Taft fights hard, but loses on the road at Stayton



In a seesaw gridiron battle, the Taft Tigers clawed their way to the lead three times, but ultimately lost their grip in a 28-19 loss at Stayton on Oct. 30.

John Wilkinson’s 15-yard touchdown pass to Jordan McNelly, followed by Ricky Nand’s extra point kick, gave the Tigers a 17-14 lead with 4:15 to play in the third quarter.

But Stayton answered with a Tyler Blythe 12-yard touchdown run on the last play of the third quarter and never trailed again. The Eagles put some distance between themselves and the Tigers as Evan Lindemann scored on a 5-yard touchdown run with 3:58 to play in the game.

Taft threatened to score late in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t convert, turning the ball over on downs. Stayton intentionally took a safety with 4.7 seconds on the clock, credited to Taft’s Trevor Knott.

“We played pretty well in some respects,” Coach Jack Wilkinson said. “In other respects, defensively, we kind of struggled a little bit at times. The kids battled so hard for the whole game. We came up a little short there at the end, but they felt OK about their performance, and so did I.”



Early lead



Taft got on the scoreboard first with Nand’s 27-yard field goal with 6:27 on the clock in the first quarter.

Stayton took a 7-3 lead on Sawyer Clark’s 10-yard touchdown run with 3:59 remaining in the second. But the Tigers took a 10-7 lead going into halftime on a 45-yard Wilkinson to Thomas Lovejoy pass play with 24.1 ticks on the clock.

Stayton reclaimed the lead with 7:49 to play in the third on Lindsmann’s 2-yard score, and Taft responded with Wilkinson’s touchdown to McNelly.

Wilkinson completed 12-of-26 passes for 227 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions. He carried seven times for 58 yards.

Joe Whitaker had 18 carries for 23 yards, and caught four passes for 57 yards. Josh Baker added one carry for 1 yard. Lovejoy had two grabs for 63 yards, while McNelly had three catches for 35 yards. Brock Martin caught two passes for 56 yards, and Nand added one for 16.

After a promising 3-1 start, the Taft Tigers have dropped five straight, and are 3-6 overall, 0-3 in Val-Co League play.

The Tigers host Newport tonight. The Cubs was 6-2 overall, 1-2 in league play, and still control their own destiny for the league’s final playoff spot.



Wait till next year



The Stayton game was a preview of sorts for two teams that will become part of a new six-team league (along with Newport, Central, Philomath, and Cascade) next year and beyond, called the Capital Coast League.

Stayton is 7-2 overall and 4-1 in Capital Conference play. The Eagles host North Marion tonight (Friday) for the Capital Conference title. North Marion is 7-2 overall, 4-1 in league and lost last time out to Cascade, the other newcomers to Taft and Newport’s league next season. Cascade is in the playoff hunt with a 6-3 record overall and 4-2 league record heading into their regular season finale, a non-league contest with Illinois Valley.



Jake Schubert is the sports reporter for the News-Times. He can be reached at 265-8571 ext. 221, or sports@newportnewstimes.com.