Saturday, October 20, 2012

Dragons thrash Spartans to rain on Corvallis' homecoming


With the game well out of reach in the fourth quarter, the story line to the night for the Corvallis Spartans was told in one play. CHS had held the Dallas Dragons to a three and out, forcing a punt and allowing the Spartans to cut into the hefty deficit  On fourth and long, Dallas punter Chase Mauk delivered a boot down field  but a running into the punter penalty allowed the Dragons' drive to stay alive and milk the clock en route to a 48-21 victory, their third of the season. For the Spartans, their fifth loss of the season came on Homecoming, and on the heels of a 56-28 dismantling at the hands of Lebanon last week.

Dallas got to work early, scoring 28 points in the first quarter, led by junior fullback Caleb Naughton and his three rushing touchdowns. The Dragons, who worked out of a Jumbo-esque formation most of the game, ran roughshod throughout the Spartans defense and for the most part, CHS had no answers.

After being held scoreless in the second half thus far, the Spartans had set up shop deep in Dragons territory and were knocking on the door with a 1st-and-four. Corvallis quarterback Matherin Langley dropped back and saw wide receiver Jordan Skipper cutting towards the sideline. The senior quarterback delivered a pass that Skipper would have caught, but Dragons safety Ryan Spencer had a direct read on the ball and intercepted the pass, returning it into Spartans territory and continuing the second half shutout of CHS.

Corvallis was eventually able to add 14 points to their score late in the game on two Langley touchdown passes, but all in all the deficit was too large and the Spartans suffered their fourth conference loss of the season. Next week they face off against a rival West Albany team for their final game of the season.

Offensive player of the game: Tie between Dallas' thunder/lightning combination of Caleb Naughton and Jaylon Smothers, who combined for six touchdowns on the ground. The Dragons' running attack was perfect Friday night; just absolutely had their way with the Spartans defensive line and second level.

Defensive player of the game: Tie between Naughton (linebacker) and Kaj Christensen (DT), who terrorized the Spartans offensive line all night long. The duo had so many tackles for losses that this writer lost track (not to mention tackles.. holy Motown). The Dragons defense as a whole were stout all game long, but were clearly anchored by the aforementioned juniors. Yes, they're not done yet, folks.

Two-way player of the game: Caleb Naughton. C'mon, kid had three touchdowns, a handful of tackles for losses and some great pops; award goes to him easily.