2B | WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2021 | SIUSLAW NEWS
FOOTBALL from page 1B
note with a 13-second mo-
ment of silence to honor
the members of the U.S.
Armed Forces who were
killed during the U.S.-led
evacuation mission at the
Kabul airport in Afghan-
istan. Thirteen seats in
the front row of the south
bleachers were left empty
as a memorial to the sac-
rifice made by these men
and women.
Siuslaw sophomore Jane
Lacouture performed the
National Anthem, accom-
panied by the stars and
stripes encircling Hans Pe-
terson Memorial Field to
memorialize the 20 years
since the events of Sept.
11, 2001. Kiwanis Club of
Florence worked with the
football team to install
the flags for the first home
game of the year.
The game began with
visitors from North Valley,
a 4A school in Grants Pass,
traveling with a small, but
boisterous, group of loyal
fans who spread out in the
visitor’s bleachers on the
north side of the field.
Their enthusiasm was
quickly dampened when
senior Beau Erickson hit
Braydon Thornton with a
10-yard touchdown pass
to open the scoring, just
1:32 into the game. After
a missed extra point, the
Vikings led 6-0.
Following the score,
Siuslaw attempted the
first of many onside kicks.
Though unsuccessful, it
VIKS from page 1B
both boys and girls were
there, along with a who’s
who of the best cross coun-
try programs in the state.
Though the Vikings didn’t
finish at the top, Siuslaw
could take pride in the fact
that for the boys, their 11th
place finish was tops for
4A schools and the girls’
18th place only put them
behind Marist and Phoe-
nix for teams from their
division.
Siuslaw Coach Chris
Johnson understood what
his team was getting into.
“It’s just really tough and
we don’t ever really run that
well there for some rea-
son,” Johnson said. “There
are some of the best teams
in the country. There are
nationally ranked teams.
We’re going against huge
schools.”
According to Johnson,
for some of the of the Vi-
kings top runners, a race
like this is great.
“For Jack Hughes, Sam
Ulrich and Rylee Colton,
set the tone for the relent-
less style of Coach Sam
Johnson’s game plan.
The Knights began to
show life on offense and
were moving, but Thorn-
ton showed he’s a force on
both sides of the ball and
intercepted a pass from
North Valley’s Jaydon
Twedell. This was soon
followed by another Erick-
son touchdown pass, this
one to senior Isaac Garza.
Lacouture ran in from the
2-yard line for the conver-
sion and the Vikings end-
ed the first quarter with a
14-0 lead.
North Valley and Siu-
slaw traded possessions
until the Vikings forced
a turnover on downs and
took over on their own
9-yard line.
On the very next play,
Erickson again hit Thorn-
ton with a pass and Siu-
slaw’s first ever Les Schwab
Bowl All-Star sprinted
most of the 91 yards for
his second touchdown of
the game. That 91-yard
score is the third longest
in Siuslaw history, bested
only by Jared Kreil, who
had a 93-yard reception
in 2004 and Joe Hill who
scored from 97 yards in
1978. This score, along
with a third Erickson to
Thornton touchdown con-
nection made it 28-0 Viks.
Just under the four-min-
ute mark in the half, Er-
ickson scored on a quar-
terback keeper putting the
home team up 34-0. As
the teams separated, some
words were exchanged by
both sides and referees
were forced to step into
the scrum and stand be-
tween the players. Person-
al foul penalties were as-
sessed, two on the Vikings,
one on the Knights and
the officials warned both
teams about the escalating
amount of chippy play.
Following this, Camp
Lacouture kicked through
the extra point and the Vi-
kings ended the half with a
35-0 lead.
The domination contin-
ued in the third quarter.
Coach Johnson’s defense
gave the offense excellent
field position when the
trio of juniors Noah Dot-
son, Victor Ayalo and Kev-
in Holloway combined to
block a North Valley punt
to put the Siuslaw offense
at the Knights 3-yard line.
Soon after, Lacouture
took the handoff in for
a touchdown and also
kicked the extra point to
put the blue and gold up
42-0.
Coach Johnson gave ev-
eryone who had not yet
played a chance to play in
the fourth quarter. Fresh-
man Aiden Webb, Joel Sis-
sel, Andrew Jensen Nor-
man, Deegan Smith and
Max Reynolds all saw their
first varsity action.
North Valley’s Twedell
found tight end Brady
Huff for a pair of touch-
down passes in the fourth.
In between those two
scores, junior running
back Hunter Petterson ran
27 yards for the Vikings
seventh touchdown of the
evening.
Erickson finished 13 of
18 passing for 330 yards.
That single game yardage
total ranks only behind
the player who Erickson
backed up last year, Eli-
jah Blankenship, who had
games of 339 and 337. Er-
ickson also threw for four
touchdowns and ran for
another.
For a player starting for
the first time, Erickson im-
pressed the Viking coach.
“Offensively, Beau ex-
ceeded every expectation
I could have ever put on
him,” Johnson said. “We
thought we were going to
bounce back and forth be-
tween a veer and a spread
offense. He kind of solidi-
fied that this team is defi-
nitely more of a spread
team because he can throw
the ball in places that most
people can’t.”
Thornton racked up 210
yards receiving, a total that
will inevitably add to the
growing number of college
coaches already hoping
he’ll consider taking his
talents to their school.
“To me, he just solidi-
fied that he’s the best re-
ceiver in the state in any
division,” said Johnson.
“It’s no wonder that I’m
getting emails every day
from different colleges
and universities wanting
to reach out to him or ask
what kind of kid he is. It’s
an easy answer with him.
He’s a really good kid who
does the right things. He’s
dialed into what we’re do-
ing as a team. He’s a good
friend and a better person.
He’s been awesome. It was
nice to be able to see him
get the ball a bunch in
game one.”
Lacouture rushed for
95 yards and a touchdown
along with 42 yards receiv-
ing. He also kicked four
extra points and ran in a
2-point conversion, yet
Johnson that doesn’t tell
the whole story of his con-
tribution to the team.
“99% of what Camp
does for our football team
can’t be summed up in
stats, because he’ll get his
touches on offense, he’ll
get his rushing and receiv-
ing yards, he’ll get picks
and tackles … all the stuff
you can put on paper,” said
Johnson. “But he’s the cog
that makes us go. He’s the
captain on defense. He
makes sure everyone on
offense knows what they’re
doing. He is an incredible
athlete and a really special
kid.”
Johnson also highlight-
ed two of his coaches on
the defensive side of the
ball and the work they did
having the players pre-
pared for the first game of
the season.
“We have Nick Johnson
as defensive coordinator.
For him to have the guys
that dialed in for week
one, well, I think it says
a lot about him. I think it
also says a lot about our
kids and the culture that
our coaching staff has
brought to the program,”
he said.
The team also added
Coach John Rose, who
“has paid dividends too
because he has the linemen
buying in,” said Johnson.
“They’ve been working
in the weight room, since
even before the summer,
and getting faster, stronger
and bigger. We just bullied
a 4A powerhouse team
that runs the ball down ev-
erybody’s throat, and they
(the Viking defense) had
no problem containing
them. That was awesome
for me defensively.”
Siuslaw will travel to
Sisters (0-1) for another
non-league match-up at 7
p.m. on Friday. The Out-
laws lost 16-7 at Madras
on Sept. 10 to open their
season. First-year coach
Clayton Hall is imple-
menting an offense that
will include multiple for-
mations and misdirection
and should be a good test
for the Viking defense.
Before coming to Sisters,
Hall coached at schools in
Utah and Oregon.
In other action of inter-
est from around the state,
the Viking’s future oppo-
nents had a bad night and
went a combined 1-3 with
only Gladstone winning,
21-20 over Astoria. 2A #2
Kennedy crushed 3A #2
Santiam Christian 31-0.
South Umpqua picked up
another big win, 48-0 over
Pleasant Hill. Also, La
Pine lost to Vale 20-14.
because they’re standouts,
they’re ready to rock no
matter how big the schools
are or what the competi-
tion is,” said Johnson. “For
some of our younger ath-
letes, it’s like going into a
tornado, but it’s something
they have to experience to
grow. Sometimes you’re
going to have to go into the
tornado.”
Hughes, a junior, was
the top runner for the Vi-
king boys. He finished in
16:29.60 for the 5000-me-
ter race. He was followed
close behind by Ulrich
with a time of 16:33.60.
“Sam is a junior and he’s
tough, always competes.
He had a great race. He ran
really smart, and he almost
caught Jack. Those guys
give us a great one-two
punch,” Johnson said.
Next for Siuslaw was
juniors Kyle Hughes and
Jacob Blankenship, who
ran 17:05.60 and 18:20.60
respectively. Rounding out
the Viking boys runners
were a trio of sophomores,
Dylan Jensen, Talen Ross
and Brayden Linton.
For the Viking girls,
the top runner was senior
Rylee Colton who finished
5000 meters in 20:56.40
Said Johnson, “Rylee,
who was fifth place at state
last year … was great. Her
first mile was not where
she needed to be, but she
moved up great after that.
After the race, we talked,
and both agreed that she
can be more aggressive.”
The rest of the Siuslaw
girls team runners were all
underclassmen. Freshman
Addison McNeill, running
her first high school race,
finished next for the Viks
at 22:48.40 followed by
sophomore Jane Lacouture
at 22:56.40. Freshman Mya
Wells and Macy McNeill
were next with Corduroy
Holbrook rounding it out
the Siuslaw runners.
Johnson was impressed
by these first time compet-
itors.
“For three of them, this
was their very first high
school cross country race.
They ran well. They moved
up throughout the race. I
think we set ourselves up
to continue to get better
and better and more and
more experienced,” said
Johnson.
The coach is not worried
about the results of this
early competition.
“All these races we have
are just chances to run, to
train, to get faster, to get
experience and to prepare
ourselves for when we ‘but-
ter our bread,’ which is the
district meet. Then hope-
fully after that, state. Foot-
ball, volleyball, baseball or
basketball, they must win
games in the regular sea-
son to advance the post-
season. We’re going to the
post season regardless of
what we do,” said Johnson.
Siuslaw will get another
chance at preparation on
Saturday at the Northwest
Cross Country Classic at
Lane Community College
in Eugene, the same course
where the district and state
meets are held.
“The way I write train-
ing, we’re not really ready
to race fast. Mid to late
October is about when we
start hitting full stride, so to
speak. Having a chance to
go to the Northwest Clas-
sic and compete against
just our own classification
and smaller is good, and
we get a chance to go to
the location of the district
and state meet without
the grinder of district and
state meet competition,”
said Johnson. “There’s no
pressure really. It’s also a
great course for spectators
because you can see every-
thing. It’s wide open on the
track.”
For results for last week-
end and future races, go to
www.athletic.net/Cross-
C ountr y/S chool.aspx?-
SchoolID=183.
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