ROSEBURG – The Southwest Conference football season didn’t start on the positive note the Roseburg Indians had been hoping for. The Indians struggled to muster up much of an offense and found themselves on the wrong end of a 33-0 score against Grants Pass on Friday night.

Neither side brought much offense to the first half as the Indians and Cavemen combined to punt eight times on 11 drives. Grants Pass (3-0; 1-0 SWC) held a 7-0 lead at the end of the first quarter thanks to a methodical drive that went 76 yards over a span of 4:29. Senior running back Alex Jarvis finished off the drive with a 7-yard touchdown run to put the Cavemen in front.

Grants Pass found the end zone for a second time just before the first half came to a close. The Cavemen blocked a punt by Roseburg’s Tanner Hunt and recovered the football at the Roseburg 43. Grants Pass quickly moved into the red zone and once again it was Jarvis that crossed the goal line for the score. The senior ran it in from 2-yards out to make the score 14-0 going to the break.

The Indians never really threatened to cross the goal line until the final moments of the game. Meanwhile, Grants Pass went up 21-0 in the third quarter on another plodding drive that took 4:37 to go just 48 yards. Roseburg (0-3; 0-1 SWC) had multiple chances to stop the drive, but on three occasions the Cavemen managed to convert on fourth down. The drive ended with quarterback Baine Hobbs finding Korbin Lopez for a 14-yard touchdown, the first of three passing touchdowns for Hobbs on the night.

Hobbs completed 16-of-24 passes and added scoring plays of three yards to tight end Jake Kasiah and a seven yard completion to Taylor Phillips. Jarvis led the Cavemen on the ground with 24 carries for 111 yards.

Roseburg’s offense struggled to find traction all night. Sophomore Zack Mandera led the Indians on the ground with 33 yards rushing. Starting quarterback Sam Tibbets was hurried throughout the first half by the Grants Pass defense and finished 5-of-9 through the air for 12 yards. Tibbets only played the first half as Mandera took over in the second half and tried to lead the Indians with a more run-heavy, option offense.

The Indians will next take on South Eugene on Friday, September 23. The Axemen (0-3; 0-1 SWC) are coming off a 19-13 loss on the road against North Medford on Friday. Roseburg will travel to Eugene for kickoff at 7 p.m. and the game can be heard on 1490 The Score or watched online at 541radio.com. Pregame begins at 6:45 p.m.

Scores by quarter
Grants Pass 7;7;7;12 – 33
Roseburg 0;0;0;0 – 0

Scoring plays
G – Jarvis 7 yard run, kick good (7-0; 3:14 1Q)
G – Jarvis 2 yard run, kick good (14-0; 00:11.7 2Q)
G – Hobbs 14 yard pass to Lopez, kick good (21-0; 2:45 3Q)
G – Hobbs 3 yard pass to J. Kasiah, kick blocked (27-0; 7:56 4Q)
G – Hobbs 7 yard pass to Phillips, 2pt failed (33-0; 5:59 4Q)