By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

SALEM, Ore.– What a difference a month made between the two meetings between Crossler and Parrish Middle Schools at the Varsity Football Level.

The Pioneers rushing attack looked sharper, scoring all 22 of their points in the first half behind two touchdowns from Vita Lata and another from Xavier Keller.  Their defense was sharp too, keeping the Crocodiles Max Lloyd and company in check as Parrish won the All-City Middle School Varsity Football Championship Game at North Salem High School 22-6.  The final Middle School game for many of the players who will be freshman at the High School level next School year.

“The first part of the season, we weren’t that great.  But we bounced back, we started executing alignment and got better over the season, everyone got better in general.  We got tougher, we got stronger, everyone got good,” Lata described as the North Salem High School emblem was on the back of many of the Pios helmets on Thursday.  “The second half, our offense couldn’t get rolling, we got a lot of flags, but our defense got stops over and over so our offense could get back onto the field.”

For the Parrish athlete’s moving up to High School, Littlejohn Field will be home for them when they play for North Salem High School.

Alex Parry’s ten-yard reception got Crossler on the board with 4:17 left in the game ended the shutout, but did leave a chip on the shoulder on much of the Crocodile’s shoulders for when they head to Sprague High School next Fall after a great season that ended not necessarily how they would’ve hoped for.

“Pretty big,” laughed Parry of the chip on their shoulders.  “I’m really proud of our team, we played hard the whole time and we did really good.  We stayed on the gas the whole season, and we tried every single game.  We just tried the whole season and did really good.”

Parry’s score was the final of the Middle School Varsity season as the time ran out on the clock at Littlejohn Field.  The Crocodile JV team won the All-City Championship Wednesday night at North Salem High School, defeating Parrish 40-6 after opening the game with a 24-0 lead going into halftime.

Photos By Jeremy McDonald