By Jacob Thompson The Kingsmen crushed the Milwaukie Mustangs 57-8 in RPHS's Homecoming game on Oct. 8 2011. After the first quarter, Rex Putnam led 7-0. Milwaukie answered in the beginning of the second quarter when quarterback DaJuan Gaunt threw a 11-yard pass to wide receiver Jared Rodriguez. After a successful two-point conversion it looked like the Mustangs might pull off a huge upset, but Quarterback, Deshawn Stephens would have none of that. Stephens responded with his first of three touchdowns of the night, and the Kingsmen never looked back. "I knew how much this game meant to our seniors," Stephens said. "This win was for them." Milwaukie started to slip after Stephens’ touchdown. Two minutes later, Milwaukie fumbled, where Nick Parr, RPHS defensive back, recovered it at the 23-yard line. three plays later, Eli Skiles, RPHS wide receiver, was in the end-zone celebrating a 14-yard scamper giving Putnam a 13 point advantage. Milwaukie lost their running back, Keynan Middleton, who was injured after a 21-yard run. He was side-lined the rest of the game with an ankle injury. Eight plays and 69 yards later, Drew Phillips, senior, found the end zone on a one-yard run for his first score of the night giving the Kingsmen a 29-8 edge going into the half. After Stephens’ 60-yard punt return, which came just minutes into the second half and gave the Kingsmen a 36-8 lead. Stephens had 151 rushing yards with one touchdown while passing for 92 yards and two touchdowns. It was Stephens’ second game at quarterback. Drew Phillips, running back, had his best game to date, ending the night with 125 yards, and three touchdowns. “Drew is capable of these kind of games every night,” Brad Lewman, RPHS head coach, said “It’s really all up to him, and tonight he wanted it,” The win has injured quarterback Max Bailey sleeping easier. Bailey started until a collar-bone injury in Sandy ended his season. Stephens filled in as during the Kingsmen 27-53 loss. “When I got injured, I felt that I had let the team down,” Bailey said. “Seeing them win like this made me feel better about the situation.”
Team plays hard for CHS Homecoming
By Luis Marin-Avilez The Cavaliers played the #14 ranked Oregon City Pioneers for their homecoming football game this year losing 45-33. Coming into the game, the Cavaliers were 1-4 on the season, but they still had hope they could win this game. However, Oregon City had other plans. The Pioneers came in red-hot and scored the first two touchdowns of the game. Clackamas responded with it’s first touchdown of the game to make it 7-14 at the end of the first quarter. The second quarter saw a defensive struggle by both teams. Clackamas tied the game with five minutes left in the half but their defense was not able to contain Oregon City’s running back. He got his team down to the one-yard line where Oregon City kicked a field goal before time expired to give the pioneers a three point lead. After half time, Clackamas scored a touchdown when they returned the kick off, makin it a 21-17 Clackamas lead. Oregon City answered with three unanswered touchdowns before the end of the third quarter. With Clackamas down 38-17, they had two choices: Keep fighting or give up. They kept fighting, scoring twice in the fourth quarter, but Clackamas’ defense could not stop Oregon City from scoring one last time before the game ended. It was a tough loss to swallow for the players but they had tried their best, and that gave the Clackamas fans something to be proud of. Both last and this years’ homecoming games were very similar in the sense Clackamas lost but both teams tried their best CHS Athletic Director Jeff Erdman felt. He also said the team has improved tremendously from last year’s 0-10 team. Even though the team had only won one game so far, they were much more competitive for last year’s team and they definitely work harder. He stressed that players must not get discouraged and believe eventually the hard will pay-off with wins, maybe not this year but soon, very soon.