Keizertimes., April 02, 2021, Page 23, Image 23

APRIL 2, 2021, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A23
Aicher took a screen pass for 24 yards
on the first play of the possession then fin-
ished off the drive with a three-yard touch-
down run to tie the game at 7-7.
“Our O-line really stepped it up today.
When we get our offense going it helps our
defense,” Aicher said.
West Salem answered when Lowery
threw his second touchdown of the night,
this time hitting Jack Bennett for a 41-yard
score. But it didn’t take long for McNary to
respond.
First down completions from Jack
McCarty to Ethan Martin and Tyler
Copeland brought the ball into West
Salem territory. On fourth-and-four from
the 33-yard line, McCarty found Copeland
once again across the middle. Copeland
escaped from the grasp of a pair of defend-
ers and scampered to the end zone for the
33-yard touchdown.
“It was nice for us to have some success
on offense. We were opening holes and we
were protecting our quarterback, which I
thought gave us some confidence for us to
make plays. It was a huge effort up front,”
Auvinen said.
The McNary defense forced the Titans
into a third-and-long situation with less
than a minute remaining in the half. West
Salem running back Nate Garcia looked
like he had his forward progress stopped
well short of the line to gain, but the senior
kept his legs driving and broke free for a
39-yard touchdown with 26 seconds left in
the second quarter, putting the Titans up
21-14.
The play provided a drastic shift in
momentum before halftime.
“You just sit there and that’s all you
think about during halftime. There’s just
McNary cornerback Sage Allen gets taken down after picking off a pass in the end zone.
nothing you can do right away,” Aicher
said.
Garcia found the end zone once again
in the third quarter on a 50-yard touch-
down to give the Titans the two score lead.
It appeared that West Salem was get-
ting ready to put the game away early in
the fourth quarter as they drove inside the
McNary 10-yard line. But on third-and-
goal, McNary cornerback Sage Allen made
the play of the day for the McNary defense,
picking off Lowery’s pass in the end zone
and returning to the Celtics 27-yard line.
From there, the McNary offense went
Photo by MATT RAWLINGS of Keizertimes
to work, driving into West Salem territory.
On third-and-10 from the Titans 31-yard
line, McCarty connected with Braiden
Copeland on an 18-yard screen pass. The
following play, Copeland took it to the
end zone on the ground from 13 yards out
to make it a one possession game with
less than nine minutes remaining.
The Celtics defense forced a key three-
and-out to get the ball back with 5:29 left
on the clock, but couldn’t move the chains
as McCarty just missed connecting with
Tyler Copeland on third and fourth down,
allowing West Salem to regain possession
with 3:34 left.
Despite having all three timeouts,
McNary never touched the ball again in
this game as West Salem converted two
key third down runs and eventually ran
out the clock.
“We just didn’t tackle well. We had
them dead to rights twice, but we couldn’t
finish the play,” Auvinen said “We know
how to do it, we just didn’t get it done
today.”
McNary will attempt to get back in
the win column on Friday, April 2 as they
travel to North Salem for a 7:30 p.m. game.
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