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Friday, March 29, 2024

Tigers out to chop down Loggers In Friday night football showdown

Senior center Victor Carrasco
Taft senior center Victor Carrasco will help lead the Tigers against Knappa (File photo by Lon French)

Stay tuned tonight for Homepage’s live, breaking, play-by-play coverage

The Knappa High football team prefers to run the ball, but the Loggers would be just as happy to throw it. That’s how you score 70 points in a game, which they did last week in a 70-28 road win over Toledo.

“Knappa is a very good team that has the ability to both run the ball on offense and throw the ball when they need to,” Taft Coach Jake Tolan said. “They have a good quarterback who is a dual threat and can be very dangerous when running the ball off of the inside zone read.”

While Coach Aaron Barendse’s Loggers are unbeaten at 2-0 and ranked third in Class 2A, Taft is also coming off a victory, 14-13 at home against Sutherlin in preparation for tonight’s 7 p.m. non-league road game. Tolan said he expects to see a lot of the ball on the ground, but understands the Loggers also like to air it out on occasion.

“Their running game is very similar to Harrisburg’s running game, which we faced in Week 1 [a 60-29 season-opening road defeat] and gave up more yards than we wanted to,” Tolan said. “We feel that defensively we have made some adjustments and have improved enough since the Harrisburg game that this time we will be much more successful in stopping the run.”

The Tigers were encouraged by the five turnovers they forced and the ability of their defense to rise up and stop the Bulldogs in last week’s one-point home win against Sutherlin, Tolan said.

“Last week, our defense was able to stop a very physical, run-heavy offense in Sutherlin, and we hope to do the same [Friday] against Knappa,” he said.

“What does worry us a bit is that Knappa also has the ability to pass the ball, which will be the first team we have faced this year that poses that threat to our defense. This week, we have tried to balance our time in making adjustments to stop their shotgun running attack, while also devoting time to scheme against their passing game.”

While the Tigers kept Sutherlin out of the end zone in the second half, they also failed to score after tallying the game’s final points 13 seconds before halftime on a 5-yard TD reception by Tyee Fisher and fellow senior DeVon Lindquist’s point-after.

“Our week of practice was productive, but going on the road and traveling three-plus hours will be a challenge,” Tolan said. “I’m excited for [Friday] night. We will be playing one of the best 2A teams in the state, and the matchup will be another tough road test.”

The main goal, of course, is to return home next week to face Yamhill-Carlton with a winning record.

“We need to execute better on offense and hope the personnel adjustments we have made up front on the line will give us better protection in both the running game and passing game,” Tolan said.

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

Taft Schedule

All games 7 p.m.

8/31 @ Harrisburg, L 60-29

9/7 vs. Sutherlin W 14-13

9/14 @ Knappa

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

Knappa Roster

No. (Home/Away) Name Position Grade
2/2 Kayden Stuhr WR/LB 11
4/4 Cameron Miethe WR/DB 10
5/5 Kanai Phillip WR/DB 11
6/6 Nicolai Ogier RB/LB 9
7/7 Eli Takalo QB/LB 11
8/8 Luke Goozee RB/LB 12
9/9 Pavlo Miller WR/DB 10
10/14 Mark Miller QB/DB 9
11/11 Joe Ramvick WR/LB 11
12/12 Trevor Ogier WR/DB 9
15/15 Tyler Green WR/DB 12
21/21 Tanner Jackson WR/DB 9
23/23 Devin Hoover WR/DB 10
32/32 Spencer Teague WR/LB 11
33/33 Gauge Perdue WR/DB 9
34/26 Johnny Lenhard RB/LB 9
36/36 Jacob Morey WR/DB 9
42/42 Addison Pietila WR/DB 9
51/51 Ashton Zsarko OL/DL 10
53/53 Ryson Patterson OL/LB 11
55/55 William Shadley OL/DL 12
57/57 Isaac Goozee OL/DL 10
59/59 Andrew Pedersen OL/DL 11
64/63 Kaleb Roe OL/DL 11
65/65 Dylan Anderson OL/DL 10
66/66 Jaxson Goodman OL/DL 11
67/67 Dominic Rizzo OL/DL 12
70/70 Carter Morrill OL/DE 9
75/75 Logan Morrill OL/DE 9
82/82 Devyn McCall WR/DB 9
88/88 Federico Pineda WR/DB 9

 

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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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