By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

SALEM, Ore.—There was Nunn-thing to it on Senior Night for the Sprague High School football team Friday Night.

Behind a four-touchdown performance by senior running back Anthony Nunn, the OSAA 15th-ranked Olympians (6-2, 6-1 Greater Valley Conference) gave fellow seniors a memorable 42-13 victory over North Salem (3-5, 3-5 GVC) to end their high school careers inside the Olympic Stadium.

“We had a great week of practice, we worked really hard.  I’m really proud of the guys tonight, if it wasn’t for them we wouldn’t have had the type of game I had,” Nunn said of the game as Sprague ended a two-game skid.

The game started with the Olys on offense, but it was short lived as Justin Culpepper threw an opening drive interception to North Salem’s Alex Vasquez.

“I was just trying to give my offense back the ball so we can just score,” said Vasquez on his interception.

The pick would turn into points as Vasquez scored the opening touchdown of the game from eight-yards out as the Viks held a 7-0 lead 6:37 into the game.

The lead was short lived however as Sprague marched off 28 straight points, starting with Dane McKinney.

Tied at 7 entering the second quarter, a pick-six by Nick Brotton and two rushing scores by Anthony Nunn absorbed the early momentum by North Salem as the Olympians entered halftime up 28-7.

“It  was more or less come out and play the way we play,” said Sprague Head Coach Jay Minyard on the game strategy.  “We’ve been coming out kind of flat the last two weeks, we came out and gave up that first drive but overall we played pretty well.”

The Vikings came out flowing and fighting on the opening drive of the second half as they were piecing together a drive.

But a batted pass on a screen resulted in a Jake Nelson interception and nine plays later Nunn added his third touchdown of the game as the Olys took a 35-7 lead with 4:57 left in the third quarter.

“I thought our kids kept battling, but we couldn’t stop them after that,” said Vikings Head Coach Jeff Floyd.  “They were running the ball effectively and if you can run the ball like they did, you can control (the game) and that’s what they did.”

With a defensive pass interference call against Sprague, North Salem capitalized with a Hunter Sullivan to Santana Reyes over-the-top passing touchdown to cut into the Olympian lead.

But the defense of the Vikings couldn’t capped the rushing ability of Nunn as he rushed for a fourth score on the ground.

“We played hard,” said Vasquez.  “(Sprague’s) a good team, their a powerhouse.  We played hard and we’ll come back next week.”

Next Friday, North Salem will have their own Senior Night at home against Summit while the Olys are on the road at McNary as both teams end the 2015 regular season.

SCORE                1      2     3     4    –   T

VIKINGS           7      0      6      0     –   13

OLYMPIANS    7    21     7       7    –   42

Jeremy McDonald is a professional sports journalist in the Salem/Portland area and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalist in Oregon with B.S. degrees from Southern Oregon University in Journalism (2011) and Health/PE (2013).  Got a story idea? Email him at jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com or on Twitter at @J_McDonald81!

PHOTO GALLERY:  (Feel Free to take whatever you’ll like, please credit me for taking them!)