GP Football: game rundowns

In this article, Dante will be giving a rundown of the Caveman games so far.

GP Caveman: Game Rundowns

Written by Dante Pierce

The Grants Pass football team is a great group of kids with lots of talent and the right coaching to be a successful team, although they are not off to a very hot start to the season. The Cavemen have played four games at the time of publishing and are sitting at 1-3 on the season, losing the last three games. The Cavemen are ranked 34th in the state, according to OSAA. At this point in the season, the Cavemen have a decision to make: they can turn their season around and fight for a playoff berth, or they can continue on the path they are on, staying out of the top 32 teams and falling short of earning a spot in the playoffs, as well as the Colombia cup.

The Cavemen played Del Norte to open up their season and came out with a win in front of their home crowd on Mel Ingram field. The Cavemen came out of the game with a 20-6 win over the Warriors. The defense held the run-heavy offense to six points in the first half and then shut Del Norte out throughout the whole second half. The game was all tied up until GPHS QB Nathan Bassett threw a 40+ yard touchdown to Troy Osborne to put the Cavemen up 13-6. Bassett had this to say about the throw: “I had been wanting to hit him all game, but they always had him covered, so I saw my opportunity and took it, thankfully he caught it and took it to the house.” In the fourth quarter, DB Tim Hart caught an interception thrown by the Warriors QB and took it all the way back to the house for a pick-six to close out the game and send the Warriors back to Del Norte with a loss.

In week two, the Cavemen traveled east-- all the way to Bend-- to play the Caldera Wolfpack. From the jump, the Cavemen were off to a slow start, going down early: 14-0 in the first quarter. Coming out of halftime, the Cavemen were down 7-21 and had a fighting chance to come back and win the ball game. However, the Cavemen were having a hard time coming together as one and playing as a team. Therefore, by the time the final horn sounded, the Cavemen were sent back to Grants Pass with a 14-34 loss, falling to 1-1 on the season. Troy Osborne said, "We beat ourselves, with the bickering and fighting, there's no way we should have lost to that team." But this turned out to only be the tip of the iceberg for the Cavemen.

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Week three was not much better for the Cavemen. They played for the second time this season in front of their home crowd against the South Salem Saxons. The Saxons came out hot, scoring two early; the Cavemen came out and put up a touchdown of their own, leaving them down only by three scores going into the half. Sadly, the Cavemen could not hold onto the momentum and the Saxon just kept on keeping on. The Cavemen fell just short again, falling to 1-2 for the season, after a 40-6 loss to the Saxon. According to coach Brad Page, “ We played hard, and played as a team, regardless of what the scoreboard says. I'm proud of how far this team has come in the past week.”

The Cavemen traveled up to Salem on the week of Sept. 29 to face the West Salem Titans. In the beginning, it was a back-and-forth game, with both teams turning the ball over their first possession. The Cavemen were on the one-yard line and were looking to punch it in, until they fumbled and the Titans took it the distance for a 99-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown. Unfortunately for the Cavemen, the scoring didn’t stop there. The Titans went on to put up 49 points to the Cavemen's 14, giving the Titans their first win of the season and giving the Cavemen their third loss of the season, falling to 1-3.

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As of right now, the Cavemen are set to play the North Medford Black Tornado, who are hot off of a win over the number-one team in the state. This is a must-win game for the Cavemen if they want to have any hope to make the playoffs or the Colombia cup in November at the end of the regular season.

Sources:

Brade Page
Troy Osborne
Nathan Bassett

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