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Passing game shines for no-quit Tigers in opening defeat

PHOTOS BY LON FRENCH

david jin
Taft High senior quarterback David Jin threw for four touchdowns to three different receivers Friday night

While his defense probably felt like it was drinking from a fire hose, there was plenty for Taft head coach Jake Tolan to build on Friday following the Tigers’ lopsided road defeat to powerhouse Harrisburg to open the 2018 high school football season.

Jake Tolan
Taft High head football coach Jake Tolan liked his team’s season-opening effort against the Eagles

While the run-happy Eagles rolled to 35 unanswered first-half points and a 60-29 season-opening victory, Taft senior quarterback David Jin threw for four touchdowns to three different receivers to inspire a dedicated and determined effort from a team that went 2-7 overall and 0-5 in Class 3A West Valley League play last season.

“David Jin showed some really good things out on the field tonight,” Tolan said. “He made good decisions with the ball and had some key runs.”

And passes.

Tyee Fisher
Senior Tyee Fisher scored on a 16-yard pass from Jin

Sophomore wideout Fco Ramos was on the receiving end of two touchdown tosses from Jin, while senior Tyee Fisher and sophomore JJ French caught one each to help the Tigers slice the final margin in half.

“Our kids did a lot of things well tonight, and showed some huge improvement in comparison to last season,” Tolan said. “We will go into next week, look at the film and see how we can all get better.”

Improvement will start with conditioning, Tolan said.

“Harrisburg is a big, physical team that just wore my kids down,” he said. “I liked how we came out in the first quarter and competed. We were able to play right with them, but towards the end of the first, and in the second quarter, our kids started to get tired, and that’s when Harrisburg started to get big plays in their running game.”

Senior quarterback Jonathon Lettkeman scored five touchdowns, and junior running back Gabe Knox led a virtually unstoppable ground attack for the Eagles, who won the Class 3A State title just two seasons ago and have made five straight appearances in the State quarterfinals or better.

Fco Ramos
Sophomore Fco Ramos caught two touchdown passes

Taft committed just one turnover and Jin ran for big gains at key moments during the Tigers’ most meaningful drives. The first came when Ramos caught a 5-yard throw following an 18-yard gain by Jin just before halftime.

Jin and Ramos teamed up again from 14 yards out for the Tigers’ second touchdown to make it 35-13 just inside the 10-minute mark of the third quarter.

JJ French
JJ French scores on a 40-yard swing pass

Two 15-yard penalties helped Taft move downfield midway through the fourth quarter before Jin hit Fisher for a 16-yard score.

French then scampered 40 yards for a TD on a swing pass to finalize the Tigers’ scoring.

Tolan said his team will hit the weights and resume conditioning Monday in preparation for its home opener, Friday, Sept. 7, against Sutherlin at Voris Field.

The Bulldogs of the Class 3A Far West League defeated Class 4A Skyline Conference member Hidden Valley 16-13 Friday on the road. Sutherlin went 4-6, 1-4 in the Class 4A Sky-Em Conference last season.

Eagles soar past Tigers in football opener

Class 3A Special District 1 Standings

League Overall Points Scored Points Allowed
 Amity 0-0 1-0 51 7
 Clatskanie 0-0 1-0 46 0
 Madras  0-0 1-0 53 7
 Rainier 0-0 1-0 58 6
 Willamina 0-0 1-0 34 0
 Yamhill-Carlton 0-0 1-0 42 13
 Blanchet Catholic 0-0 0-1 6 47
 Dayton 0-0 0-1 13 20
 Salem Academy 0-0 0-1 35 41
 Scio 0-0 0-1 20 21
 Taft 0-0 0-1 29 60
 Corbett

 

Taft Schedule

All games 7 p.m.

8/31Harrisburg, L 60-29

9/7 vs. Sutherlin

9/14Knappa

9/21 vs. Yamhill-Carlton

9/28 vs. Amity*

10/5 @ Clatskanie*

10/11Willamina*

10/19 vs. Dayton*

10/26 vs. Rainier*

*Denotes league game

 

Taft Roster

No. Name Position Grade Height
2 Logan McLendon WR/DB 12 5-8
3 Kaden Hindman WR/S 9 5-9
4 Devon Lindquist WR/S 12 5-10
6 Zane Rowley WR/DB 10 5-4
7 Chris Lopez WR/DB 12 5-9
8 David Jin QB/DB 12 5-10
9 Kameron Kessler WR/S 12 6-1
11 Fco Ramos WR/DB 10 5-7
14 Tristan Beach WR/DB 11 5-10
15 Connor Bailey WR/DB 11 5-10
16 Darius Smith WR/DB 10 5-9
19 Antonio Suarez QB/LB 10 5-10
20 JJ French RB/LB 10 5-10
22 Tyee Fisher WR/S 12 6-5
23 Clay Nelson WR/LB 12 6-0
24 Trenton Hall WR/LB 11 5-9
25 Kaden White WR/DB 9 5-7
28 Logan Gilleo RB/LB 11 6-0
50 Dylan Rodriguez OL/DL 9 5-8
53 Micah Davis OL/DE 11 5-10
54 Eriq Aquino OL/DL 12 6-1
55 Elin Fitch OL/DE 11 6-3
56 Malachi LaFrenz OL/DL 12 6-2
57 Jace Phippen OL/DL 11 5-10
60 Chris Byrum OL/DL 12 5-8
61 Victor Carrasco C/DE 12 6-2
62 Brendan Welch OL/DL 10 5-9
66 Tyrese Hellman OL/DL 11 6-1
70 Josiah LaFrenz OL/DL 10 6-3
74 Sebastian Welch OL/DL 10 5-9
75 Dakota Steen OL/DL 9 6-0

Harrisburg Roster

No. Name Position Grade Height Weight
2 Spencer Gaines WR/DB 11 6-1 160
8 Dax Bennett QB/LB 12 5-11 190
11 Chandler Strauss QB/LB 10 6-2 185
12 Jonathon Lettkeman QB/DB 11 6-0 180
15 Riley Suttles WR/DB 12 5-9 155
20 Jimmy Holland WR/DB 11 5-8 150
21 Tristan Harris WR/LB 12 5-10 180
22 Joel Warren WR/DB 9 6-0 150
24 Gabe Knox RB/LB 11 5-9 200
31 Russell Talmadge WR/DB 10 5-8 145
45 Devin Nelson RB/LB 12 5-11 210
46 Jonathan Lettkeman RB/LB 11 6-0 170
50 Joan Tapia OL/DL 11 5-11 180
54 Wyatt Perry OL/DL 11 6-2 235
55 Britt Murray OL/DL 9 6-3 160
62 Leithan Briggs OL/DL 11 6-0 200
63 Brennan Erickson OL/DL 12 5-10 180
65 Vincente Velazquez OL/DL 9 5-7 160
67 Jackson Saunders OL/DL 9 5-8 170
71 Elijah Pate OL/DL 12 6-0 225
74 Josh Nasshahn OL/DL 12 6-1 210
78 Brynden Bevins OL/DL 12 5-10 160
79 Kaden Eastman OL/DL 9 6-0 170
82 Paul McNulty WR/DB 11 5-10 140
88 Trenton Kirchoff WR/DB 9 5-5 110
89 Josh Harris WR/DB 9 5-6 120
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Jim Fossum
Jim Fossumhttp://SilverandBlackToday.com
Homepage Executive Editor and former longtime Sports Editor of the near-200,000 circulation Las Vegas Review-Journal, Fossum brings 40 years of award-winning experience covering virtually every facet of print and digital journalism to Lincoln City Homepage. The former longtime reporter for the Newport News-Times and Lincoln City News Guard is also Editor-in-Chief and Senior Columnist for SilverandBlackToday.com, which covers the NFL's Oakland (Las Vegas) Raiders.

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