Roseburg looks to avoid sluggish start in Week 6 against Willamette
There’s been an emphasis at practice this week for the Roseburg High School football team. Time is a precious commodity.
After back-to-back weeks where the Indians have fallen behind by multiple scores, the team knows it can’t waste time with a sluggish start this week against undefeated Willamette.
“We can’t spot teams 21 points. It doesn’t matter who we’re facing, we can’t start slow. We’ve been working on starting fast in practice. Keeping the energy high,” Roseburg coach Matt Watson said.
And with just four weeks left in the regular season, Watson and the team know their chances of making the postseason could run out of time fast.
“We don’t have many Friday nights left,” Watson said. “We want to keep playing long into November and if we’re going to do that we’re going to have to start fast. We’re going to have to flip the switch early on a Monday and don’t wait until Friday to flip the switch.”
Roseburg (2-3, 1-3 Special District 4) fell behind against North Eugene 21-0 in last Thursday’s league matchup. The Indians rallied to tie the game, but fell short of a road victory in the 28-21 defeat.
It was the second consecutive week where Roseburg lost by just seven points.
“We’ve played some good teams and we’ve played some games we should’ve won,” senior lineman Jack Banta said. “I think that we’re excited and we’ve been using these losses as motivation. We’ve had a lot of good stuff in these games and a lot of stuff that we’ve got to work on, and we’re working on it.”
Willamette (5-0, 4-0) will visit Finlay Field at 7 p.m. on Friday. The Wolverines are the lone team in SD4 without a loss on their overall record.
“They’re a fast, strong team,” Watson said. “(Coach Josh Line is) a good motivator and he’s good at getting people to buy into what he’s wanting to do.”
Willamette whipped Springfield 49-14 last week. The Wolverines are averaging 32.8 points per game and allow just 9.6 points a game, the second fewest in Class 5A.
The offense has been moving behind senior quarterback Tre People (56-for-102, 55%, 661 yards, 11 touchdowns, seven interceptions) and junior running back Maveryck Akers (86 carries, 655 yards, five TDs).
Akers and senior receiver/defensive back Brody Robinson will be familiar names for the Roseburg faithful. Both players transferred to Willamette High School after last school year.
While the Wolverines and Indians haven’t squared off on the gridiron since 2017, Banta agreed the contest feels like a rivalry this season.
“We’re going in there pissed off. We’re excited. We’re ready to show this team what they’ve missed out on. For the people that left, we’re ready to show them what they missed out on. Roseburg football is excited for this game,” Banta said.
“I think our kids are highly motivated and our Roseburg kids that are Roseburg strong, they’ve been working really hard for what they want to earn as well,” Watson added.
There are two Thursday night SD4 games scheduled for Week 6. Thurston travels to Central Point to face Crater, while North Eugene heads to rival Churchill.
On Friday, Springfield hosts South Eugene in a battle of winless teams.
