‘Let’s go rip their heads off!’ Sprague regroups at halftime, rallies past North Salem to boost playoff chances

“We’ve been counted out since the beginning of the year.”

By René Ferrán | Photos by Leon Neuschwander 

SALEM — The Sprague players trudged out of Olympic Stadium at halftime of Thursday night’s Special District 1 matchup trailing North Salem by six points, their playoff hopes teetering in the balance.

Because it was Homecoming night, they had extra time to stew about their first-half play in the locker room. 

“We were just getting as hyped as possible,” said senior lineman Cole Steketee. “And then we basically said, ‘Let’s go rip their heads off!’ …

“I took it personally. I was like, this is my Homecoming game! I don’t want to lose. So, I just got all the boys riled up, and we went after it.”

And in the second half, the Olympians revved up their running attack, with Steketee and company leading the way. They rushed for 146 yards in the second half and scored 19 consecutive points en route to a 26-19 victory that pumped fresh life into their postseason chances.

“That was the best our running game has been all year,” Steketee said. “They couldn’t stop us when it mattered. The running game was dominant. Our line got the job done, and our running backs did a hell of a job.”

The victory moved the Olympians (4-3, 3-2 SD1) into sole possession of the district’s fifth and final automatic state playoff berth — although Grants Pass could pass them with a victory Friday against South Medford.

More important, it vaulted them six spots in the OSAA rankings to No. 24 in advance of their annual rivalry game with South Salem, which could prove critical if they slip out of an automatic qualifying spot. 

“We’ve been counted out since the beginning of the year,” said senior Drew Rodriguez, who returned an interception 30 yards for a touchdown with 6:11 remaining. “They had us as the second-to-last team in the league, so it feels good to come out here and win.

“Now, we have a big game next week against a top-15 opponent, so we’re ready to go after them. If we can win, we can really solidify our spot. Championship bracket or not, I just want to play football. Let’s play more games, and let’s go win.”

Meanwhile, the Vikings (4-3, 2-3) fell out of the top five in the district standings, and at No. 28 with two weeks to go, they’ll need to bounce back next week against West Salem to secure a playoff spot for a second consecutive year.

“As a team, we shot ourselves in the foot too much,” said junior quarterback TC Manumaleuna II. “I felt like we could do better than this. We just need to rally our guys back up heading into next week’s game.”

The Vikings were without standout senior running back Josiah Davis for Thursday’s game, but they mixed and matched in their wing-T, spreading the ball to five backs and taking the lead on Jerrik Wangler’s 1-yard plunge 13 seconds into the second quarter.

They appeared poised to build on their halftime advantage on the opening drive of the third quarter, but a false start penalty (one of seven pre-snap penalties they committed) killed the drive in the red zone.

That’s when the Olympians’ running game hit another gear. Kenya Johnson ripped off a 20-yard run to kick off a six-play drive that ended with Barik Hill scoring from nine yards to tie the score at 13-13. 

After forcing a punt, Sprague moved from its 20 to the Vikings 7 — all on the ground — before Athan Palmateer hit Preston Simmons on a 19-yard seam route on fourth-and-goal to put the hosts back on top, 19-13, midway through the fourth.

“We really got the running game going in the second half,” Palmateer said. “The first half didn’t go how we wanted, but we stuck with it. Our O-line was blocking great, our running backs were running hard, and we made the most of what the defense gave us.”

On North Salem’s next possession, Rodriguez cut in front of a hitch route and juggled the ball for a couple of seconds before securing possession and sprinting to the end zone.

“Yeah, I overpursued it a little bit, but I bobbled it and took it to the house,” the Colorado State commit said.

The Vikings had one last chance. They took advantage of a short field following a celebration penalty on the touchdown to cut into the lead on Wangler’s 4-yard touchdown run with 4:32 to play. The Olympians chewed the remaining time off the clock, converting on third-and-21 when Palmateer hit Rodriguez in stride for 41 yards with 2:30 left.

“I saw they were sitting in a 2-shell, and I knew with the play we had called that Drew was going to come open in that second window,” Palmateer said. “As soon as I saw that, I just trusted him. I threw it, and he made a great play.” 

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Sprague 26, North Salem 19

North Salem – 7 – 6 – 0 – 6 — 19

Sprague – 7 – 0 – 6 – 13 — 26

First quarter

Spr — Casen Collins 19 run (Kenya Johnson kick), 7:34

NS — Erick Gonzalez 13 pass from TC Manumaleuna (Micah Richter kick), 2:02

Second quarter

NS — Jerrik Wangler 1 run (kick failed), 11:47

Third quarter

Spr — Barik Hill 9 run (kick failed), 5:25

Fourth quarter

Spr — Preston Simmons 19 pass from Athan Palmateer (run failed), 7:46

Spr — Drew Rodriguez 30 interception return (Johnson kick), 6:11

NS — Wangler 4 run (pass failed), 4:32

STATISTICS

RUSHING—North Salem: Richter 17-67, Wangler 14-55, Demari Thompson 4-21. Total 39-161. Sprague: Hill 16-102, Collins 3-45, Johnson 9-86. Total 33-227.

PASSING—North Salem: Manumaleuna 6-19-1-80. Sprague: Palmateer 8-12-0-135.

RECEIVING—North Salem: Gonzalez 3-34, Pierce Walker 3-46. Sprague: Rodriguez 3-78, Tyler Buchheit 3-23, Simmons 2-34.

DEFENSE—North Salem: Wangler 6 tackles; Gonzalez 6 tackles; Nevin Zeller 6 tackles; Enrike Aguiar sack, pass breakup. Sprague: Riley Penn 11 tackles; Rodriguez 5 tackles, interception; Hill 5 tackles; Collins 5 tackles; Josh Camillo 5 tackles.

FIRST DOWNS—North Salem 13, Sprague 17. FUMBLES-LOST—North Salem 1-0, Sprague 2-1. PENALTIES-YARDS—North Salem 13-103, Sprague 7-87.

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Leon Neuschwander, SBLive Sports