Gresham grounds out Grizzlies

MHC FOOTBALL – Defense dominates the night in Gophers’ first win of the year

By David Ball

The Gresham Outlook, Sep 18, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Gresham receiver Brannon Dooley celebrates with teammates after hauling in a 57-yard touchdown grab that gave the Gophers' a 10-0 lead in the first quarter Friday night.

Jim Clark / The Outlook

Gresham’s quarterback hit a big play early, and the Gophers’ defense did the rest in a dominating 17-6 win over McMinnville on Friday night.

The Gophers edged in front 3-0 on a 30-yard field goal by Kaleb Anderson, and were ready to put more points on the board when its defense held McMinnville to a three-and-out.

In fact, Gresham didn’t waste any time at all, finding the end zone in one play when quarterback Zach Scherba faked a hand-off inside before looping a pass down the sideline. Receiver Brannon Dooley found himself in a one-on-one sprint down the right side and the ball hit him in stride giving him a quick path to the goal line.

“They came out and loaded up the box, so we knew we had the deep ball open,” Scherba said. “Once we hit that first pass, it loosened things up for the rest of the game.”

Wary of getting beat deep again, McMinnville was forced to back up a step giving Gresham’s rushing duo of Wes Meng and Justin Potter more room to operate.

The Gophers pounded out enough first downs to keep the Grizzlies pinned in their own end of the field most of the night. In the second half, McMinnville ran only three plays on Gresham’s side of the 50.

After hitting the Grizzlies with a steady dose of run plays, Gresham struck big once more while facing a 4th-and-8 midway through the third quarter. Scherba dropped back and waited patiently in the pocket before spotting tight end Quintin Hardgrove wide open down the middle of the field for a 29-yard scoring strike.

McMinnville scored its only points of the night when Robert Ling recovered a blocked punt in the end zone, but the Grizzlies never threatened a comeback.

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