DRAGONS DISMANTLED; SHOCKERS 5-0 

April 14, 2007 Eugene, OR 

The Shockers traveled 4 hours south to take on the Lane County Dragons on Saturday and came away with an unbelievable 96-6 win.   South Sound came into the game hoping to make a statement after struggling to get the offense moving in past games.  "Relying on our defense isn't going to win any championships, our offense has to come out firing on all cylinders at some point." (Shocker Coaches).  The offense stepped up to the challenge issued by Head Coach Steve Matychowiak and reeled off 47 points in the first half and finished with a total of 688 yards of offense.  John Stewart playing without a backup QB passed for a team record 430 yards to 8 different receivers.  "We were able to work on some things that had been problems in our short passing game and the receivers did a great job of blocking downfield allowing our screens to break big.  It was nice to get a 50-50 split of run to pass and get some reserve linemen some quality time.  We are entering a stretch run where we expect the competition to steadily increase from here on out and we need every player bringing their top game from here on to accomplish our team goals." 

Entering the 3rd quarter some would expect a let down, however after the Dragons scored their first touchdown in three games against the Shockers on a long 85 yard drive bolstered by a 50 yard fake punt.  The reserves followed with an opportunity to flex a little muscle of their own.  Led by Theo Holman, Avery Brown, and David Combs the Sounders found the endzone on every possession of the second half.  Pat Hutnik had a career day kicking extra points and field goals chipping in one first quarter field goal and hitting 11-12 extra point attempts with one being blocked.

The Dragons struggled to move the ball effectively against the stout Shocker defense that picked off 5 passes.  Defensively Marty Darland sacked the QB twice in the first quarter, while Nate Enciso, Jackie Triplett, Brad Dennis, Ken Ponder and Eric Webster kept any running attempts at bay.  Reserve defensive back Dan Chu seeing increased playing time due to injuries to Ryan Kalalau and Jamaal Hampton, swiped 2 passes on the day.

On the injury front, the Shockers may have lost defensive tackle Jeff Markoff for an undetermined amount of time.  The 6'1" 310 pounder may have torn a bicep early in the 1st quarter.  The team was also without the services of WR Ryan Reis, WR David Minnis, and DT Jerry Salinas who were called out on military duty over the weekend.  

The Shockers return home for a repeat matchup with the Lakewood Wolves April 21.  The Wolves lost a tough battle with the Valley Mustangs 12-0 Saturday.

GAME TRACKER