BEAVERTON — The best thing the Silverton Foxes did Friday night was keep the football away from the Mountainside Mavericks.
Silverton didn’t hog the ball the entire game, just during one key stretch from the final minute of the second quarter to the final minute of the third quarter that helped lift the Foxes to a 24-21 non-conference victory over the Mavericks at Mountainside High School.
Silverton quarterback Sawyer Teeney threw two touchdown passes and ran for a third on a night when the Foxes of the 5A Midwestern League were every bit as physical —and in some instances more so — than the Mavericks of the 6A Metro League.
“It feels great,” Teeney said of his team’s performance. “It shows a lot of maturity from our guys that we can stay disciplined and keep the ball safe down the stretch.
“Sometimes we might be underdogs, but you know we’ll still come out and put up a big fight and stay true to who we are.”
Did Teeney honestly think the Foxes were the underdogs?
“I do,” he said. “I know Mountainside’s a big school. They were like, ‘Oh, they’re just a bunch of farmers coming from Silverton. What can they do?’ And we just played with a chip on our shoulder and kept fighting.”
The Mavericks got the ball twice in the fourth quarter with a chance to tie the game with a field goal or take the lead with a touchdown, but fell short both times.
“That was a tough game for us,” Mountainside coach Keanon Lowe said. “I feel for the kids. We played a really good, tough program and things didn’t go our way.”
Tied at 14-14, Silverton closed the first half with six-play, 71-yard drive that ended with Caden Druliner kicking a 34-yard field goal on the final play of the half to give the Foxes a 17-14 lead.
The Foxes then took the second-half kickoff and went on a 14-play, 83-yard scoring drive that ate 7:35 off the clock. Teeney went 4-for-4 passing for 38 on the drive and then finished it with a 1-yard touchdown run that made it 24-14 with 4:25 left in the third quarter.
Silverton then executed an onside kick with Daniel Kuenzi pouncing on the ball for the Foxes at the 50-yard line.
The Foxes ran another six plays and burned another 3:39 off the clock before the drive stalled. With 46 seconds to play in the third quarter, they punted the ball back to Mountainside.
Quarterback Cade Mitchell led the Mavericks on an 18-play, 86-yard drive that ended with tailback Jordan Hicks scoring on a 2-yard pass that cut the deficit to 24-21 with 8:05 remaining in the fourth quarter.
After another Silverton punt, Mountainside got the ball back at its own 35 with 2:38 to play. Mitchell completed one pass to Sean Gerigk for 11 yards, but then threw too high for Kellen Hicks on fourth-and-12, turning the ball back to Silverton with 1:44 left.
The Foxes ran three plays before taking a penalty for delay of game, setting up a fourth-and-18 with two seconds remaining. Teeney then received a shotgun snap and took a couple of steps backward before falling to the ground at the Silverton 40.
The scoreboard clock which had shown “0:02” before the ball was snapped now showed “2” after the play was whistled dead. No zeroes. No colon. Just a “2,” which referee Doug Phillips and his crew decided meant there was still time for Mountainside to run one more play.
Mitchell completed a short pass to Gerigk, who was taken down almost immediately as time expired.
“We had a chance at the end,” Lowe said. “I’m just really proud of our boys. They battled through and gave themselves a chance — one play at the end of the game to win the game. That’s all you can ask for in the game of football.
“Football is a tough sport. We had the ball for less than a minute in the third quarter and a lot of that was plays by Silverton. They made the plays when they needed to, so much respect.”
Penalties added to Mountainside’s struggles, too. In the first half, the Mavericks were whistled 13 times and drew 133 yards in penalties. Silverton’s first scoring drive was aided by three Mountainside personal fouls — two for facemasking and one for roughing the passer. Another personal foul set up Teeney’s 23-yard touchdown pass to Sutton Kuenzi that made it 14-7 in the second quarter. And three more Mountainside penalties resulted in three more first downs during the drive that ended in Druliner’s go-ahead field goal to end the half.
“I felt like we played a little bit cleaner game than the penalties suggest,” Lowe said.
Perhaps, but some of the Mavericks’ penalties may have been out of frustration, and some of that may have started with Silverton gaining an edge where it mattered most — in the trenches and at the point of attack.
“The line up front did really great,” Teeney said. “They held it down all night and sometimes the first guy to touch some of our running backs was after eight or 10 yards. It was just great.”
Lever agreed that the Foxes' starting offensive linemen — center Kane Mack, guards Brash Henderson and Oliver Zurgrugg, and tackles Gavin Black and Eli Willis — for setting the tone early and maintaining an edge throughout the game.
“Everybody thinks the game of football is about skill, but it’s not,” Lever said. “It’s about the guys you never hear about — the guys with their hands in the dirt. And those guys got it done for Silverton tonight. That’s who we are. We are blue-collar, hard-hat, lunch-pail-type people.
“Opening the second half with a seven-minute drive and then stealing another possession on a surprise and stealing basically the rest of the quarter was a key. When that happens to you, you get pretty antsy on offense, wanting to go down and score real quick. Sometimes you’re not just taking what the other team gives you. You’re trying to force stuff.
“So, I think the keys to the game came down to physicality, defense, and ball control — kind of an old-school football win.”
Silverton ran 60 plays and finished with 307 yards of offense. Teeney completed 14 of 19 passes for 134 yards, with touchdowns to Brody Kuenzi and Sutton Kuenzi. Daniel Kuenzi led the Foxes' ground attack with 16 carries for 97 yards, and Max Mulick was the top receiver with three catches for 37 yards.
Mountainside ran 48 plays and gained 319 yards offense. Mitchell completed 19 of 31 passes for 241 yards, Jordan Hicks rushed for 57 yards on 12 carries, and Kellen Hicks caught three passes for 132 yards.
Next up, Mountainside (0-1) plays at Oregon City (1-0) in non-conference action, while Silverton (2-0) plays host to Lake Oswego (2-0) in another 5A vs. 6A matchup.
“This win gives us a lot of confidence. I think we’ve got one of the toughest schedules in the state, so I think this game should give us confidence heading into next week’s game against Lake Oswego and then West Albany, who’s pretty dang good this year.”
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