Posted: Saturday, December 8, 2007 10:00 pm
West Albany comes up big in second half
By Jesse Sowa
Albany Democrat-Herald
CORVALLIS - West Albany High grabbed the momentum and never gave it back.
The Bulldogs went to halftime Saturday needing to find a boost against a solid Glencoe squad.
They found that and a lot more.
A 70-yard touchdown pass from Reese Miller to Elliott O'Bryan provided the first spark, while the West Albany defense and the running of Anthony LaCoste finished the job.
The Bulldogs outscored Glencoe 31-0 in the second half en route to a 34-7 win to claim the 5A football state championship at Reser Stadium.
West Albany (14-0) trailed 7-3 at halftime, the Bulldogs' first deficit at the break and just the second deficit all season.
But that quickly changed, as Miller and O'Bryan came through on the third play of the third quarter.
Miller had an option to pitch the ball out to LaCoste or pass to a receiver.
Just as he was ready to send the ball to LaCoste, Miller saw O'Bryan break free down the right sideline in front of the Glencoe bench.
"I kind of lost it at the end, kind of a wounded duck out there," Miller said of the pass. "But he did a great job of going up and getting the ball and running for the end zone."
Glencoe defensive back Jordan Hoffert bit on the play being a run, and O'Bryan got past him.
"I just remember waiting for the ball, catching it and then … that was the fastest I think I've ever ran in my whole life," O'Bryan said. "The adrenaline was going."
The West Albany defense, dominant all season, shut down Glencoe (11-3) in the second half, holding the Crimson Tide to 82 yards after allowing 150 in the first two quarters.
Glencoe lost its offensive star, David Puckett, to leg cramping late in the third quarter.
Puckett, who entered Saturday's game having rushed for more than 2,700 yards, finished with 111 yards on 26 carries.
West Albany forced Glencoe into a three-and-out after O'Bryan's score, and Tyler George capped the Bulldogs' next drive with a 22-yard field goal for a 13-7 lead. George had a 29-yarder in the first quarter to put the Bulldogs ahead 3-0.
West Albany scored again on its next drive, this time a Miller 1-yard keeper after he connected with Will Murphy on a 38-yard pass on the previous play.
The Bulldogs kept rolling in the fourth quarter, putting the game out of reach.
They finished off a seven-play drive with a Scot Foss 5-yard TD reception from Miller.
Miller was 4 of 5 passing for 151 yards and the two scores.
A Neil Crook interception gave West the ball back, with LaCoste taking it 50 yards for a score with 1:48 remaining.
The Bulldogs and their fans were well into their celebrating by then.
LaCoste finished with 210 yards rushing, 176 in the second half.
"My line did an awesome job," he said. "They were keying on Matt (fullback Matt McHenry), and the holes opened up."
The Bulldogs made good on their first drive of the game, capping a five-play series with a Tyler George 29-yard field goal.
Glencoe answered with Puckett, who carried 11 times in a 14-play drive. Puckett finished it with a 2-yard run as Glencoe went ahead 7-3.
LaCoste lost a fumble on the Bulldogs' next possession, giving the Crimson Tide the ball at the West Albany 44.
But Glencoe wasn't able to capitalize.
West Albany avoided a double-digit deficit late in the half when Glencoe went for a first down on a fourth-and-nine play at the Bulldogs 30.
Glencoe's Hoffert caught a pass near the sideline and was pushed out of bounds by Miller and Jesse Strickland as he stretched for the first down.
A measurement showed Glencoe short by about a half-yard.
Still, Glencoe went into halftime with a 7-3 advantage and holding the momentum after West Albany managed just 68 yards.
The Bulldogs had just four possessions, and the defense was on the field more than 16 of the 24 minutes in the first half.
It was an important halftime speech coach Randy Nyquist had to give.
West sat 0-0 at halftime with Corvallis in last year's state championship.
The Bulldogs went ahead in that one, but eventually lost in triple overtime.
"It wasn't really so much about football. It was about life," Nyquist said of the talk. "We worked a long, long time and hard to get here and we didn't want to come up short. I told the kids we needed to go out and play football and take care of the ball offensively, get our defense off the field a little bit.
"I just challenged them a little bit."
The Bulldogs got the message and delivered.
"We needed to settle down at halftime. We were a little nervous," O'Bryan said. "We needed to settle down and play our game in the second half and we did that."
West Albany 34, Glencoe 7
WEST ALBANY 3 0 17 14 - 34
GLENCOE 7 0 0 0 - 7
First quarter
WA: FG Tyler George 29, 8:10
G: David Puckett 2 run (Mitch Wagner kick), 1:26
Third quarter
WA: Elliott O'Bryan 70 pass from Reese Miller (George kick), 10:15
WA: George 22 field goal, 5:57
WA: Miller 1 run (George kick), 2:15
Fourth quarter
WA: Scot Foss 5 pass from Miller (George kick), 8:06
WA: LaCoste 50 run (George kick), 1:48
Rushing: West Albany - LaCoste 18-210, McHenry 6-24, Miller 10-2. Glencoe - Puckett 28-111, Hogan 17-103, Valley 1-9, Burke 3-(minus-4)
Passing: West Albany - Miller 4-5-0-151. Glencoe - Burke 14-25-1-122
Receiving: West Albany - Murphy 2-76, O'Bryan 1-70, Foss 1-5. Glencoe - Hoffert 6-42, Valley 3-28, Hogan 2-14, Unger 1-15, Kirwan 1-13, See 1-10