By PAUL DELANEY
Staff Reporter
It took just 15 seconds for Medical Lake to get on the scoreboard against the Oroville Hornets last Friday in a non-league football game in Oroville.
As it turned out the Cardinals needed to squeeze out every point possible in posting a record-setting 67-42 non-league road win.
According to school sources, the previous high for points in a Medical Lake football game came in 1998 when the Cards scored 55 against Newport.
“We went out and watched some pre-game,” Cardinal head coach Rick Olson said. “They will kick a ball that we will be able to catch and return.”
And Musser delivered. The senior wide-out took the opening kickoff back 84 yards to help stake Medical Lake to a 15-0 lead. It was the first of four touchdowns on the night for Musser who helped Medical Lake go to 2-1. The Cardinals now begin Great Northern League play against defending champ Colville this Friday at home.
“It was one of those situations where it just kind of ignited the sidelines,” Olson said. Brendan Heikkila scored the second TD on a 19-yard pass from Nick Pacheco with 4:48 to go in the first.
Medical Lake went up 28-6 with quick scores, just 1:47 apart, from Shane Forrester, a 47-yard scamper, and Heikkila's 15-yard run. Oroville would quickly cut the margin to 28-20 on scores three minutes apart.
Musser would take over and score the next three straight.
One score came with 1:36 to play in the half and gave the Cards a 34-20 halftime lead. Musser then added a pair of touchdowns 1:16 apart late in the third to put his team up 47-20. The Hornets and Cardinals traded TDs a minute apart with Nick Pacheco racing 59 yards with 1:13 to play for what would be an insurmountable 54-28 margin as the third quarter came to an end.
The teams traded points in the fourth. Steven Schartz ran 15 yards to send his team up 61-28 and Jarrod Swanson closed out the fireworks on a 45-yard run with 1:39 to go.
For such a dominating performance on the scoreboard, the Cardinals really didn't show it in the team stats. Oroville out gained ML 526 to 474 in total offense with the Hornets rushing for 457 yards on 73 carries. Oroville had a huge 26 to 14 margin in first downs.
Medical Lake did, however, shut down a usually potent Oroville passing game, limiting the 0-3 Hornets to three completions in 11 attempts and just 52 yards.
While his offense seems to be running well, defense is still a concern to Olson. “We're just making too many mental mistakes in terms of alignments, assignments,” the coach said.
“They (Oroville) basically ran a wishbone offense, a triple option type look,” Olson said. “When we got the dive and the quarterback cancelled, we forgot to cancel the pitch. Then we got the dive and the pitch cancelled we forgot to cancel the quarterback.”
As they look ahead to Colville, Medical Lake will see a team that is similar to Columbia of White salmon who handed the Cards a big 46-13 loss two weeks ago.
“Colville is identical to Columbia,” Olson said.
“Everything we saw against Columbia, we'll see against Colville.”
“We have to stop (Casey) Cox, their fullback,” Olson said.
Medical Lake will also have to stop their mis-direction.
“Colville runs a double tight end, double wing, toss the ball up your throat. They do a pretty good job of that.
They're a little bigger. Hopefully we'll do some things to offset that size difference.”
The Cardinals have played the last two games without opening night sparkplug, Joe Wilson who scored four touchdowns against Davenport. Wilson suffered a back injury in the opener and has been limited in his practice time.
He appears to have more than ample backup from Heikkila, not to mention the Fly Sweep Guy, Musser.
Where Olson has concerns about the defense, he's pleased with what he sees offensively. “The biggest thing is we're executing,” Olson said.
“If we would have taken the same approach in the Columbia game it would have been a different outcome.”
Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected]
Med. Lk. 15 19 20 13 – 67
Oroville 6 14 8 14 – 42
Scoring: Musser 4, Heikkila 2, Pacheco 1, Schartz 1, Swanson 1. Rushing: Musser 7-86, Forrester 6-74, Pacheco 4-62, Swanson 3-58. Passing: Pacheco 3-3-85, Hill 1-1-35.
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