The Spartans rely on running game to pull away

By Kevin Hampton

Corvallis Gazette-Times

There were penalties. There were dropped passes and misfires. There was some pouring rain.

And there was a Crescent Valley High football team doing everything it could to pull an upset over favored Corvallis High.

With the Raiders hanging tough throughout the first half, the Spartans knew they had to put some space between the teams on the scoreboard.

Corvallis came out for the third quarter, ran the ball eight straight times after a big kickoff return set up the Spartans at midfield, and punched the ball in the end zone on an 8-yard run by Matt Kelly.

The drive wasn't pretty, but it gave the Spartans a 14-0 lead and enough breathing room to keep the Raiders at bay in a 28-0 Mid-Willamette Conference win.

Corvallis (8-1, 6-1) hosts Klamath Union on Nov. 17 in the 5A playoffs. The Raiders finish the season at 1-9, 1-6.

CHS quarterback Drew Hubel said the Spartans' running game sputtered against CV in the first half and they wanted to take back the advantage at the line of scrimmage.

"We didn't want to lose up front," Hubel said. "We wanted to dominate them, so we came out and made a point that we're going to run the ball and we're going to be able to do it against any team, whether you think you're going to stop us or not, we're going to run it. And we came out there and got eight yards a run and went down and scored."

The momentum, which was wavering at half, swung to the Spartans. They shut down the CV offense and tacked on two scores in the fourth.

CV senior receiver Kevin Jarvis said the Raiders never let down.

"We were fired up throughout the whole game, even when they had that drive, we were fired up," Jarvis said. "We played with a lot of heart tonight. The seniors gave it everything they had and our younger guys played their hearts out for us. We just played as hard as we could and it was a great feeling.

"It means a lot. It just shows how (far) we've come from the beginning and how much we've bonded."

Both defenses played well, but the Spartans were particularly tough. They held the Raiders to 25 yards rushing and, with the exception of some slippery runs after receptions by Jarvis, erased the CV passing game.

Junior linebacker Coty Krebs seemed to spend the game in the CV backfield. He finished with seven tackles, five for loss, and recovered a fumble.

"There's a lot of great players on our defense and we all came together to win this game," Krebs said. "I just read the tight end or the tackle and I look for the running back and just break down and try to make a good tackle. Just do what the coaches have taught me to do, and my dad."

Early on it looked like the Spartans were going to rout the Raiders, who have struggled throughout the season.

After forcing the Raiders to punt after three plays on their first drive, the Spartans took over at the CV 38 and scored on the second play when Hubel looped a long pass that Jordan Fred caught deep in the end zone.

The Raiders did not fold. They played the run tough and put pressure on Hubel. Matt Elton had a sack and Jarvis intercepted a pass to keep the Spartans out of the end zone.

Meanwhile, the Spartans could not keep a drive going without a flag falling. They were hit with a personal foul and two holds and gave the Raiders first downs by running into the kicker and roughing the kicker.

"The first half, we really gave the game to them. We had nobody to blame but ourselves," Hubel said. "Every time we got something moving on offense, we'd shoot ourselves in the foot and get a big penalty or something like that. You can't do that and win football games against better teams. We've got to eliminate those mistakes and then halves like that won't happen."

Hubel said the Spartans improved enough in the second half to come away with the win.

"We definitely came out in the second half wanting to stop that and I think we did a pretty good job of it," he said. "There were still a few slips here and there, but it was much better the second half than it was the first half."

Corvallis 28, Crescent Valley 0

CRESCENT VALLEY 0 0 0 0 n 0

CORVALLIS 7 0 7 14 n 28

First Quarter

CHS - Jordan Fred 32 pass from Drew Hubel (Penner kick), 8:58

Third Quarter

CHS - Matt Kelly 8 run (Penner kick), 8:19

Fourth Quarter

CHS - Matt Kelly 4 run (Penner kick),11:55

CHS - Shane Durando, 2 pass from Drew Hubel (Penner kick), 5:02

Rushing: CVHS: Jacob Snyder 14-13, Brett Huggins 13-8, Kiel Larkin 1-(-)1, Bobby Taylor 2-(-)8, Kevin Jarvis 1-3; CHS: Matt Kelly 21-136, Curtis Dodson 4-20, Chris Henry 4-20, Drew Hubel 3-(-)18, Kevin Younger 1-14

Passing CHS Drew Hubel 11-22-1, 130 yards, 2 TDs; CVHS Brett Huggins 10-15-1, 74 yards

Receiving: CVHS: Kevin Jarvis 8-75, Bobby Taylor 1-9, Kiel Larkin 1-(-)10; CHS - Jordan Fred 5-74, Shane Durando 2-15, 1, Nate Williams 1-10, Matt Kelly 1-14, Curtis Dodson 1-7, Teddy Badege 1-10