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Tigers in playoff, clinch share of league
title, No. 1 spot
Bucks shut out Blue Jays in second half for
win
Bucks claw Cougars; force playoff
Playoffs not so secure for OBCS
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NHS clinches playoff spot; Dallas next |
Newberg picks up a critical win against Silverton
and closes out the regular season Friday |
By B. Scott Anderson, Newberg
Graphic sports editor
E-mail Scott at banderson@eaglenewspapers.com
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Players on the Newberg
High School football team can breathe a collective sigh of relief.
With Friday’s 22-7 road victory over Silverton, Newberg, in its
last road game of the regular season, assured itself the No. 3 spot
from the Pac-9 Conference for the state playoffs.
“We usually have to go to game No. 9 to clinch it, so to do
it early is really nice,” said Newberg coach Eric Carlson. “It feels
good.”
Newberg came into the game off last week’s 28-7 non-conference loss
to Summit of the Intermountain Conference. It was a game in which
the Tigers mounted little offense and had trouble keeping the Storm
from doing nearly anything it wanted.
Carlson said the loss woke the Tigers up.
“I think we realized that we needed to focus with a good week of
practice and intensity,” he said. “We lost our focus a little bit
and high school guys do that. We got it back this week and now we’ve
got to keep it up.”
Newberg never trailed in the team’s win at Silverton. Senior
quarterback Brad Johnson provided the majority of the NHS scoring,
recording three 1-yard quarterback sneaks for touchdowns to preserve
the victory.
“When we get down there, he’s pretty strong and we’ve been pretty
successful with the sneak,” Carlson said of Johnson. “When we’re on
the 1-yard line, we can have him run it or one of the other guys,
but the sneak has worked pretty well for us.”
In a muddy game that proved too much for the passing attack of both
teams, Johnson put the Tigers on the board with 5:05 left in the
first quarter with his first touchdown. After senior Sam Schmitz
intercepted a Silverton pass, Newberg used a 57-yard drive that
resulted in another Johnson score. On the PAT, Silverton was
penalized for roughing the snapper and instead of attempting the
kick again, Newberg attempted the two-point conversion. Junior Nick
Skaale went straight up the middle for the conversion to give the
Tigers a 15-0 lead. The eight-point score was an important one for
the Tigers, Carlson said.
“We were never really in danger of losing with that eight-point
lead and it’s always good to win here,” he said. “This is a tough
place, especially in the mud.”
Silverton scored later in the first half to send Newberg to the
locker room with a 15-7 lead.
Even though the Tigers held the lead, Carlson was still concerned.
Johnson, aggravated a sore ankle late in the first half. Carlson
said he wasn’t sure if Johnson would play in the second half.
“He already had that hurt ankle and then he got hit pretty hard, so
I didn’t know how serious that was,” Carlson said. “On top of that,
(the Foxes) started running the ball more so we needed to take care
of some Xs and Os types of things.”
Johnson ended up returning for the second half and engineered a
71-yard drive with his final touchdown run with 9:01 remaining in
the game.
The Tigers now turn their attention to their final home game of the
regular season, a 7 p.m. Friday contest against Dallas. Carlson said
Newberg can’t take the Dragons lightly.
“It can’t be about them,” he said. “It’s got to be about us — how
we execute, how we do. We need to be sharper, though, because we’re
still having some penalties and things we’ve got to fix.”
Notes: Newberg’s top two receivers, seniors Jon Styles (strained
calf) and Cyrus Hostetler (broken finger), both sat out Friday’s win
at Silverton. Carlson said he thinks Styles will be well enough to
return against Dallas. Hostetler was cleared Friday but will be in a
soft cast upon his return.
“We’re going to watch them really closely, but I think they’ll both
get in there,” Carlson said.
Cole Rogers rushed for 131 yards on 22 carries as Newberg’s offense
outgained Silverton 247-200.
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From
Nov. 3,
2004, Newberg Graphic
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