Warriors stumble against Saxons in 2008 home debut

Aloha leads 7-0, but can't hold its advantage and falls 14-7 to South Salem on Friday night

By Miles Vance

The Beaverton Valley Times, Sep 11, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Miles Vance / Beaverton Valley Times

MR. SMITH — Aloha senior Marcus Smith stiff arms South Salem's Colby Wall during a first-half punt return in his team's 14-7 home loss to the Saxons on Friday night.

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ALOHA – Should have.

Could have.

Would have.

That was the flavor of Aloha's postgame conversations following its 14-7 non-league home loss to South Salem on Friday night at Aloha High School.

"They’re a tough team but we were the better team tonight. We just didn’t come out and play. We didn’t perform in the fourth quarter," said sophomore running back Johnathan Shaffer, who finished with 47 yards rushing and his team's lone touchdown Friday night.

After a scoreless opening quarter, the Warriors (0-2) grabbed a 7-0 lead when Shaffer capped a 73-yard drive with a three-yard touchdown run over left guard and Jon-Jon Moore added the extra point with 4 minutes, 4 seconds left in the second quarter.

But Aloha, which limited the Saxons (2-0) to just 58 yards in total offense in the first half, couldn't hold its lead in the final two quarters.

A short Aloha punt and a 16-yard return to the Warrior 22-yard line by Dominic David set the table for South Salem's first TD. From there, Saxon quarterback Jonathan Sigado went to the air on first down and hit Blake Miller at the right flag to tie the game at 7-7 with 5:49 to go in the third quarter.

The Saxons added the game-winner with 1:31 remaining in the game when quarterback Conor Lynch capped a 60-yard drive with a one-yard sneak, and Aloha fumbled away its last chance to tie on its very next offensive play from scrimmage.

"We were the better team tonight and I guess we’ll just have to show the next team," said Aloha senior JT Sheehan, who made five catches for 27 yards and also came up with a fourth-quarter interception.

For a complete game story and more photos, please see Thursday's edition of the Beaverton Valley Times.