South Medford grinds past Roseburg to claim Southern Oregon Conference title

ROSEBURG — It all started on Sept. 3, when the South Medford High football team went on a five-hour bus trip and shocked the state with a 24-21 overtime victory over defending state champion Tigard.

The following week, the Panthers went on another long journey up Interstate 5 and thumped West Linn.

From that point forward, the Panthers called themselves the "Road Warriors."

Leaning on its thick-skinned and battle-tested personality, South Medford claimed its second Southern Oregon Conference championship in three years Friday night with a 17-7 victory over Roseburg at Finlay Field.

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The Panthers finished the regular season at 8-1 overall, 6-0 in the Southern Oregon Conference and 5-0 on the road. They’ll host Madison, the No. 3 team from the Portland Interscholastic League, next Friday at Spiegelberg Stadium in the first round of the Class 4A state playoffs.

Roseburg (6-3, 4-2 SOC), meanwhile, will host Marshfield in a first-round playoff game. Roseburg won a coin flip Wednesday to gain the No. 2 berth. It tied with North Medford and Eagle Point for second place.

"I think our schedule helped us out immensely tonight," said South Medford quarterback Jon Weaver, who completed 14 of 19 passes for 256 yards, one touchdown and one interception in his best game of the season. "This is a tough environment to win in, but we’ve been in these situations before.

"We came in here confident."

South Medford was picked to finish behind North Medford and tied with Roseburg in an SOC preseason coaches poll, but the Panthers used a cat-quick defense, an efficient offense and strong special teams play to go unbeaten in conference play.

"I think this team surprised everybody and, to a certain extent, themselves," South Medford coach Bill Singler said. "We won those first two games on the road and that kick-started our season, and the kids just kept getting a little better every week.

"But more than anything, they’re having fun playing the game. They’re a tight group and they really draw energy off each other."

South Medford’s defense, led by linemen Ben Koziol and Noah Brennan and linebackers Justin Meyer and Ryan Odell, held Roseburg’s high-powered offense to just seven points and 230 total yards. One week earlier, the Indians amassed 566 yards en route to a 55-34 win over North Medford that put them in position to tie for the conference title and gain the SOC’s No. 1 state playoff berth.

Another notable statistic: Roseburg’s longest play from scrimmage was just 18 yards.

"Our coaches preached all week about keeping their receivers in front of us and not getting beat by the big play," Meyer said. "They completed a lot of passes but we were in position to make plays.

"We pride ourselves on being the best tackling team in the SOC."

South Medford broke the scoring ice late in the first quarter when it drove 57 yards to the Roseburg 16, the big play coming on a 39-yard pass from Weaver to Dan Chancler. The drive stalled, but Brennan booted a 33-yard field goal that gave the Panthers a 3-0 lead.

Midway through the second period, South Medford marched 80 yards in nine plays, capped by Weaver’s 36-yard scoring pass up the middle to Seth Hernandez.

Hernandez, a senior wide receiver, had his best game of the season with three receptions for 88 yards.

Brennan’s PAT kick gave the Panthers a 10-0 advantage.

"Seth had one-on-one coverage on a backside post," Weaver said. "He beat his guy by a step, and I laid the ball out there. That was a big play."

The Indians answered on their next drive, however, when they went 65 yards in 10 plays to cut South Medford’s lead to 10-7. Junior quarterback Brett Stephens hit senior wideout Brian Benson on a crossing pattern for the touchdown.

The momentum of that drive seemed to carry into the second half for the Indians, who held South Medford on its first possession deep in its own territory. A 19-yard punt by Tommy George gave Roseburg excellent field position on the Panther 32.

But three plays netted minus 2 yards, and Kyle Loomis’ 50-yard field goal attempt sailed wide left.

The Indians missed a chance at a possible touchdown during that sequence on a trick play, but a wide receiver reverse pass from Blake Keitzman fell through the hands of Josh Brink.

"That was one we obviously would have liked to get," Roseburg coach Thurman Bell said of the dropped pass. "We had several chances to do something, but it seemed like they were always getting a hand on the ball or tripping up our running backs. Their defense has great quickness."

Buoyed by the defensive stop, South Medford quickly went 80 yards in five plays to take a 17-7 lead. Weaver was the catalyst as he first drilled an 18-yard slant pass to Hernandez and then a 31- yarder up the sideline to fullback Logan Boyd.

Weaver then made the play of the night when he shoveled an underhand pass to Boyd just as he — Weaver — was about to be tackled. Boyd did the rest, turning it into a 25-yard gain to the Roseburg 7.

On the following play, backup fullback Jon Lang burst over left tackle for the touchdown.

"It was supposed to be a pass down the field, but I got flushed from the pocket and was going to run it," Weaver said. "But then I heard Logan yelling, ‘Weave, Weave,’ and I just shoveled it to him as I was going down."

Roseburg made one last charge, driving from its own 13 to the South Medford 8 in the final 3½ minutes. But the Indians turned the ball over on downs, with Koziol and Brett Roeloffs applying heavy pressure on Stephens as he desperately tried to complete a fourth-down pass.

"We felt like if we could hold them in the 20s that we’d have a good chance to win," Singler said. "But we did better than that."

Reach reporter Don Hunt at 776-4469, or e-mail dhunt@mailtribune.com