Injury-depleted Tigers host No. 1 Amity in season’s toughest test yet

Taft might need more trickery, such as this pass from senior receiver Kam Kessler last week, tonight against Amity (File photo by Lon French)

Tune in tonight for Homepage’s live, breaking, play-by-play coverage of the Tigers’ league-opening game

Just when you thought things couldn’t get much tougher for the Taft High football team, enter the No. 1 team in the state for a league opener against an injury-depleted lineup looking to turn its fortunes around.

The 1-3 Tigers, who have already played two perennial State playoff powers and a couple who competed in bigger conferences until recently, are well aware of the mighty Warriors, having shared conference affiliation with them throughout the years in all sports and both genders.

“We know a lot about Amity,” said Taft Coach Jake Tolan, whose Tigers host the Warriors at 7 p.m. at Voris Field. “We know what they will run both offensively and defensively.”

So what is it that has allowed the Warriors to amass a 206-34 (51.5 to 8.5 points per game) scoring advantage over four outclassed opponents this season?

“What they do is actually very simple, but they do it very well,” Tolan said. “They are No. 1 for a reason and haven’t really been tested yet this year. We hope to go out and just compete.”

“Unlike last year where we gave up a bunch of rushing yards to them, this week we’ve worked a lot on assignment football — making sure all 11 guys are focused on individual assignments on each play in hope to be able to at least slow them down,” Tolan said.

Amity has rolled past St. Mary’s Medford, 51-7; Neah-Kah-Nie, 60-20; Salem Academy, 47-7; and Coquille, 48-0, with three of the games on the road. Playing its fourth game of the year away from home, Coach Joel Magill’s squad has just three games scheduled this season in its friendly confines – until the playoffs, that is.

As if the presence of the state’s top-ranked Class 3A team wasn’t enough, the Tigers will be missing four starters due to injuries incurred in previous games. Missing in the Special District 1 West Conference opener will be defensive lineman Tyrese Hellman and defensive back Darius Smith, who are out on concussion protocol; lineman Jace Fostveit with a wrist sprain; and defensive end Micah Davis, who has been lost for the season with a leg injury.

“So a lot of this week has also been focused on getting replacement players in the right spots so they can be successful,” Tolan said.

Things don’t get any easier foe the Tigers after Friday either. Taft hits the road for two league games (Clatskanie and Willamina) before returning home to close out the regular season with two more (Dayton and Rainier), including matchups against the second- and third-ranked teams in the state.

Class 3A Special District 1 West Standings

	League	Overall	Points Scored	Allowed	OSAA Rank
Amity	0-0	4-0	206	34	1
Rainier	0-0	4-0	173	12	2
Willamina	0-0	3-1	108	55	3
Clatskanie	0-0	3-1	179	20	10
Dayton	0-0	2-2	111	89	14
Taft	0-0	1-3	100	153	15

Taft Roster

Coach: Jake Tolan

No.	Name	Position	Grade	Height
2	Logan McLendon	WR/DB	Sr.	5-8
3	Kaden Hindman	WR/S	Fr.	5-9
4	Devon Lindquist	WR/S	Sr.	5-10
6	Zane Rowley	WR/DB	So.	5-4
7	Chris Lopez	WR/DB	Sr.	5-9
8	David Jin	QB/DB	Sr.	5-10
9	Kameron Kessler	WR/S	Sr.	6-1
11	Fco Ramos	WR/DB	So.	5-7
14	Tristan Beach	WR/DB	Jr.	5-10
15	Connor Bailey	WR/DB	Jr.	5-10
16	Darius Smith	WR/DB	So.	5-9
19	Antonio Suarez	QB/LB	So.	5-10
20	JJ French	RB/LB	So.	5-10
22	Tyee Fisher	WR/S	Sr.	6-5
23	Clay Nelson	WR/LB	Sr.	6-0
24	Trenton Hall	WR/LB	Jr.	5-9
25	Kaden White	WR/DB	Fr.	5-7
28	Logan Gilleo	RB/LB	Jr.	6-0
50	Dylan Rodriguez	OL/DL	Fr.	5-8
53	Micah Davis	OL/DE	Jr.	5-10
54	Eriq Aquino	OL/DL	Sr.	6-1
55	Elin Fitch	OL/DE	Jr.	6-3
56	Malachi LaFrenz	OL/DL	Sr.	6-2
57	Jace Phippen	OL/DL	Jr.	5-10
60	Chris Byrum	OL/DL	Sr.	5-8
61	Victor Carrasco	C/DE	Sr.	6-2
62	Brendan Welch	OL/DL	So.	5-9
66	Tyrese Hellman	OL/DL	Jr.	6-1
70	Josiah LaFrenz	OL/DL	So.	6-3
74	Sebastian Welch	OL/DL	So.	5-9
75	Dakota Steen	OL/DL	Fr.	6-0

Amity Roster

Coach: Joel Magill

No.	Name	Position	Grade	Height	Weight
1	Payton Richardson	WR/CB	11	6-4	170
4	Tyler Parr	QB/LB	12	6-1	200
7	Eli Jackson	WR/CB	12	6-4	170
8	Harvey Hoff	RB/LB	12	5-6	155
10	Noah Groom	QB/DB	9	5-7	130
11	Dylan Nyseth	TE/LB	11	5-9	155
12	Keenan Graham	QB/DB	10	6-1	150
14	Michael Duncan	WR/K	12	5-9	150
16	Roberto Olague	RB/LB	10	5-8	150
17	Cody Dyche	RB/LB	11	6-1	191
18	Alrik Moore	WR/DB	9	5-8	140
20	West Streeter	RB/LB	12	5-7	200
21	Braxton Morgan	RB/LB	9	5-8	155
22	Wyatt Hatch	RB/LB	9	5-9	155
23	Cameron Weigart	WR/CB	11	5-9	145
24	Brian Hatch	RB/LB	12	5-7	150
25	Seth Valencia	RB/NG	12	5-6	155
30	Nas Abzakh	RB/LB	11	5-9	150
32	Enrique Martinez	RB/LB	9	5-10	168
33	Jonathan Mather	RB/LB	12	6-0	190
36	George Hatch	QB/DB	10	5-11	146
40	Logan Grove	RB/LB	9	5-9	155
42	Sergio Alba	TE/LB	9	5-7	160
44	Russel Brown	RB/LB	11	5-11	175
50	Nick McMullen	OG/DL	10	5-10	230
51	Hunter Barber	C/DL	9	5-6	170
52	Jordan Dyche	OT/NG	12	5-6	250
54	Kyle Rice	OT/DT	9	6-0	185
55	Jeffrey Coleman	OG/DT	12	6-0	255
56	Christian Wald	OG/LB	12	5-9	190
57	Blake Wilson	OG/LB	10	5-11	165
58	Wyett Yocum	OL/DL	9	5-10	200
60	Robby Scharf	OG/DT	12	6-0	260
62	Phillip West	OL/LB	10	6-1	195
64	Ashton Pappas	OL/RB	10	5-7	175
65	Khaled Aydallad	OG/LB	11	5-10	165
73	Justin Vido	C/DT	12	5-9	295
75	Jacob Bernards	OT/DE	11	6-3	273
76	Lucas May	OL/DL	11	6-3	289
77	Federico Donati	K	11	5-9	165
78	Andrew Paine	OL/DL	12	6-2	300
80	Hayden Reeves	WR/DB	10	5-9	135
81	Trevor Smith	WR/LB	12	6-1	195
85	Brady Hall	WR/DE	9	5-8	165
87	Josh Wart	TE/LB	10	6-5	200
88	Diego Briones	TE/LB	9	5-9	185