. Grant Richardson scored on a one-yard dive and also ran across the conversion.

"A lot of teams have been trying to run what Regis ran against us," said Woods. "Most teams don't do it as well as Regis and we've done a good job of covering the outside."

The Eagle defense not only stuffed the run but pressured Harrisburg quarterback Br

ian Richardson, sacking him three times. The secondary also picked off two passes.

Petersen rushed for 135 yards playing just the first half and Foster added 84 on only seven carries.

Howerton was equally impressive passing for 217 yards and two scores.

A

nibal Vasquez led Harrisburg's offense with 42 yards.

SC (5-2, 3-1) will play at Jefferson (1-6, 0-3) next Friday in another PacWest matchup.