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ENLARGE
ROBIN LOZNAK/The News-Review
Sutherlin High School's Chris Mock passes while being rushed by Ontario's Matt Anthony in the second half of their OSAA State Playoff quarter final game at Sutherlin High School on Saturday.
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ENLARGE
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ROBIN LOZNAK/The News-Review
Sutherlin High School's Brian Andry gets around Ontario's Chase Fields during the first half of their OSAA State Playoff quarter final game at Sutherlin High School on Saturday.
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SUTHERLIN — Containing star running back Frank Lopez does not necessarily mean containing the Ontario football team.
Sutherlin achieved its two primary goals in their state quarterfinal game Saturday by stifling the No. 2 rusher in Class 4A and holding an edge in ground yardage. But the No. 6-ranked Tigers made up for it with a handful of star performances in a 35-16 win.
Matt Anthony scored three touchdowns, Josh Mejia made several spectacular throws and Nico Martinez sparked two trick plays as No. 6-ranked Ontario (10-1) clinched its third semifinal berth in four seasons.
The Tigers took the lead for good just with 11 seconds left in the second quarter on Jordan Lang's 13-yard fourth-down reception from Mejia, then Anthony scored a long TD run on the first drive of the second half to take control.
“We have other weapons,” said Anthony, who rushed for 73 yards and had two receptions for 80 more. “When Frank was getting the focus of the defense, we had other people step up and contribute.”
Ontario will face No. 1 Marist (12-0) — a 30-22 winner over Central — on Saturday at a site to be determined. Baker and Phoenix are in the other semifinal.
The Bulldogs (5-6), who were knocked out of the quarterfinals by Ontario 55-7 two seasons ago, looked poised for an upset early.
Sutherlin responded to Ontario's first score — a 16-yard Anthony TD run — with an 11-play, 74-yard scoring drive. From the Ontario 34, quarterback Chris Mock executed a play-action fake and sent a perfect strike to fullback Kyle Jaukkuri, who was wide open and walked into the end zone.
The Tigers false-started on the conversion, and set up from the 1 1/2 yard line, Sutherlin decided to go for two. Mock fumbled the snap, but jumped on the ball in the end zone as the Bulldogs took an 8-7 lead.
“At that point we have the lead, have the momentum and it felt like we were outplaying them,” Sutherlin coach Josh Gary said. “When they score on the sideline on fourth down, it was a pretty big swing.”
On Ontario's drive into the red zone before halftime, Lang held onto a third-down reception despite a vicious hit from Dirk Kats. Sutherlin thought it recovered a Tiger fumble, but officials ruled Lopez was down before he lost control.
With 11.7 seconds left and facing a fourth-and-8 from the 13, Ontario elected to go for it rather than kick a field goal. Mejia rolled out on a bootleg and shot the ball to a leaping Lang, who dragged one foot inbounds for the TD and a 14-8 lead.
“The kids wanted to go for it in that situation and I trusted them,” said Ontario coach Randy Waite, who was an assistant coach with Roseburg last season. “Jordan made a great play. Plus on a field like this, you can't count on field goals.”
Sutherlin's field was a mud pit, gouged between the hashes and each end zone despite not having hosted a game since Oct. 31. Players and coached stood in oozing mud and parts of the sideline had standing water.
“I think we worried about the field too much in the first half,” Anthony said. “Once we got it out of our heads and just played football we did a lot better.”
Ontario's first drive in the third quarter stalled after three downs, but Martinez, a rugby-style punter, was able to convert a fourth-and-3 run. Given new life, the Tigers scored out of their fly sweep as Anthony sprinted 52 yards up the left sideline.
The Tigers pulled off an improbable triple-reverse, eventually resulting in a 35-yard TD pass from Mejia to Martinez that made it 28-8 late in the third quarter.
“That's been one of those plays we've done all season and it usually catches teams off guard,” Waite said. “It's something fun that we do with the kids, and if we pull it off it's pretty devastating.”
Martinez would later add an interception, Sutherlin's first turnover since Oct. 24.
After gaining 149 yards in the first half, Sutherlin was held largely in check in the second — save for a last-minute scoring drive.
“Ontario was the best tackling team we've faced by far,” Gary said. “We've been able to run the ball all season. Even when teams have put eight or nine guys in the box, it hasn't mattered until today.”
Mock, largely a field general in Sutherlin's run-heavy offense, threw his third TD pass in the last three games and almost had a fourth late as Tony Guillen was shoved out of bounds at the 1 after a 24-yard gain. Guillen punched it in with 1:04 to play and Brian Andry added a conversion pass.
Andry finished with 104 hard-earned rushing yards on 19 carries in his final game for Sutherlin. He finished the season with 1,429 yards. Nick Bradley had 41 yards on 11 carries.
Aside from Andry and Bradley, the Bulldogs lose only two-way starters Jim Henry and Kats, receiver Chris Fisher and Guillen to graduation. Sutherlin rebounded from a 1-3 start, nearly upset then-No. 3 Douglas (Far West champion) and knocked out routed favored Henley in the second round of the playoffs to match its best playoff run in school history.
“We get a lot of people back, but the seniors will be tough to replace,” Gary said. “They're as good a group of seniors as we've had.”
• You can reach sports reporter Rob McCallum by e-mail at rmccallum@nrtoday.com, or by phone at 957-4221.
Ontario 7 7 14 7 — 35
Sutherlin 0 8 0 8 — 16
1st: O — Anthony 16 run (Fields kick). 2nd: S — Jaukkuri 34 pass from Mock (Mock run); O — Lang 13 pass from Mejia (Fields kick). 3rd: O — Anthony 52 run (Fields kick); O — Martinez 35 pass from Mejia (Fields kick). 4th: O — Anthony 55 pass from Mejia (Fields kick); S — Guillen 1 run (Andry pass from Mock).
Ont. Sut.
First Downs 14 14
Total Net Yards 315 257
Rushes-Yards 37-147 43-176
Passing Yards 168 81
Comp-Att-Int 7-9-0 4-7-1
Fumbles-Lost 2-0 0-0
Punts-Avg. 2-35.5 1-40.0
Penalties-Yards 4-20 4-20
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Ontario, Anthony 10-73; Lopez 18-58; Mejia 5-12, Martinez 1-4; Gonzalez 1-2; Fields 1-1; Lande 1-(minus) 3. Sutherlin, Andry 19-104; Bradley 11-41; Guillen 4-12; Jaukkuri 3-10; Mock 6-9.
PASSING — Ontario, Mejia 7-9-0-168. Sutherlin, Mock 5-7-1-81.
RECEIVING — Ontario, Anthony 2-80; Lang 4-53; Martinez 1-35. Sutherlin, Jaukkuri 2-54; Guillen 1-24; Bradley 1-3.
Sutherlin achieved its two primary goals in their state quarterfinal game Saturday by stifling the No. 2 rusher in Class 4A and holding an edge in ground yardage. But the No. 6-ranked Tigers made up for it with a handful of star performances in a 35-16 win.
Matt Anthony scored three touchdowns, Josh Mejia made several spectacular throws and Nico Martinez sparked two trick plays as No. 6-ranked Ontario (10-1) clinched its third semifinal berth in four seasons.
The Tigers took the lead for good just with 11 seconds left in the second quarter on Jordan Lang's 13-yard fourth-down reception from Mejia, then Anthony scored a long TD run on the first drive of the second half to take control.
“We have other weapons,” said Anthony, who rushed for 73 yards and had two receptions for 80 more. “When Frank was getting the focus of the defense, we had other people step up and contribute.”
Ontario will face No. 1 Marist (12-0) — a 30-22 winner over Central — on Saturday at a site to be determined. Baker and Phoenix are in the other semifinal.
The Bulldogs (5-6), who were knocked out of the quarterfinals by Ontario 55-7 two seasons ago, looked poised for an upset early.
Sutherlin responded to Ontario's first score — a 16-yard Anthony TD run — with an 11-play, 74-yard scoring drive. From the Ontario 34, quarterback Chris Mock executed a play-action fake and sent a perfect strike to fullback Kyle Jaukkuri, who was wide open and walked into the end zone.
The Tigers false-started on the conversion, and set up from the 1 1/2 yard line, Sutherlin decided to go for two. Mock fumbled the snap, but jumped on the ball in the end zone as the Bulldogs took an 8-7 lead.
“At that point we have the lead, have the momentum and it felt like we were outplaying them,” Sutherlin coach Josh Gary said. “When they score on the sideline on fourth down, it was a pretty big swing.”
On Ontario's drive into the red zone before halftime, Lang held onto a third-down reception despite a vicious hit from Dirk Kats. Sutherlin thought it recovered a Tiger fumble, but officials ruled Lopez was down before he lost control.
With 11.7 seconds left and facing a fourth-and-8 from the 13, Ontario elected to go for it rather than kick a field goal. Mejia rolled out on a bootleg and shot the ball to a leaping Lang, who dragged one foot inbounds for the TD and a 14-8 lead.
“The kids wanted to go for it in that situation and I trusted them,” said Ontario coach Randy Waite, who was an assistant coach with Roseburg last season. “Jordan made a great play. Plus on a field like this, you can't count on field goals.”
Sutherlin's field was a mud pit, gouged between the hashes and each end zone despite not having hosted a game since Oct. 31. Players and coached stood in oozing mud and parts of the sideline had standing water.
“I think we worried about the field too much in the first half,” Anthony said. “Once we got it out of our heads and just played football we did a lot better.”
Ontario's first drive in the third quarter stalled after three downs, but Martinez, a rugby-style punter, was able to convert a fourth-and-3 run. Given new life, the Tigers scored out of their fly sweep as Anthony sprinted 52 yards up the left sideline.
The Tigers pulled off an improbable triple-reverse, eventually resulting in a 35-yard TD pass from Mejia to Martinez that made it 28-8 late in the third quarter.
“That's been one of those plays we've done all season and it usually catches teams off guard,” Waite said. “It's something fun that we do with the kids, and if we pull it off it's pretty devastating.”
Martinez would later add an interception, Sutherlin's first turnover since Oct. 24.
After gaining 149 yards in the first half, Sutherlin was held largely in check in the second — save for a last-minute scoring drive.
“Ontario was the best tackling team we've faced by far,” Gary said. “We've been able to run the ball all season. Even when teams have put eight or nine guys in the box, it hasn't mattered until today.”
Mock, largely a field general in Sutherlin's run-heavy offense, threw his third TD pass in the last three games and almost had a fourth late as Tony Guillen was shoved out of bounds at the 1 after a 24-yard gain. Guillen punched it in with 1:04 to play and Brian Andry added a conversion pass.
Andry finished with 104 hard-earned rushing yards on 19 carries in his final game for Sutherlin. He finished the season with 1,429 yards. Nick Bradley had 41 yards on 11 carries.
Aside from Andry and Bradley, the Bulldogs lose only two-way starters Jim Henry and Kats, receiver Chris Fisher and Guillen to graduation. Sutherlin rebounded from a 1-3 start, nearly upset then-No. 3 Douglas (Far West champion) and knocked out routed favored Henley in the second round of the playoffs to match its best playoff run in school history.
“We get a lot of people back, but the seniors will be tough to replace,” Gary said. “They're as good a group of seniors as we've had.”
• You can reach sports reporter Rob McCallum by e-mail at rmccallum@nrtoday.com, or by phone at 957-4221.
Ontario 7 7 14 7 — 35
Sutherlin 0 8 0 8 — 16
1st: O — Anthony 16 run (Fields kick). 2nd: S — Jaukkuri 34 pass from Mock (Mock run); O — Lang 13 pass from Mejia (Fields kick). 3rd: O — Anthony 52 run (Fields kick); O — Martinez 35 pass from Mejia (Fields kick). 4th: O — Anthony 55 pass from Mejia (Fields kick); S — Guillen 1 run (Andry pass from Mock).
Ont. Sut.
First Downs 14 14
Total Net Yards 315 257
Rushes-Yards 37-147 43-176
Passing Yards 168 81
Comp-Att-Int 7-9-0 4-7-1
Fumbles-Lost 2-0 0-0
Punts-Avg. 2-35.5 1-40.0
Penalties-Yards 4-20 4-20
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Ontario, Anthony 10-73; Lopez 18-58; Mejia 5-12, Martinez 1-4; Gonzalez 1-2; Fields 1-1; Lande 1-(minus) 3. Sutherlin, Andry 19-104; Bradley 11-41; Guillen 4-12; Jaukkuri 3-10; Mock 6-9.
PASSING — Ontario, Mejia 7-9-0-168. Sutherlin, Mock 5-7-1-81.
RECEIVING — Ontario, Anthony 2-80; Lang 4-53; Martinez 1-35. Sutherlin, Jaukkuri 2-54; Guillen 1-24; Bradley 1-3.
