ADAIR VILLAGE — Santiam Christian wasted absolutely no time establishing who was who in the Eagles’ big senior-night showdown against Siuslaw on Friday night and put a 50-15 scar on the visitors.
The game had all the marks of a classic coast vs. valley brawl. Siuslaw was just coming off a 673-yard, 64-point thrashing of Harrisburg and stood at a solid 4-1 for the season. The Eagles, on the other hand, were still unbeaten at 5-0, hadn’t scored fewer than 39 points in any game and had allowed only 35 the whole year.
But this one was over after one magic Santiam Christian quarter, when the 3A second-ranked Eagles rolled to a 22-0 lead and proved its defense to be everything it was cracked up to be.
Actually, you could make a case that the game was over after the Eagles’ first play from scrimmage. Junior tailback Marcus Fullbright dived into a good hole, broke two arm tackles and was still increasing the distance between himself and the Siuslaw pursuit when he arrived at the end zone 71 yards later.
It was the first of his four touchdowns for the night. The game wasn’t even three minutes old at that point and Siuslaw was already in a hole.
“It was good to know that the line was doing a great job,” said Fullbright, who measures out at an even 6 feet and 175 points — not counting the 454-horsepower somewhere under his jersey, “and it was great when it all came together.
“It definitely set a tone, and it went to the entire team.”
On both sides of the ball, as it turned out. On Siuslaw’s third play after that, Vikings’ quarterback Elijah Blankenship threw into coverage and senior Eagles’ linebacker Luke Mehlschau picked it off.
It was the first of four Santiam Christian interceptions. In the first half alone.
That set his team up on the Siuslaw 30. The Eagles wriggled down to the Siuslaw 15, at which point sophomore quarterback Ely Kennel rode Fullbright into a hole, and when the entire Siuslaw student body landed on him, pulled the ball out and fled untouched for the touchdown with an even six minutes left in the period.
Santiam Christian (the announcer calls the team “SC” — and they looked the part Friday) intercepted again on the next Siuslaw drive. Kennel threw a wide-open swing pass to Garrett Cowan for a 15-yard touchdown and a 22-0 lead.
Fans, that was it. The Eagles got two more scores in the second quarter for a 36-0 lead it didn’t really need, but by then the game had everything but a headline.
It was eminently apparent that Siuslaw didn’t have anything but blanks in its ammunition belt. Santiam Christian was all over Blankenship and had him — and the rest of the Vikings — on the run the rest of the night. The Eagles seemed to know everything Siuslaw was going to do before the snap.
“We did pay well in that first quarter,” Eagles coach Matt Bain said. “You’re always hoping you’ll play well at the beginning. The wind must hav been blowing right because we came out pretty well.
“Last week we were terrible. We were making mistakes and mental errors. This week they were pretty crisp. That makes it a lot tougher for the visiting team. If we got things rolling right off the bat now they’re behind the eight ball.
“That was a great start and that creates a whole dynamic.”
At the center of the offensive dynamic is Fullbright, who scored six touchdowns against Pleasant Hill last week. The junior is excellent at reading his blocks at the line of scrimmage, and if he gets into the secondary he can downshift into a speed gear and outrun just about anybody. He had 151 yards on just eight carries in the first half alone.
“He’s a special back,” Bain said. “He can make people in a small space. He’s got a lot of things. There are a lot of backs who are quick and shifty and can get you 40 yards, but they can’t finish.
“But he can. When he has a hole, he can go.”
There wasn’t much need to even play the second half. The Eagles got two more touchdowns by the 5:39 point of the third quarter; that put it up to 50 points, which is past the point where running time takes over. Siuslaw scored its touchdowns against the Eagles’ junior varsity; at the end of the game, Santiam Christian had a 5-2, 110-pound freshman on the field.
Santiam, now 6-0 and behind only mighty Hidden Valley in the rankings, gets another biggie next week at Sutherlin, which put the wood to Harrisburg 45-7 Friday night. The game is in Sutherlin.
normmaves@yahoo.com
Subscribe
