Vikings in championship
Win is 10th straight for Vale
By Ronald Bond
Special to the Argus Observer
Sunday, November 25, 2007 1:21 AM PST
Cottage Grove - For the second time in three seasons, the Vale football team is headed back to the state championship game.
Tyler Pirrie rushed for two touchdowns, Jeff Williams and Luke Skerjanec added rushing scores of their own, and the Vikings trampled Clatskanie 37-6 Saturday in 3A semifinal action at Cottage Grove High School.
The win is the tenth in a row for the Vikings, who will now face either Gold Beach or Rainier next Saturday in Hillsboro for the state championship.
“I’m pretty excited,” Skerjanec, who rushed for 58 yards on eight carries, said. “I think everybody on this team worked hard to get us here. Everybody on this team wants it (the state title). These seniors want to end off with a win.”
Cam Anthony put the Vikings on the board with 4:40 left in the opening quarter, picking off a pass from Clatskanie quarterback KC Taylor and returning it 45 yards for the score and a 6-0 lead.
An interception by Gabe Moreno on the first play of the second quarter set the Vikings up at their own 38-yard line. Vale followed with an 8-play, 62-yard drive that Williams finished off with a 2-yard touchdown plunge. Pirrie dove in for the 2-point conversion and a 14-0 lead.
A safety gave Vale a 16-0 lead less than three minutes later when Taylor was called for intentional grounding in the end zone, and Skerjanec added a 36-yard touchdown scamper to give Vale a 23-0 lead at the half.
Clatskanie, meanwhile, struggled to find any rhythm offensively, mustering just 37 total yards and turning the ball over three times in the first half.
Vale slammed the door on any comeback thoughts on the opening drive of the second half. Pirrie scored on a 38-yard run on which he juked a pair of Tiger defenders on his way to the end zone, capping a 71-yard drive and putting Vale up 30-0.
Clatskanie followed with a 10-play drive down to the Vale 11-yard line, but came up short, and Pirrie drove the final nail in with a 89-yard touchdown run on the next play for a 37-0 lead with 2:14 remaining in the third quarter. Clatskanie’s lone score came with 5:59 remaining on an 8-yard run by Jesse Oblack.
Vale pounded the ball on the ground to the tune of 321 rushing yards on 38 carries, with Pirrie leading the way with 141 yards on seven attempts. Williams added 17 carries for 93 yards on the ground, while Pirrie connected on 4-of-6 passes for 54 yards with an interception.
“Our kids are just tough kids,” Vale head coach Jeff Jacobs said. “They work hard, there cohesive, (and) they like each other. The idea about 11guys working together was pretty evident today and has been last 6 weeks of the season.”
Clatskanie finished with 178 yards total offense, and was led by Oblack, who rushed for 55 yards, and Luke Meyer, who added 49 yards on the ground.
“They had great defense,” Tiger head coach Brad Thorud said of Vale. “We just didn’t have any momentum and couldn’t put anything together. Vale’s a great football team. If you make mistakes they’ll make you pay for it.”
Clatskanie finishes its best season ever with a mark of 11-2, while Vale (10-2) will play for its first state title in 14 years next Saturday.
