Davenport Beats Oroville, Heads For Classic Finish

Fourth-ranked Davenport handed No. 3 Oroville its first loss of the season 28-23 Saturday evening at Quincy High School to make the state football finals for the first time in school history.

Davenport (11-1) faces No. 2 Tacoma Baptist (12-0) in the B-11 championship game next Saturday in the Tacoma Dome.

To get there, the Gorillas turned two second-quarter turnovers into touchdowns, opening a big lead before holding on. The Hornets (11-1) scored with seven seconds left, but when Dale Buchanan recovered the onside kick, the subdued celebration began.

“We just talked to our kids about going out and playing like they’re capable,” Davenport coach Skip Pauls said. “Our kids felt they could go all the way this year. The biggest thing was when Reardan beat us (five weeks ago). It woke us up and made us realize we have to go out and play football every night.”

Guard Travis Deal, who helped the Gorillas control the line of scrimmage against the bigger Hornets, said, “I think that helped a lot. We kind of had a chip on our shoulder that nobody could keep up with us. It showed us we could be beat and made us work harder. We just stuck with our game plan - run until we needed to pass. This is probably the toughest line up front we played all year.”

Davenport made the first mistake of the game when Buchanan touched a short punt the Hornets recovered at the 40. But quarterback Cory Howe floated a pass into the right flat and Luke Hammond intercepted it at the 30 and raced untouched down the left sideline for Davenport.

“The tight end was doing an out - the coaches said be ready for it - and I just went out there and caught the ball,” Hammond said.

The Hornets didn’t stay down long with Braxton Cleman scoring on a 52-yard run to tie the game.Cleman only had 54 yards on 15 carries outside the touchdown run.

The Gorillas responded with a 69-yard drive, capped by a 50-yard scoring play on a pass from Marty Parsons to running back Travis Telecky, who was lined up in a slot to the right.

Telecky went straight up the field and was wide open.

On the ensuing kickoff, the Hornets fumbled the ball and Parsons recovered on the 26. On first down from the 15, Telecky was sweeping around right end when he pulled up and fired the ball down the middle. Howe managed to tip the ball but Hammond maintained his concentration and gathered it in for the score.

Chris Howe slipped a 41-yard field goal just over the crossbar at the end of the first half, cutting Davenport’s lead to 21-10. But on the Gorillas’ first possession of the third quarter, they went 46 yards to make it 28-10.Davenport maintained good

field position but couldn’t put the Hornets away. Midway through the fourth quarter Cory Howe threw deep to Cleman, who broke a tackle at midfield, turning the play into an 89-yard touchdown.

Josh FitzPatrick ended Oroville’s next possession with an interception but as the Gorillas’ tried to run out the clock, FitzPatrick, who finished with 104 of Davenport’s 203 yards rushing, fumbled the ball away at midfield with 1:56 to play. It took 10 plays before Cory Howe hit his twin brother Chris for a 15-yard touchdown.

Davenport 28, Oroville 23

Davenport 0 21 7 0 - 28

Oroville 0 10 0 13 - 23

D - Hammond 30 interception return (Deal kick)

O - Cleman 52 run (Ch. Howe kick)

D - Telecky 33 pass from Parsons (Deal kick)

D - Hammond 15 pass from Telecky (Deal kick)

O - FG Ch. Howe 41

D - Telecky 4 run (Deal kick)

O - Cleman 89 pass from Co. Howe (pass failed)

O - Ch. Howe 15 pass from Co. Howe (Ch. Howe kick)

, DataTimes