Wednesday, September 7, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
7
Outlaws football squad edges out Burns in season opener
By rongi Yost
Correspondent
The Outlaws opened their
season with an exciting 25-22
win over Burns at home on
Friday, September 2.
Sisters got on the score-
board first when Johnny
Gurney connected with
Christopher Luz on a 12-yard
pass for the touchdown.
Burns answered back and
scored on their next two pos-
sessions. At the close of the
first quarter the Highlanders
held a 16-6 lead.
In the second quarter,
Tanner Head threw a nice
pass over the middle to twin
brother Tyler for the score,
but the two-point conversion
attempt failed. Burns added
a TD in the period and at the
half the Outlaws trailed the
Highlanders 22-12.
The Outlaws were hurt
offensively in the first half by
some bad snaps and penalties,
which stalled a few of their
drives.
“Nerves were very evident
in the first half, particularly
the first quarter,” said Coach
Gary Thorson. “We are a
young team up front on the
line in some areas, and we
have little varsity experience,
and that for sure showed at
times. When we put every-
thing together, we showed
flashes of what I think we are
capable of becoming.”
The third quarter was a
scoring stalemate. Sisters’
defense started to take over
and began to win the field-
position battle. The Outlaws
threatened several times in
the period, but were unable to
score.
The Outlaws kept battling,
and by the fourth quarter had
started to wear Burns down.
They got in a groove with
their ground game, that led
to their next two scores and a
strong comeback.
Jacob Stevens scored on
a 31-yard run, and Johnny
Gurney scored on an eight-
yard run. The first PAT kick
failed and Ben Saba was good
on the final kick.
Stevens was the leading
ground-gainer with 77 yards
on six carries. Sisters’ defense
played well in the second
half, after giving up some
long passes in the first half.
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Burns was held to 21 yards
rushing and 196 yards in the
air for the game.
Jacob Gurney was the
leading tackler, with four
solo tackles and four assists.
Brother Johnny added three
tackles and four assists, and
also recovered a fumble for
the Outlaws.
Zach Morgan punted well
and pinned Burns down sev-
eral times deep in their own
territory, and Saba did a good
job of handling the kickoff
duties.
Casey Warburton showed
up big-time at center for the
Outlaws in his varsity debut.
“Casey hadn’t even been
on a football field the last few
years, which made his per-
formance tonight even more
impressive,” said Thorson.
Two other players, Austin
Lake and Ethan Morgan, also
played in their first varsity
game, after not playing the
last few years, and both made
some good plays. Lake started
at defensive end and was a
part of the front that helped
limit Burns on the ground.
Morgan played running back
and defensive back, and was a
photo by Jerry baldock
Christopher luz carried the ball against Burns.
big part of the special teams.
“I think this was a great
character win for this team
that has worked extremely
hard the last three weeks,”
said Thorson. “We had sev-
eral kids mature a great deal
from last year that needed to
step up, and they did in a big
way. We used three differ-
ent quarterbacks by design
(Johnny Gurney, Tanner
Head, and Christopher Luz)
and they each did some good
things for us. We are running
a completely new offense,
and I think we will only get
better production-wise each
week.”
The Outlaws will play at
Cascade on Friday, September
8. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
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