Oregon daily emerald., October 25, 2004, Image 11

Oregon Daily Emerald
Monday, October 25, 2004
“We have a lot of stars, just no one
you’ve ever heard of. ”
Terry Donahue | San Francisco 49ers general manager
■ In my opinion
CLAYTON JONES
SEVENTH INNING STRETCH
The Ducks
have found
the swagger
in their step
STANFORD, Calif. — Call it guts, confi
dence or an intestinal fortitude.
Head coach Mike Bellotti calls it a “com
petitive spirit.”
Call it what you want, but the Ducks
have developed a swagger.
Oregon’s wet-and-sloppy victory against
Stanford has solidified this team as a force
to be reckoned with in the Pacific-10
Conference.
The confidence was there for the Ducks
when they fell behind in the fourth quarter
after a stingy Oregon defense was finally
broken by backup quarterback T.C. Ostran
der’s 2-yard touchdown pass to give the
Cardinal a 13-9 edge with 10 minutes left
to play.
Displaying the same manner seen
against Washington State, the Ducks didn’t
seem worried that they fell behind.
The players put on their hard hats, tight
ened their chin straps and went to work.
Four plays into the next series, Oregon
was faced with a third down with nine
long yards to go. Quarterback Kellen
Clemens dropped back to pass, scanned
and saw nothing.
He didn’t panic, nor did he try to force
the action.
Instead, he tucked the ball under his
arm, sifted through the Stanford defense
and found himself 13 yards down the field
for an Oregon first down.
Clemens doesn’t get much credit for his
mobility, but he saved this drive with
his legs.
Three downs later, the Ducks are on
Stanford’s 38-yard line, forced to go for the
first down on a crucial fourth and three.
As cliche as it sounds, this was a gut
check for Oregon.
Clemens and the Ducks responded with
a 36-yard pass to Keith Allen for possibly
the biggest reception of the year for
Oregon.
This play call and execution was a 12 on
an intestinal fortitude scale of one to 10.
The best part is that the play, according
to Allen, was originally a hitch pattern de
signed to go on the inside part of the field.
“1 had an eight-yard hitch, and they went
to a cover two. So I converted it into a go
route and Kellen (Clemens) did a good job
keeping it away from the safety,” Allen
said. “I just was concentrated on catching
the ball.”
1 don’t know exactly how many coaches
call a pass on fourth and three play that
turns into a fade route 30 yards down the
field, but the Oregon coaching staff put the
ball in Clemens’ hands, and he delivered.
As a side note, Allen said he was wear
ing the wrong kind of gloves when he
caught the ball. Generally, when it is wet a
receiver wears leather gloves because the
synthetic gloves that are usually worn
make it hard to grip the ball.
JONES, page 13
PPWPPPP^PPWfPPWWPPPPPPPPP
■ Duck football
GeoffThurner | Oregon Media Servces
Oregon quarterback Kellen Clemens, seen earlier this season against Washington State, completed a 36-yard,
game-saving pass to Keith Allen during Saturday’s 16-13 win against Stanford.
Oregon plays to the wire
to edge out the Cardinal
Down 13-9 in the fourth quarter, the Ducks run in a 2-yard TD after
a 36-yard reception to take home a 16-13 win against Stanford
BY JON ROETMAN
SENIOR SPORTS REPORTER
STANFORD, Calif. — Another Pacific-10
Conference road game, another frantic finish
for the Oregon football team.
The Ducks used superior defensive play and
an opportunity provided as the game was
about to expire — a missed 49-yard field goal
by Stanford kicker Michael Sgroi — to defeat
the Cardinal 16-13 on a damp Saturday at
Stanford Stadium.
Stanford (4-3 overall, 2-2 Pac-10) gained
possession of the ball on its own 23-yard line
with 16 seconds remaining and no time-outs
after stopping Oregon running back Terrence
Whitehead for no gain on a fourth and one
play. Stanford quarterback T.C. Ostrander
completed a 17-yard pass to flanker Mark
Bradford and a 28-yard pass to wide receiver
Greg Camarillo on consecutive plays, giving
the Cardinal the ball on Oregon’s 32-yard line
with one second remaining. Sgroi’s ensuing
field goal attempt was on line, but fell short.
Ostrander, a redshirt freshman, was the
third quarterback to play for Stanford Satur
day. Starting quarterback Tfent Edwards was
forced to leave the game early in the second
quarter after suffering a bruised left shoulder
and hand on a hard, clean shot by Oregon de
fensive tackle Robby Valenzuela. Senior Ryan
Eklund replaced Edwards for the rest of the se
ries, but Ostrander took over the remainder of
the game.
“At the end of the ballgame, he has 16 sec
onds, and he stands up like a pro,” Stanford
head coach Buddy Teevens said of Ostrander.
“We were in position to tie it up and put the
game into overtime, but it didn’t happen.”
While both offenses struggled with the slip
pery conditions, it was the Oregon defense
that put Stanford in a bind. The Ducks stifled
the Stanford running attack, holding the Cardi
nal to minus eight rushing yards. When Stan
ford turned to the pass, Oregon (4-3, 3-1) kept
the pressure on, sacking Cardinal quarter
backs 10 times.
Valenzuela and defensive end Chris
Solomona finished with two sacks each, while
defensive end Devan Long recorded 1.5 sacks.
Defensive tackle Haloti Ngata and outside line
backers Ramone Reed, Anthony Ttucks and
A.J. TUitele each dropped a Stanford quarter
back once. Defensive tackle Matt Toeaina
added half a sack.
Stanford was limited to 261 yards of
FOOTBALL, page 12
■ Women’s soccer
Ducks score
first goals of
conference,
lose 1 game
Oregon ties Washington State
1-1 on Friday and loses 4-1
to No. 7 Washington Sunday
BY BRIAN SMITH
SPORTS REPORTER
The Oregon women’s soccer team scored
its first two goals of its conference season
during the weekend.
However, neither of them resulted in a
victory as the Ducks could only muster a 0
1-1 homestand against the Washington
schools. The Ducks fell to 3-10-2 overall
and 0-4-1 in conference play.
Freshman Kami Kapaku netted both of
Oregon’s goals, scoring just before halftime
in the Ducks 1-1 tie Friday night against the
Cougars and early in yesterday’s 4-1 loss
against No. 7 Washington.
Huskies give Ducks few
chances to score in second half
The Ducks started Sunday’s match with
the same offensive aggressiveness they had
showed against Washington State. Oregon,
who was held scoreless in the Pacific-10
Conference through three matches, made
taking shots a special emphasis before
heading into the weekend games.
“(Taking shots) was the focus of practice
all week,” Oregon sophomore Andrea
Valadez said. “We’re never going to score
unless we take a shot.”
The Ducks kept the ball and the pressure
on Washington defense early in the game.
Valadez recorded two shots, both of them
on goal, within the first four minutes of the
match.
Oregon took the early lead on Kapaku’s
second goal of the weekend. Kapaku col
lected the ricochet off a Washington de
fender from a free kick by Oregon’s Carlie
Ashcraft and put it in the right corner of the
net from six yards out.
The Ducks’ 1-0 advantage lasted until
the 32-minute mark in the first half. Wash
ington scored twice within two minutes to
take the lead, and the momentum, into
halftime.
“This has been a Jeckyll and Hyde
weekend," Oregon head coach Bill Steffen
said. “We did good things early on, but
then dropped our level... and that made it
more frustrating.”
The first Washington goal was scored on
a 35-yard free kick by Clare Rustad that de
flected off of Oregon defender Katie Abra
hamson’s head and resulted in an own
goal. The second was added by Kim Taylor
off an assist by teammate Tina Frimpong.
The Huskies came out in second half
showing why they are ranked seventh in
the country. Washington controlled both of
fense and defense, giving the Ducks few
chances to get back in the match. The
Huskies added two more goals in the 49th
and 74th minutes.
Washington led in shots (15-6) and shots
on goal (9-5), while the Ducks led in saves
(5-4) and fouls (20-12).
“We got behind them twice in the second
half and had some good chances,” Steffen
said. “But we couldn’t convert them and al
ter the texture of the game. That affected
our confidence and our attitude and, in
turn, the game.”
Oregon’s loss to Washington on Sunday
dropped the team to 0-8-1 all-time against
SOCCER, page 12