By Jeremy McDonald
jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore.– South Salem brought aggression and physicality in the second quarter of their 70-29 victory over Central Saturday afternoon.
In a 12-6 game, the Saxons played to their strengths and slowly made their trek separating themselves from the Panthers.
“I think we have some trouble starting sometimes and we’ve really made that an emphasis in practice,” said South Salem’s Halley Barram. “We wanted to come out really strong and I didn’t think we did it that well there in the first quarter but we did jump on it. Just staying focused all the time instead of taking plays off, we got to stay focused all the time.”
New faces are on both sides, using the six-week season as an opportunity to fill holes left by last season and early graduation and getting live reps as they prepare for the Winter season ahead. The two teams are feeling out what they have while giving their Seniors one last journey together.
“It’s really nice that they put together a season for the Seniors, just to give them some time to enjoy it. Even though it’s short, it’s fun playing,” Central’s Sadie Wendring said. “(South Salem’s) a really good team and we got to step it up on defense and bring up the intensity. Just pushing each other in practice. Working harder and keeping up the intensity all over the place, pushing each other overall.”
The Saxons led 31-13 at the halftime break behind ten first-half points by Maggie Lapray. Barram continued the momentum swing, scoring nine of her 13 points in the third quarter with South Salem’s lead ballooning to 52-19 going to the fourth.
Jacquie Wadsworth (12) and Maddie Dustin (10) each scored in double-figures for the Saxons. Kennedy Kantola scored five points for Central and Mariah Moore, Sydney Franklin, Kendall Seidel and Emily Cole scored four points each.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
