It took all four quarters to decide a winner between Roseburg and David Douglas on Friday night.
It took all four quarters to decide a winner between Roseburg and David Douglas on Friday night.

ROSEBURG – The Roseburg football team held off David Douglas for nearly 47 of the 48 minutes of game play in a high school football contest, but the Scots scored the game-winning touchdown in the final 90 seconds to pull of a 20-16 victory over the Indians on Friday night.

The Indians built a 13-0 lead in the first quarter and held David Douglas scoreless until midway through the third quarter. That’s when the Scots started to gather some momentum and pressed a tired Roseburg defense, scoring 20-unanswered points to seal the victory.

[symple_box color=”gray” text_align=”right” width=”70%” float=”right”][/symple_box]David Douglas set up its game-winning drive with a lengthy punt return that took the ball to Roseburg’s 23-yard line with 3:34 left to play and the score 16-13. The Scots worked their way towards the end zone, but faced a critical decision on 4th down and two from the Roseburg 4-yard line. Instead of going for the chip-shot field goal to tie the game, David Douglas head coach Josh Dill elected to go for it and risk turning the ball over on downs.

It proved to be the right decision, as senior quarterback Noah Bitter found tight end Sam Toloke open in the end zone for the score. It was Bitter’s third touchdown pass of the night and it put the Scots up 20-16 with 1:19 left to play.

Roseburg managed to drive down the field and into scoring range, thanks to a couple of big completions by quarterback Sam Tibbets and a few big penalties against the David Douglas defense. With the ball in the red zone, Tibbets tried to squeeze a pass through two defenders, but the toss was picked off by safety Isaiah O’Brien to clinch the victory for the Scots. The interception was O’Brien’s second of the game.

Tibbets finished the game 8-of-26 through the air, with one touchdown pass, and two interceptions. The touchdown was a 32-yard strike to junior Terrell Jacks, who scored for the first time this year. Roseburg’s first touchdown came on a 22-yard run by senior Kyle Rackley, who finished with a team-high 76 yards rushing and one fumble.

David Douglas relied on the right arm of Bitter most of the night. The senior tossed it up 36 times and completed 24 passes for 271 yards and three scores. The Scots had two turnovers in the game, the first a fumble by running back Collin Patterson in the third quarter, and the second was on an errants snap recovered by the Indians.

Up next for Roseburg will be the start of Southwest Conference play. The Indians host Grants Pass on September 16. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. and pregame coverage starts at 6:45 p.m. on 1490 The Score or watch the game online at 541radio.com on the High School Football Hub.

Scores by quarter
David Douglas – 0;0;6;14 – 20
Roseburg – 13;0;3;0 – 16

Scoring:
1Q (3:36) – 22 yard run by Kyle Rackley (Hunt kick good) / ROSEBURG 7-0
1Q (1:49) – 32 yard pass from Sam Tibbets to Terrell Jacks (Hunt kick fail) / ROSEBURG 13-0
3Q (6:12) – 24 yard field goal by Tanner Hunt / ROSEBURG 16-0
3Q (5:11) – 78 yard pass from Noah Bitter to Damien Ventura (2pt attempt fail) / ROSEBURG 16-6
4Q (11:53) – 11 yard pass from Noah Bitter to Jacob Cannon (Navarro kick good) / ROSEBURG 16-13
4Q (1:27) – 4 yard pass from Noah Bitter to Sam Toloke (Navarro kick good) / DAVID DOUGLAS 20-16