Players throughout the Northwest keep the game going
May 12, 2012 / By Cliff Pfenning, oregonsports.com
With all the publicity surrounding head injuries, it might be hard to believe football is played by men, and even women, who pay to play, but it happens.
It's all part of the passion the game ignites, from those who played in high school or college, and even some who find their way to an indoor team.
Football is alive and well in the Northwest as a contact sport thanks for minor league teams that play in a variety of leagues.
At oregonsports.com, we've focused on the Pacific Football League with its teams in Oregon and Washington, through the live webcast Pacific Football Weekly, which airs for the first time in 2012 on Wednesday night.
Viewers can follow the show on this page, and log into the UStream chat room to correspond with show hosts, Cliff Pfenning, Charlie Latt and Jaileene Eubanks, who will be recording the show from the Bulldog Tavern in downtown Portland.
PF WEEKLY: Kitsap County beats Southern Oregon, 28-14, for league title
By Cliff Pfenning, oregonsports.com
With offensive star EJ Ash held to just seven plays, the Kitsap County Bears used a stellar defensive effort to claim the Pacific Football League title with a 28-14 win over Southern Oregon Saturday at Silverdale Stadium in Bremerton, Wash.
The Bears stuffed the Southern Oregon running game, chased Southern Oregon quarterback Nate Ellis across the field and won the league's inaugural title.
Kitsap, which nabbed three interceptions, finished 12-1 on the season. Southern Oregon finished 11-2.
Both teams played in the North American Football League's Northwest Division last season. The PFL formed this season with teams from five different leagues, including seven from the Oregon Football League.
Kitsap got a big lift from Ken Jackson, who entered at quarterback in the second quarter and threw three touchdown passes, the second closing out a 7-play, 42-yard drive for a 14-7 lead. The scoring drive came after a momentum-swinging 50-yard punt return from Drew Jenkins after the Renegades had tied the score at 14.
Southern Oregon scored on a 32-yard interception return by John James.
Both teams expected Ash, the league's offensive MVP, to be out due to family duties - his daughters attending an elite track meet.
But he returned, for seven plays, before being injured on a run.
PRE GAME
Kitsap County will play host to Southern Oregon at 7 p.m. at Silverdale Stadium in Bremerton, Wash., but will likely be missing its top running back and receiver.
EJ Ash, who coaches voted the league's Offensive Player of the Year, will likely not be at the game, coach Joe Disney has reported, and Mike Bush will likely miss the game as well.
"Looks like no EJ or Mike Bush," Disney communicated Wednsday. "Things have taken a turn for the worse for us."
Both will likely be at family events.
Southern Oregon reported Thursday it expects most if not all of its roster to make the 8 hour drive to Bremerton, especially after raising funds during a car wash Wednesday.
"Everyone is gonna make it," fullback Alvin Thornton reported.
It'll be the first meeting of the year between the teams, but third in the past two seasons as they played twice last year within the NAFL.
The game will be webcast live on this page by oregonsports.com, beginning at 6:50 p.m.
The teams split those games from a year ago, each of them winning at home and they both finished 6-4 in the league behind unbeaten Bellingham, which went on to play for a national title in South Carolina.
Kitsap County figures to have the edge playing at home and with a stellar defense that's allowed just 7 points in two playoff games, but its offense helped keep its defense off the field. In a semifinals win over rival South King County, Ash helped the Bears roll up 239 yards on the ground in a 28-7 win.
The Bears enter the game at 11-1, having lost only at South King in their final regular season game.
Now, the edge in the game might be with Southern Oregon, which is highly familiar with close contests, having won nine of its 11 games by two scores or less, including three times by just a field goal.
Southern Oregon needed late scores to win its two playoff games on its home field, and scored 18 of its 21 points by or almost directly from its defense in Saturday's 21-6 win over Springfield. Quarterback Nate Ellis accounted for 177 yards through the air and on the ground to lead the team's offense.
The Renegades also enter the game at 11-1, having lost only to the Southern Division champion Portland Monarchs 13-10 midway through the seaon - before Ellis joined the team.
Pacific Football Weekly looks at Saturday games, announces awards
By Cliff Pfenning, oregonsports.com
The amazing, winning machine that had been the Portland Monarchs came to a thundering crash Saturday night when the Springfield Buzzards drive into Silverton and won 24-14 in the first round of the Pacific Football League playoffs.
Wow.
In the world of minor league football - and it stretches across the country - it was akin to Appalachian State beating Michigan at the start of the 2007 college football season.
So, what happened?
"We choked," coach Aaron Fentress told the Statesman-Journal's Pete Martini.
The Monarchs hadn't lost in the Northwest in nearly four years and were 10-0 in the PFL, 12-0 overall, this season with an eye on playing host to the title game and then heading to Las Vegas for a national championship-level game.
Gone.
Springfield, taking advantage of Fentress' move to bench starting quarterback Russell Schneider for the first quarter due to actions from the prevoius week's game, led 17-0 at the half and got a 75-yard scoring pass from Kurt Steele to Frankie Huson late in the game after the Monarchs had pulled to within 17-14.
And that wasn't the only thrilling game. Southern Oregon beat the visiting Portland Raiders when center Francis Sesepasara recovered a fumble from quarterback Nate Ellis and ran 40 yards for a score in the fourth quarter, turning a 12-8 deficit into a 15-12 win.
And, the South King Colts used a third-string quarterback, playing the position for just the first time this season, to beat visiting Yakima 20-14 in overtime.
In place of the Monarchs, the Buzzards, Renegades, Colts and Kitsap Bears, who beat the depleted Clark County Vipers 45-0, will duel the next two weeks for the league's inaugural title.
All three of the league's Portland-area teams lost Saturday.
Players from both the Colts and Bears, during a game July 9, had essentially said they weren't overly impressed with the Monarchs because they were still weeks away from a potential game and any team could beat any other team on a given day. That hadn't seemed very persuasive given the Monarchs' past and that they beat Springfield 42-8 jus a monther earlier.
But Springfield, which needed a win on the final week of the regular season just to finish fourth in the South, played like an underdog gone mad from the opening kick.
Eikeem Barron and Travis Warren both had long rushing scores and Travis Ratliff kicked a field goal for the 17-0 lead, and the Buzzards' defensive line, the strength of its team, continually harassed Schneider when he did return. That left the stage for Steele, who returned to the backfield from injury only three weeks ago, to hit Huson with the clincher - on fourth and inches from the team's 25.
"That play sealed the game for us," Huson, the team's tight end, said via electronic mail Sunday. "It feels great that we beat the No. 1 team in the nation."
"We feel like we have the talent to compete with anyone, and we showed that," Ratliff said Sunday. "It was great to get a win against a team like the Monarchs.
"Now we get the Renegades."
The Colts played their way into the Northern Division final when back-up quarterback Carl Sundquist hit tailback Carlos Clark with a 26-yard touchdown pass on the first drive of overtime. The Colts' regular-season starter, Leo Dickerson, was out of town and the team's starter, Micah Prescott, had suffered a slight leg injury that allowed Sundquist, who didn't get to the field until early in the second quarter due to a coaches' meeting at Green River Community College, to take over in the backfield.
Prescott finished with 97 yards and a touchdown on 4-of-8 passing, but 72 yards were on a screen pass that Clark turned from a big loss into a touchdown to tie the game at 7-all in the second quarter.
South King's Bradley Chappell broke through Yakima's interior defense for a 54-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, but Yakima tied the game with 44.8 seconds left on an 11-yard touchdown pass from John Lobbestael to Ryan Wright. South King won the overtime toss and scored in five plays, four of them runs that set up the touchdown pass.
South King and Kitsap will meet for the second time in three weeks, their game July 9 ending with a 38-20 win by the Colts. Kitsap played without several key players, though, and rallied from a 19-3 deficit to a 20-19 lead in the second half before South King rallied itself to victory.
Southern Oregon beat Springfield 21-6 in their earlier meeting on April 30 in Medford. But, neither team had its current starting quarterback. Springfield may have a bigger edge in Steele, who was a gruadate assistant coach for the Oregon State baseball team when it won the College World Series in 2007.
After three years of league championships, Portland Monarchs coach Aaron Fentress finally earned an award he’s been bypassed for – Coach of the Year – for the Pacific Football League’s inaugural season.
Fentress guided the Monarchs to a perfect season in which they won the Southern Division title and played just one game decided by fewer than three scores.
“It’s wonderful to see him get that award,” team co-owner Heath Wharton said in announcing the honor on behalf of the league. “He’s certainly put the work in to deserve it.”
Along with Coach of the Year, the league announced Team Sportsmanship of the Year, which went to the Grays Harbor Bearcats, who missed the playoffs with a 2-6 record in the Northern Division, but suffered their six losses by an average of less than a touchdown. The Bearcats finished as the only team in the league without a player ejected from a game.
The announcements precede the PFL All-League Team and player honors, which will be decided by Sunday and released on Pacific Football Weekly Monday evening.
The playoffs begin Saturday with four games: Clark County at Kitsap, Yakima at South King, Springfield at the Portland Monarchs and the Portland Raiders at Southern Oregon.
North Division teams jockey for spot to upend Portland's "Evil Empire"
By Cliff Pfenning, oregonsports.com
The Portland Monarchs entered the inaugural season of the Pacific Football League as the team to beat, and they're still the team to beat after 10 regular season games.
With South King County's win over Kitsap County, the Monarchs finished as the lone unbeaten team with an average margin of victory of 43 points. Only Southern Oregon, which finished 9-1, came close to beating the Monarchs, losing 13-10 in Medford while playing without its top two quarterbacks.
The Renegades finished with an average margin of victory of 18 points and won four of their games by 8 points or less. Southern Oregon faces the Portland Raiders, who they beat just 9-6, Saturday.
The Monarchs and the Northern Division's view of them will be the focus of discussion during tonight's Pacific Football Weekly webcast from Portland's OnDeck Sports Bar and Grille. The webcast will include video and comments from both the Kitsap-South King game as well as the Monarchs win over the Portland Raiders.
The webcast is set to begin at 8:30 p.m., and can be viewed on this page.
Kitsap (9-1) and South King (8-2) earned homefield advantage for the playoffs, which begin Saturday with division semifinals. The division finals are July 23 with the title game July 30. The Monarchs, who play at Silverton High School, have homefield advantage throughout the playoffs.
South King enters Saturday's semifinals with the most interesting match-up as they face Yakima, which they lost to 20-15 at home in the third week of the season.
The Monarchs play host to Springfield and Kitsap plays host to the Clark County Vipers, who've scored just 6 points in the last two games, in Saturday's other two games.
The Monarchs have yet to play Kitsap, but did face both Yakima and South King during the season. They beat Yakima 48-2 in the Border War, April 16, and South King, 49-27, June 11. Yakima's loss was part of three-straight losses, but since then the Mavericks are 7-1 and have three shutouts.
Saturday's Monarchs-Raiders game should be penalty-free
The expected verbal bravado that makes much of the sports world dance stayed away from Tuesday's edition of Paciific Football Weekly, which featured the Portland Monarchs and Portland Raiders.
The Monarchs beat the Raiders 69-15 in the second week of the PFL season and haven't lost a league game in either the PFL or OFL in four seasons.
The Raiders, who were winless on the field last year, have secured a playoff spot and are likely to finish third in the Southern Division, but are looking for some revenge and playoff momentum when the teams meet at 6 p.m. at Rex Putnam High School in Milwaukie.
The show's biggest prediction came from Raiders receiver Rodney Guy, who told the Monarchs in attendance he'd collect at least 100 yards in receiving yards.
Other games with playoff implications that came up during the webcast were Yakima at Clark County, the Oregon Outlaws playing host to the Springfield Buzzards, High Desert at Klamath and Grays Harbor at South Sound.
Both Yakima and Springfield can wrap up a playoff spot with a win. Also, Kitsap County’s game at South King could factor into the North Division playoff seeding in a big way. If the visiting Bears win, Yakima can wind up as the No. 2 team in the North with a win at Clark County, which has been reeling since a season-ending injury to quarterback Kyle English.
Klamath, which opened the season at 0-4, can move into third in the South with a win and losses by Springfield and the Raiders.
South Sound can only qualify with a win and a Yakima loss.
The playoffs among the top four teams in each division begin July 16.
PFWeekly: Portland vs. Portland gets plenty of smack talk
By Cliff Pfenning, oregonsports.com
The Portland Raiders are in the PFL playoffs, but not much is expected from them in the Southern Division because they'd run into the Portland Monarchs on the way to the league title game.
Not much is expected, unless they show off their potential with a win over the Monarchs, July 9.
And, members of the Raiders talked up their chances for victory Saturday on Pacific Football Weekly, which changed locales and is now webcast live from OnDeck Sports Bar in NW Portland.
Plus, the show featured Alex Karpstein, who was in Iraq last year as part of the U.S. Military action there.
Their offense struggled to move the ball on all but one drive, but scoring once and getting another defensive score were enough to push the Portland Raider past the Springfield Buzzards 13-7 and into the Pacific Football League playoffs Saturday at Cottage Grove High School.
Alex Karpstein scooped up a fumble and ran 76 yards for a score and Trevor McGrew hit Antonio Richardson for a 44-yard touchdown pass to move the Raiders to 4-3 in the Southern Division heading into their regular-season finale with the Portland Monarchs.
Portland forced six turnovers and stopped a drive at its own 11 and at 2.
The Raiders' win highlighted action in the South, where the Portland Monarchs, Southern Oregon Renegadesa and Klamath Crusaders also won.
In the North, Kitsap County scored on an 8-yard run by EJ Ash in the final two minutes to beat Yakima 24-17 and remain unbeaten. Yakima heads into its final game at Clark County needing a win to wrap up a playoff spot.
South Sound rallied from a 27-13 deficit in the fourth quarter to beat Snohomish 33-27 in overtime to keep its playoff hopes alive. Third-string quarterback JaBraun Knox led the comeback with a touchdown pass and run in the final 8 minutes to forge the 27-all tie, then ran for a score in overtime for the win.
The league has next weekend off before the final week of regular-season games, July 9. The top four teams in each division head to the playoffs, which culminate with the title game, July 30.
The Raiders and Buzzards were locked in a defensive struggle into the second quarter, when Karpstein picked up a fumble and ran untouched up the right sideline for a 7-0 lead with 12:51 left in the first half, which they ended having gained 5 net yards. But the Raiders forced four turnovers in the half to frustrate the Buzzards, who saw the return of quarterback Kurt Steele.
Steele led the Buzzards to the Raiders' 11 and 2, where they turned the ball over on downs both times in t he second half. Springfield scored with 1:10 left in the game after an interception set up a short drive. Portland recovered the ensuing kickoff and ran out the clock.
Portland Raiders 0 7 6 0 - 13
Springfield Buzzards 0 0 0 7 - 7
PDX - Alex Karpstein 76 fumble return (Gene Wilson kick)
PDX - Antonio Richardson 44 pass from Trevor McGrew (kick failed)
Spr - Travis Ratliff 6 pass from Kurt Steele (Ratliff kick)
There's playoff berths on the line in both the Pacific Football League North and South divisions Saturday, but the season implications are all about momentum.
No one's playing for second, so heading to the league playoffs with some muscle is a big deal.
In the North, that's the focus of Yakima's game at Kitsap County. In the South, it's the Portland Raiders at Springfield.
Yakima (4-2, 6-2) heads to Kitsap County (6-0, 8-0) on a six-game tear since opening the season with consecutive losses.
The Raiders (3-3. 5-3) travel to face the Buzzards (3-3, 4-4) knowing they need to win for the third week in a row to have any chance of reaching the league playoffs.
Springfield expects to have its original starting quarterback, Kurt Steele, back in uniform after rehabbing from injury.
In other games, the Oregon Outlaws are at Klamth in a game that will likely eliminate one team from the playoff race.
High Desert, still looking for its first win is at Southern Oregon, and the Portland Monachs play host to the Rogue Warriors.
In the North, South King plays at Clark County in a battle for playoff positioning, while South Sound keeps its slim playoff hopes alive at Snohomish County and Grays Harbor is at winless Bellingham.
VIEW LIVE: Springfield players visit set of PFWeekly
By Cliff Pfenning, oregonsports.com
Another week produced another lop-sided win for the reigning region champion Portland Monarchs Saturday, but that won't stop members of the losing team from showing up Monday for Episode 14 of Pacific Football Weekly.
The Springfield Buzzards will be in Portland for the live webcast that begins at 8:30 p.m. They'll chat about Saturday's loss to the Monarchs and their playoff drive to reach the No. 3 seed in the Southern Division and avoid a first-round playoff game with the Monarchs.
Co-hosts Cliff Pfenning and Charlie Latt will also delve into the exciting playoff race in the North, highilghted by Kitsap County's win over Clark County Saturday and Yakima's win at Grays Harbor, which produced plenty of entertaining video.
Kitsap County beat Clark County 40-13 in a battle of division unbeatens, while Yakima won at Grays Harbor, 42-32, to win for the sixth-straight game and set-up a battle between the division's two hottest teams.
Yakima, which moved to 4-2 in division games, plays at Kitsap (6-0) Saturday, and then travels to play at Clark County (5-1) for its final regular season game. Kitsap and Clark County are playoff-bound, South King wrapped up a playoff berth with its 17-0 win over Snohomish County and the Mavericks need just a win in their final two games or a loss by South Sound to reach the playoffs.
In the final two weeks, the four playoff-bound teams from the North play one another. In addition to Yakima's games, South King is at Clark County Saturday, then plays host to Kitsap.
The Monarchs, meanwhile, scored 40 or more points for the sixth time in eight PFL games and easily improved to 6-0 in the South with a 42-8 win over visiting Springfield. Southern Oregon remained one game back following a 17-3 win over the Oregon Outlaws in Eugene.
The Outlaws remained tied for third with the Buzzards with the teams scheduled to play on the final weekend of the season.
The Portland Raiders scored a 22-14 win over the Rogue Warriors and moved into a tie for third with a game at Springfield Saturday. The Raiders finish the season at home against the Monarchs.
The return of Nate Ellis is a big boost at quarterback for Southern Oregon
By Cliff Pfenning, oregonsports.com
VANCOUVER, Wash. - The Southern Oregon Renegades were a pretty good team with essentially back-up quarterbacks leading the way through the first half of the Pacific Football League season, but with Nate Ellis at the helm of their offense they might be the league's best team.
Ellis played for the first time this season and led the Renegades to a 42-7 win over Clark County Saturday at Kiggins Bowl, handing the Vipers their first loss of the season.
Ellis ran for two touchdowns, threw for two and struggled on only a handful of plays as the Renegades avenged an overtime loss in the Border War two months earlier. Southern Oregon had nine turnovers in the loss, but just two on Saturday. Instead, the 'Gades forced nine turnovers and turned two into touchdowns.
Southern Oregon improved to 6-1 overall, having lost only to the Portland Monarchs, the three-time defending champions of the Oregon Football League.
Both teams played without a number of key players. The Vipers played without defensive lineman Marquise Cross and two-way back Jason Pabillano, while the Renegades played without running back Alvin Thornton.
Clark County suffered a key injury when quarterback Kyle English suffered a recurring knee injury and might be lost for the season. The Vipers play at Kitsap County on Saturday in a battle for first place in the Northern Division and will likely be without English and No. 2 quarterback Naamon Archer, who has a scheduling conflict.
Ellis, who is hoping to locate a college scholarship in the fall, completed just seven of 20 passes, but one went for a 6-yard scoring pass to tight end Antoine Williams and only one was intercepted, helping the team avoid the numerous problems it had in the first meeting with the Vipers. Eliis finished with 32 yards on 11 carries.
John Jones and Bruce Franklin each picked off two passes for Southern Oregon. Jones returned one 63 yards for a touchdown that gave the Renegades a 14-lead with 7:30 left in the first quarter. Francis Sesepasara returned a fumble 5 yards for a score in the third quarter.
English and Archer struggled to complete passes throughout the evening, hitting just 10 of 30 attempts for 117 yards and one score: a 25-yard completion from Archer to Cody Gilbert that pulled the Vipers within 14-7. Of the six interceptions, none was more crucial than the fifth, when Jones stopped a Vipers drive at the Southern Oregon goal line and the score at 21-7. The Renegades promptly marched 77 yards on six plays with running back Andre Smith motoring 19 yards for the score and a 28-7 lead with 6:54 left in the third quarter.
