It was quite a game from the standpoint of a Fan. It had everything you could want. Huge hits, big plays, long passes, Fumbles taken to the house, two Pick Sixes, and some Pylon diving TD Runs. The Crater Versus Century Game was anything but boring last night at Hillsboro Stadium.
This was our first chance to see the #1 rated QB in the State; Sam Riddle. And he showed us the whole bag of tricks including some nice runs and a crazy air born Super Man Flight for the score. We also saw him throw as many picks in one Game as he has all season. But when you get right down to it he was playing to win. And in the end that is what you want in your QB.
3 Of the Picks we saw were balls that were tipped or deflected out in the coverage zones. There were two of them he should not have thrown and he knows it. The rest should have been caught or at the very least were plays where the defenders made stellar moves to catch tipped balls. Shaken visibly with the fact they had pulled out the win Riddle was emotional and overwhelmed.
"Those passes and us almost loosing this game is all on me," offered Sam. "That is all my fault. I am going back to work, going to get better, and that will never happen again."
But he had not need to apologize. Because it was his brilliant pass to Senior Tristan Howell out of play action that capped this game off in favor of the Jaguars 33-27 as time ran out. Sam went 27 of 50 for 335 yards and 3 TDs and ran several times including the Touchdown. He led the Jaguars on two scoring drives back to back to tie and then Win the game.
It was like watching two teams drawing up plays in the mud and going deep with the bomb every other play. That was fun for us fans and nerve racking on the Coaches and parents for sure. In total there were 9 interceptions and 2 or 3 fumbles.
Davey McCollum was one of several star for Crater who were stellar in a tough loss.
Crater's Ty Fox had flashes of brilliance at the QB spot but was picked multiple times by this tough and athletic Jaguar squad.
One of the reasons Riddle had a tough night was the Comets Secondary. Led by #88, RJ Morgan, this group came to play and laid some serous hits out in the passing land. Morgan is a 6'2"-215 Safety and was the most impressive coverage man we have seen all year. He towered over the Jaguars receiving core and there were at least a dozen passes missed because of him. You could see the Century receivers watching him with one eye and playing tentative to the ball. Especially after RJ laid out Tristan Howell at mid-field with a blow that would have rocked anyone. The footsteps were ominous.
Morgan is committed to Arizona on a Full Ride to play football next year. Joining him last night and at Arizona next year was his team mate Derrick Turituri. He is 6'2.5"- 225 Pounds and had equally huge plays for the Comets including a Touchdown Pass early in the game and a Fumble recover for TD after 54 yards of running in which opposing players bounced off of him.
Having seen all the Defensive stars this year in Oregon it is my opinion that these two guys are at the top of the 2013 Class of college bound Seniors in the Linebacker and Safety spot. They have the legit size and capability and should both be impact players in the Pac 12.
Century moves on to the Second Round of the OSAA 6 A Playoffs for the first time ever and they will face the Southridge Skyhawks who won the Metro League and are #1 on many analysts charts. No one wants to play them this time of the year.
Riddle passed 2,800 yards and should be at 40 TD's on the season.
Our analysis is this on Riddle. He has the fastest release of any one we have watched recently similar to Kolney Cassel of Eisenhower in Yakima who is heading to SMU. Sam is mobile with average speed and can run when he wants to or needs too. His accuracy is right on too. In this game he had some great reads and he reacts quick to coverages which Crater clearly was mixing and disguising from him.
The errant passes that were picked were circumstantial and of course you would prefer a star QB not ever throw them. But in this dog fight they were in he did his best work once he was down and had to win. When it is do or die time this kid shines. There were a lot of similarities to Brett Favre in terms of his "Damn-The-Torpedoes" approach. He was not going to loose this one and we suspect there will be many times in the future he will have similar games. Big Risk and Big Reward.
"We are brothers and every game is a chance to extend the brotherhood one more game," said Massive Offensive Linemen Alex Sirois. "We don't want to loose but more then that we don't want this to end."
A fun game with great plays and heart and soul laid out for all to see. This is why we thought this one was a classic High School Football game. Congrats to both teams on a great 2013 Campaign!
Here are pics from the Game for you all to enjoy:
Here is an interview with Sam Riddle:
And a Nice Interview with Xavier Mitchell- Who had some huge plays, an Interception, and a late TD catch in the deep corner for the tie.
And here is Alex Sirois who led the O'Line for Century:
