ASHLAND — Justin Meza scored on a 92-yard touchdown run as the Grizzlies overpowered Eagle Point on the ground in the second half en route to a 32-24 homecoming victory Friday night at Walter A. Phillips Field.
Meza finished with 190 of the Grizzlies' 252 rushing yards, while Pat Hutchinson added 61 rushing yards and two touchdowns, as Ashland used its most productive ground game of the season to overcome an early 12-0 deficit.
Despite the impressive Southern Sky Conference win, Ashland was officially eliminated from the playoffs Friday when Crater beat Klamath Union, 27-13.
"What a way to end the season," said Ashland head coach Charlie Hall, as his team was rewarded with a standing ovation. "I know we wanted more, but it's just nice to go out with our homecoming crowd. We talked about it with our seniors — 'Just one more memory, go out there and make it happen.'"
Eagle Point scored on its first two possessions, racking up 145 yards and converting two fourth downs along the way.
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Gaviglio completed 9 of 13 passes for 129 yards and two scores.
Shane Tomich's 2-yard dive completed a 12-play, 61-yard drive that gave the lead back to the Eagles midway through the third quarter, but Ashland came right back with a six-play, 53-yard drive of its own, capped by Hutchinson's 19-yard burst up the middle.
Skyline
- HENLEY 49, PHOENIX 18 — At Klamath Falls, quarterback Colin Stock rushed for two touchdowns and passed for two as Henley handed Phoenix its first conference loss.
The Hornets (6-3, 3-1 Skyline) broke the game open in the fourth quarter when three Phoenix turnovers led to 21 points.
Shannon was 9-of-14 passing for 134 yards and two touchdowns. The Hornets added 211 yards rushing on 29 carries.
Phoenix (4-4, 3-1 Skyline) passed for 175 yards and picked up 119 yards on the ground. Matt Weigand was the leading rusher for Phoenix with 61 yards on six carries.
Pirate junior quarterback Neil Emerson was 16 of 29 with one touchdown, but had three interceptions.
Phoenix 6 6 0 6 --18
Henley 7 7 7 28 --49
P — Giron 24 pass from Emerson (kick failed)
H — Shannon 3 run (Pratt kick)
H — Brewster 17 pass from Stock (Pratt kick)
P — Abney 19 pass from Emerson (kick failed)
H — Shannon 5 run (Pratt kick)
H — Pratt 48 pass from Stock (Pratt kick)
H — Shannon 14 run (Pratt kick)
H — Bair 52 interception return (Pratt kick)
H — Anderson 88 run (Evans kick)
P — Locken 6 run (kick failed)
- HIDDEN VALLEY 24, NORTH VALLEY 0 — At Murphy, junior running back Jules DeVos, coming off an injury and playing in his first game of the season, rushed for two touchdowns and a game-high 118 yards for 10th-ranked Hidden Valley.
Hidden Valley (7-2, 3-1 Skyline) capitalized on a North Valley gamble to take a 3-0 lead on Jordan Nielsen's 14-yard field goal early in the second quarter. The Mustangs took over at the Knights' 30 after holding North Valley (4-4, 1-3 Skyline) on downs.
Quarterback L.B. Draper tossed a 7-yard touchdown pass to Dustin Mathews to increase the Mustangs' advantage to 10-0 with 5:33 left before halftime. DeVos sparked the 48-yard scoring drive by gaining 34 yards on three carries.
Hidden Valley limited North Valley to 57 yards on the ground and 26 passing. The Mustang defense was led by linemen Joe Cornet and Clint Sager and middle linebacker Mathews.
Hidden Valley totaled 235 yards in offense, with 160 coming on the ground.
Hidden Valley can clinch the conference No. 1 seed in the Class 4A state playoffs with a home victory over Phoenix next Friday.
North Valley 0 0 0 0 --0
Hidden Valley 0 10 7 7 --24
HV — FG Nielsen 14
HV — Mathews 7 pass from Draper (Nielsen kick)
HV — DeVos 5 run (Nielsen kick)
HV — DeVos 36 run (Nielsen kick)
- ILLINOIS VALLEY 49, ROGUE RIVER 6 — At Cave Junction, Illinois Valley had five players rush for at least 50 yards in the Skyline Conference victory.
Adam Miller ran for 75 yards and Sam Winter 70 to lead the way as the Cougars (5-3, 2-2 Skyline) amassed 389 yards on 45 totes.
Steven Paul tallied on runs of 26, 2 and 3 yards to lead the scoring barrage. Eric McConico added a 55-yard touchdown run and a 22-yard interception return.
Senior middle linebacker Austin Hocker played another fine game, notching eight tackles in one half of play.
Rogue River 0 6 0 0 --6
Illinois Valley 8 28 7 6 --49
IV — Paul 26 run (Miller run)
IV — Paul 2 run (Winter run)
IV — McConico 22 interception return (Barquera kick)
RR — Burman 65 pass from Christie (run failed)
IV — Paul 3 run (Barquera kick)
IV — McConico 55 run (kick failed)
IV — Murphy 60 run (Barquera kick)
IV — Maglio 4 run (kick failed)
Southern Cascade
- CASCADE CHRISTIAN 50, LAKEVIEW 7 — At White City, fifth-ranked Cascade Christian's makeshift roster put up 30 first-half points led by a balanced running attack that rolled up 368 yards overall.
Already without stars Josh Heidegger at receiver and quarterback Josh Davis, running back Daniel Kinney suffered a high ankle sprain early in the first quarter.
Heidegger had missed the first four games of the year recovering from offseason knee surgery and will likely miss the remainder of the season after taking a helmet on the leg during Wednesday's practice that reopened the cut from the incision.
Cascade Christian's Bryan Thomas filled in nicely for Davis, throwing for 86 yards and two touchdowns on 4-for-7 passing.
Aaron Grissom led the Challengers in rushing with 76 yards on two carries and caught a 33-yard pass from Thomas to put Cascade Christian (6-2, 3-1 SCL) up 14-7 in the first quarter.
The Challengers' Jordan Burchfiel caught a TD and ran for another in support of a strong night on defense.
Cascade Christian limited Lakeview to 131 total yards, 59 coming on a TD run by Harold Down in the first quarter.
Lakeview 7 0 0 0 --7
Cascade Christian 14 16 6 14 --50
CC — Wipf 6 run (Burchfiel pass from Thomas)
L — Down 59 run (Adams kick)
CC — Grissom 33 pass from Thomas (run failed)
CC — Burchfiel 5 run (Wipf run)
CC — Burchfiel 8 pass from Thomas (Crawford run)
CC — Crawford 2 run (run failed)
CC — Cummings 13 run (Thomas run)
CC — Henderson 1 run (run failed)
District 2
- DAYS CREEK 50, BUTTE FALLS 24 — At Days Creek, senior running back John Wolf ran for four first-half touchdowns and scored on an interception return to help Days Creek to a 50-12 halftime lead.
Days Creek (7-2, 7-0 Dist. 2) clinched its second straight district title and ran its league winning streak to 19 games.
For Butte Falls (4-4, 3-4 Dist. 2), Joey Knighton had two touchdown runs in the opening half. Josh Dyck accounted for all the second-half scoring on TD runs of 8 and 4 yards for the Loggers.
The Wolves ran for 328 yards and passed for 116. Wolf led the attack with 175 yards on 14 carries.
Knighton had 122 yards rushing and the Loggers picked up 327 yards on the ground.
Butte Falls 6 6 12 0 --24
Days Creek 20 30 0 0 --50
DC — Wolf 12 run (Wolf run)
DC — Wolf 47 run (run failed)
DC — Arp 65 pass from Fuller (run failed)
BF — Knighton 15 run (run failed)
DC — Ormond 31 run (Ormond pass from Fuller)
DC — Wolf 9 run (run failed)
BF — Knighton 12 run (run failed)
DC — Arp 19 pass from Fuller (Ormond run)
DC — Wolf 60 interception return (run failed)
BF — Dyck 8 run (run failed)
BF — Dyck 4 run (run failed)
- NORTH LAKE 68, PROSPECT 26 — At Prospect, Preston Fivecoat rushed for three touchdowns and passed for three more to lead North Lake to the District 2 victory.
Prospect's Jacob Schultz scored on an 80-yard run to open the game and tacked on a 60-yard score the next time he touched the ball to give the Cougars (2-6, 2-5 Dist. 2) a 14-6 lead.
Schultz's 30-yard pass to Dakota Gordon allowed Prospect to take a 20-14 lead into the second quarter, but North Lake (5-3, 5-2) answered with 26 straight points to pull away.
North Lake 14 26 0 28 -- 68
Prospect 20 0 6 0 -- 26
