| Palouse steals thunder from Commandos Published in the April 18, 2007 issue of The Omak-Okanogan County Chronicle MOSCOW, Idaho - Okanogan County Commandos came close but failed to nail down their first victory of the season in falling 28-25 to the Palouse Thunder April 14 at the Kibbie Dome. The OCC (0-3 in Evergreen Football League) fell behind 12-0 early, caught up fast to lead 25-12 but then could not hang on for the win. "It's the first game they've won in a couple years," said coach Malcolm Townsend of the Palouse team. OCC played with 22 players, with most of them going both ways. Many linemen did not make the game. "I'm disappointed more did not show up, especially since it's a free trip with the bus," said the coach of the team bus. "We actually had a real good time." After Palouse scored on its first two possessions but failed to make its extra points, Bryce Boesel (12-68) capped a quick drive with a 12-yard touchdown run. Dean Klepec kicked the extra point. Still in the first quarter, Palouse was forced to punt from its end zone. The punter bobbled the snap, with the ball going over his shoulder and being pounced on by Shane Martin for a score. The extra point kick was no good. Erick Judd scored on a seven-yard run in the second quarter. Judd ran for 58 yards on 10 carries, all in the first half. He injured his ribs late and did not return. Shane Martin (3-41) set up a final first-half score by moving to the one on a 27-yard pass from Jordan Horner (5-22, 51 yards, 1 interception). It took the Commandos four tries, but Horner plowed over a linebacker for the score on fourth down for a 25-12 lead. "We had a couple more chances to score before halftime but didn't," said coach Townsend. Palouse quickly scored two touchdowns in the third quarter. The drives ate up a lot of clock and, with two two-point conversions, put the Thunder on top 28-25. Townsend said the team did not have the ball near as much as it had in the first half, though he was expecting to continue strong on offense. So when the Commandos had fourth-and-three, they opted to try for a first down rather then kick a field goal that would tie the game. "We figured we would have more chances, and we were moving the ball pretty well," said the coach. "We scored 25 points in the first half. There's a lot of games where we've not scored 25 points. We figured we were just warming up." The Commandos came away with no points in the fourth quarter after a 14-yard drive stalled at the Palouse 36. OCC got the ball back with about 20 seconds left in the game. Also rushing (159 total) were Reese Stanfield with seven carries for 24 yards, Shawn Townsend with six rushes for three yards, Horner with two rushes for a yard and Garrett Strocsher with a rush for five yards. Other receivers included David Brown with a catch for 12 yards and Judd with a screen pass that went bad for minus-two yards. Most valuable player of the game was Martin, with six tackles, a sack and a fumble recovery for a score. He was the leading receiver. Also defensively, Shawn Townsend (league's leading tackler) finished with 13.5 tackles and a forced fumble; Boesel with 5.5 tackles and a fumble recovery; Stanfield with five tackles, 3 knocked down passes; Brown with an interception; and Klepec with 2.5 tackles, 2 knocked-down passes (one in the end zone in the fourth quarter). Commandos won the turnover battle. Though they muffed a punt and had an interception, none led to scores. "We won the turnover battle, like we've done every week," said coach Townsend. "We're just barely losing these games. If I ever get all my players to show up at one time, we would be a pretty good team." Next up will be Stateline Miners at 6 p.m. Saturday, April 21, at Okanogan High School. "They have a good defense, so our offense has to be on top of things to get it done," said Townsend |
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2007 The Chronicle, Inc., Omak, WA 98841, unless otherwise noted. |
