The Crook County High School football team played in a jamboree at Madras on Friday, coming away with mixed results.
“Our biggest takeaway is that we've got to be ready to go,” Crook County head coach Pard Smith said. “We've been practicing a little later, so I think that was kind of a factor, but we weren't ready too go. We didn't play horrible, but it didn't look like our brand of football.”
The jamboree was originally scheduled to be a four team event, with each team playing the other three one time. However, Cascade High School canceled at the last minute, so Madras, Redmond and Crook County played each other twice with nine offensive and nine defensive plays each time.
Crook County and Madras played to a scoreless tie in their first meeting, with neither team moving the ball. Redmond then scored on the Cowboys to win the second section.
Crook County played better when they played Madras and Redmond for the second times, moving the ball much better, including completing two touchdown passes as well as another long completion.
“I was proud of how we responded,” Smith said. “We came back and I thought both of the last two games against Redmond and Madras we got the upper hand on both of them.”
Smith noted that the team has some minor injuries that limited the number of linemen they had available on Friday, but that he was pleased with what he saw from his skill players.
“I felt pretty good about our depth at the skill positions,” he said. “We were able to roll guys in and not fall off, but we are dinged up a little bit on the line and we have got to get healthy there.”
Smith added that Redmond is big up front and play hard, so that creates some problems for a smaller team like Crook County. In addition, new Madras head coach Neil Elshire is known for his defensive scheming and they were able to put a lot of pressure on Crook County quarterbacks Gavin Sandoval and Hayden Allen.
Crook County got big games from receivers GW Neathery, Ke'Nan Twigg and Brandon Hayes, while Wyatt Neathery and Ethan Lamphere looked good at times carrying the ball. Both Sandoval and Allen threw the ball well at times, while the Crook County defense led by Garrett Stefanek, Lamphere and Sandoval also played solid most of the jamboree.
“We settled in a little bit and got back to the fundamentals and I was proud of that,” Smith said. “I think definitely a lesson learned and there are going to be a lot of teachable lessons on film here, both things we did well and things that we can improve on. I think that our growth from this jamboree to next week should be exponential.”
The Cowboys open the season on Friday on the road at Estacada, then return home the following week to host Ashland. Both games are scheduled to tip off at 7 p.m.
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