NICK ALFIERI'S NEWS
Jesuit Routs McKay
Jesuit Routs McKay
BEAVERTON – Speed kills.
The McKay football team found that out the hard way in the first round of the Class 6A state playoffs on Friday when Jesuit raced past the Royal Scots 41-0 at Jesuit High School.
The Crusaders, Metro League champions and ranked second in the latest AP Poll, racked up 302 yards rushing on Friday and used their speed and power to punish McKay all night long. Jesuit won for the ninth straight time (its only loss was a 17-0 season-opening defeat to Washington’s powerful Skyline High School) and improved to 9-1, while the unranked Scots, the fourth-place finishers from the Central Valley Conference, ended their season at 4-6.
“Our defense played really well,” said Jesuit senior linebacker Taylor Martinek, who picked off a McKay pass for one of the three turnovers forced by the Crusader ‘D.’ “It kind of started us off and then our offense got rolling.”
“Our defense is playing outstanding right now,” said senior running back Keanon Lowe, who finished with 138 yards rushing and three touchdowns on seven carries. “Our coaches did a great job of game planning for McKay and our offense is clicking too.”
Indeed. There just wasn’t much stopping Jesuit on Friday. The Crusaders capped their first drive with a 25-yard end-around by Lowe – a two-time Metro 100-meters champion – a scenario that would repeat itself twice more in the game.
Then, following a Jesuit interception by Nick Alfieri — he tipped the ball into the air away from the receiver and then caught it himself while falling to the ground – that stopped McKay’s first series, Lowe took a reverse on second down and raced 34 yards to score and make Jesuit’s lead 14-0.
Alfieri and the Jesuit defense stepped up again on McKay’s next possession. Alfieri delivered a hit on Scots’ quarterback Ian Silbernagel that forced a fumble recovered by teammate Doug Brenner at the Jesuit 37-yard line early in the second quarter.
The Jesuit offense took advantage again, using Talley to great effect on its ensuing drive. He carried seven times for 53 yards on the march, eventually scoring the first of his three TDs from one yard out to make it 20-0.
Jesuit’s third takeaway — this one Martinek’s interception with 4:13 left in the opening half — set up Talley’s 29-yard TD run over right tackle and boosted Jesuit’s edge to 27-0. Lowe then extended the gap to 34-0 1:23 later when — following a quick stop by the Jesuit ‘D’ — he took a pitch from quarterback Jeff Elorriaga and went 19 yards around right end to score.
Talley tacked on a 23-yard scoring run in the third quarter to boost the second-ranked Crusaders’ edge to the final 41-0 margin. Talley finished Friday night’s game with 137 yards on 14 carries.
“We just wanted to come out tonight and get off the ball and get after their defense,” said senior lineman Ryan McGrain. “And then we wanted to make sure that in the second half we just kept going at them and make sure we got the ‘W.’”
McKay’s best scoring chances came at start of the second quarter when it drove 49 yards to the Jesuit 30 before coming apart with a penalty and a fumble, and at the end of the game when it marched down to the Crusaders’ 3-yard line on the final play.
On Friday: Jesuit advances to the second round of the playoffs, where it will travel to South Medford (7-3) for a 7 p.m. game against the Panthers at Medford’s Speigelberg Stadium.
Read more about this news here: http://www.beavertonvalleytimes.com/sports/story.php?story_id=125865497683321700
