Senior Preston Mitchell (4) delivered on offense and defense Friday. Action photos by Jarrod Anderson, Newport youth minister

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09041516_jump.png - Action photos by Jarrod Anderson, Newport youth minister

Preston Mitchell has been playing with Kenneth Thrall and most of the other nine seniors on the Siuslaw High School football team for a long time.

"I can remember playing flag football in third grade with most of them," said Mitchell, the senior quarterback and defensive back who led the Vikings to a 29-6, season-opening, nonleague victory Friday night over Newport at Morrow Stadium in Newport.

Mitchell ran for two touchdowns, passed for another, caught a wild two-point conversion pass from Thrall and made the only two interceptions of the game.

Not a bad night for a player who two months earlier broke his right wrist while playing defense in the closing minutes of a football camp. Mitchell wasn't medically cleared to play until two days before the game.

"The wrist is good, it felt great today," he said. "No pain, or anything like that, so it's good. Today it felt like 100 percent (healed)."

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Thrall also had a a big night Friday, helping anchor a stout Vikings defense at linebacker, rushing 13 times for 83 yards on offense and booting three punts for a 38-yard average, including two that went into the end zone, one from 54 yards out.

He also was 3-for-3 on conversion kicks, and might have been 4-for-4 had the try not been mishandled after the first touchdown, a 1-yard keeper by Mitchell.

Instead of kicking, Thrall grabbed the ball off the ground, scrambled to the near sideline, finally launching a pass to Mitchell in the end zone for two points.

"Why not, Preston was wide open," said Thrall, with an even wider grin.

The conversion less than four minutes into the game gave the Vikings an 8-0 lead, all the points they would need for the win.

Later, 20 seconds into the second quarter, Thrall scored on a 5-yard run and converted his first PAT to give Siuslaw a 15-0 lead.

Newport cut the deficit to 15-6 on its next possession, an 11-play, 61-yard drive that featured all running plays, the last a 5-yard dive into the end zone by 5-11, 200-pound senior running back Dennis Lancaster with 6:47 left in the half. The conversion run failed.

The Vikings extended their lead to 22-6 with 1:51 to play in the half on another 1-yard keeper by Mitchell and Thrall's second PAT.

Siuslaw completed the scoring with 10:07 to play in the game on a 10-yard scoring pass from Mitchell to Scott Gordon and Thrall's point-after kick.

Mitchell finished the game completing 10 of 18 passes with no interceptions for 73 yards and rushing 10 times for 52 yards.

"The first touchdown was (an option) read, the other I just ran up the middle," said Mitchell, recalling the scoring. "Ken scored on a belly play, and Scotty's a real good receiver, so he gets open pretty easy."

The night left the Vikings feeling pretty good about themselves as they kneeled in a circle on the field to salute the fans who fed and supported them, and then to gave shoutouts to teammates.

"It's a good start to the season," said Thrall. "It could be a good year if we stay healthy. Everyone is playing hard, from snap to snap."

His sentiments were echoed by Mitchell.

"That's the idea, but it's hard to tell where it's going to go," he said. "But we've got a great group of guys, and this should be a fun season, either way."

Siuslaw next hosts Pleasant Hill at 7 p.m. Friday in a nonleague game at Hans Petersen Field. The Vikings are the only 4A school on the schedule for the 3A Billies, who dropped their season opener at home Friday, 31-14 to Dayton.

STATISTICS PROVIDED BY JO DE AND BOB HYLTON, OFFICIAL SCORERS

SCORING

At Morrow Stadium, Newport, Friday, Sept. 4

SIUSLAW           8     14     0      7   —   29
NEWPORT         0       6     0      0   —     6

First Quarter
Siuslaw — Preston Mitchell 1-yard run (Preston Mitchell pass from Kenneth Thrall), 8:02

Second Quarter
Siuslaw — Kenneth Thrall 5-yard run (Kenneth Thrall kick), 11:40
Newport — Dennis Lancaster 5-yard run (run failed), 6:47
Siuslaw — Preston Mitchell 1-yard run (Kenneth Thrall kick), 1:51

Third Quarter
No scoring

Fourth Quarter
Siuslaw — Scott Gordon 10-yard pass from Preston Mitchell (Kenneth Thrall kick), 10:07

TEAM STATISTICS
                                       Siuslaw  Newport
First downs                         14          13
Yards gained                     178         160
Yards lost                            15          2
Plays-net yards            38-163          36-158
Passing yards                     73          66
Total yards                        236          224
Passing                      10-18-0          5-11-2
Punts-yards-ave.       3-114-38         2-25-12.5
Fumbles-lost                      1-1         1-1
Penalties-yards                9-50         5-35

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING
Siuslaw—Kenneth Thrall 13-83, Preston Mitchell 10-52, Nick Steinman 7-23, Cade Clawson 4-7, Scott Gordon 1-1, Trent Reavis 3-(-3).
Newport—Brendan Chuck 8-56, Sam Imbler-Bremner 14-47, Dennis Lancaster 9-30, Eric Schroeder 5-35.

PASSING
Siuslaw—Preston Mitchell 10-18-0—73.
Newport—Chris Gutierrez 5-11-2—66.

RECEIVING
Siuslaw—Scott Gordon 8-65, Evan Teter 1-6, Brogan Cornish 1-2.
Newport—Eric Schroeder 2-20, Dennis Lancaster 1-22, Tyler Hanrahan 1-15, Brendan Chuck 1-9.