Southern Oregon is a brand new team but they have some talent and some size. After some additional experience under their belts they are going to prove a force in the future. I expect them to compete well at the tier 3 level. After last week’s rebound against Tacoma, we were ready to build upon that momentum. We came into this game wanting to prove to ourselves that we can still make a run at this thing and it paid off with a 54-7 victory.
Our offense started fairly well with huge runs on the outside by Kiki Williams who ended up with 2 touchdowns and around 150 yards.Vanessa Caskey again ran the offense at quarterback and ended up with a solid day. She also played some corner on defense and made a couple nice pass deflections. McKenzie Tolliver set the tone early when Caskey hit her on a deep route, right on the sidelines, in stride, and she burst away from defenders for a bomb touchdown. She would later follow this up with a punt return for a touchdown.
Since the Portland game, we have gotten more confident on offense and it seems we have re-found our rhythm and identity.
Defensively, our run defense pretty much stopped anything on the ground. Southern Oregon likes to throw a lot so it was up to our secondary to make plays and that they did. Julia McComas had a pick 6 where she was in great position on the receiver, the pass was a little short, so she made a move on the ball to catch it at its peak, and then took off down the sideline for another touchdown.
The defensive front 7, seemed to gel well this game and was in the backfield a lot.
Our special teams also stepped up. We had the return from Mckenzie and also recovered an onside kick early in the 1st quarter which gave us great momentum in building our early lead.
One of the coolest things to me, is watching players develop. McKenzie was a solid safety last year and was in the top 2 in interceptions in the country. She is a natural ball hawk. Now, she is translating that onto the offensive side and has really had a coming out party the last 2 weeks on offense.
Mike Forston has also started to turn the corner. She also played safety mostly but is now starting to play some linebacker and is taking to the position. She reads and attacks outside runs very well. It’s fun to watch her getting excited over being physical.
This week we play at the Everett Reign. We beat them our first game of the year but we always enjoy playing them. There are lot of connections between the 2 teams and it should be fun to watch both sets of players develop. We look to continue our momentum and shore stuff up going into the home stretch of the season.
Here are the highlights of my sideline view of the game: