Kenneth Thrall (9, standing) was in the middle of the action on offense, defense, special teams and the team's afterglow Friday.

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Senior Kenneth Thrall was in the middle of most everything that the Siuslaw Vikings did well Friday as they opened Far West League football play with a 28-7 victory over South Umpqua.

The win moved Siuslaw to 4-0 on the season and temporary No. 6 in the Oregon School Activities Association 4A poll, as of midnight Friday.

The Vikings head to North Bend this coming Friday for a showdown with the Bulldogs, also 1-0 in league following a 41-14 victory over Douglas. Marshfield ran its record to 4-0 with a 45-20 league-opening win over Brookings-Harbor.

"That was kind of fun, wasn't it," Tim Dodson said, after picking up his 150th win as head coach of the Vikings. "That was a little Siuslaw football."

Although he might have been talking about the game in general, he was addressing specifically a bruising 70-yard, 17-play drive by the Vikings to open the second half.

Thrall carried on 10 of those plays, including the final three yards as Siuslaw went ahead 21-0 with less than four minutes to play in the third quarter.

"We were feeling it on that drive," Thrall said. "We were just going to keep driving the ball, four yards, four yards. It was good that we were able to do that."

It was the 200-pound running back-linebacker's second touchdown of the game. He also scored on an 18-yard gallop in the second quarter, as well as on all four point-after kicks. His sole missteps were a missed 27-yard field-goal attempt on the last play of the first half and on a couple of scrambles to get off punts.

"I should have accounted a little more for the wind," Thrall said of the field-goal attempt. "I missed it by two feet. As soon as I kicked it I knew the wind was taking it."

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Thrall is now 14 for 14 in extra-point kicks, and he has scored 47 of Siuslaw's 116 total points. Through four games he has five touchdown runs, 14 extra points and a field goal. He's also thrown for a two-point conversion, a scrambling ad lib to his holder, Preston Mitchell, in the season's opener at Newport.

Mitchell took part in the other two scores Friday against the Lancers, both quick-strike touchdowns, the first four minutes into the game and the second late in the fourth quarter.

The senior quarterback — last week's Coast Radio Athlete of the Week — scored on a 1-yard keeper at the 8:38 mark of the first quarter. That TD came just four plays after Thrall intercepted a pass and returned it 44 yards to the South Umpqua 20.

Mitchell also connected on a 35-yard touchdown pass to Scott Gordon with 3:42 left in the game. That TD came on the first play after the Vikings took the ball over on downs.

"That was actually a designed run play," Gordon said of his TD grab. "But I had 'em beat, and Preston threw it over the top. It was beautiful, it was perfect. I didn't have to slow down a bit. But that's what Preston does."

None of what Thrall, Mitchell, Gordon and company did was lost on Steve Stebbins, the South Umpqua coach.

"No. 9, Thrall, really runs the ball well," he said. "No. 4 (Mitchell) is a heckuva an athlete. And 3 (Gordon): We told our kids all week if they're going to throw the football, they're going to throw it to No. 3.

"Obviously I didn't do a good enough job of getting that point across."

It was a tough night for Stebbins and his Lancers, who already are playing without their top offensive threat, running back Kyler Merritt, who was hurt in the second game of the season.

"Merritt went in for an MRI today," Stebbins said. "I'm not sure if we're going to get him back or not. We're still searching for an offensive identity without him. He's a special player."

The Lancers also lost their starting quarterback, Nathan Thompson, who suffered a likely concussion midway through the second half of Friday's game.

Still, Stebbins wasn't making excuses, and he was quick to pass out compliments to the Vikings, who are the third Top 10 team South Umpqua has played four games into the season.

"We've played some good football teams," he said. "Siuslaw really got after us. They did a really good job. Credit to Tim (Dodson) and his kids."

Johnathan Warner salvaged a little pride for the Lancers by slipping into the end zone from 23 yards out with 1:27 left in the game. Jaret Remington added the extra-point kick.

With the victory the Vikings improved to 4-0 overall, 1-0 in the Far West League, and avenged last season's 27-21 loss to the Lancers in Myrtle Creek.

South Umpqua fell to 1-3 overall and 0-1 in the league.

Siuslaw plays at North Bend this coming Friday, while Marshfield is at Douglas and Brookings-Harbor is at South Umpqua.

OFFICIAL GAME STATISTICS BY JO DE AND BOB HYLTON

Friday, Sept. 25, at Hans Petersen Field

SOUTH UMPQUA       0       0       0       7       —       7
SIUSLAW                   7       7       7       7       —      28

First Quarter
Siuslaw — Preston Mitchell 1-yard run (Kenneth Thrall kick), 8:38

Second Quarter
Siuslaw — Kenneth Thrall 18-yard run (Kenneth Thrall kick), 3:45

Third Quarter
Siuslaw — Kenneth Thrall 3-yard run (Kenneth Thrall kick), 3:54

Fourth Quarter
Siuslaw — Scott Gordon 35-yard pass from Preston Mitchell (Kenneth Thrall kick), 3:42
South Umpqua — Johnathan Warner 23-yard run (Jaret Remington kick), 1:27

TEAM STATISTICS
                                South Umpqua    Siuslaw
First downs                         11          13
Yards gained rushing          78         221
Yards lost rushing                21          2
Plays-net yards rushing   28-57          43-219
Passing yards                     161          76
Total yards                        218          295
Passing                      15-28-1         9-18-0
Punts-yards-ave.       1-22-22.0       3-102-34.0
Fumbles-lost                      2-1         1-0
Penalties-yards                4-58        6-40

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING
South Umpqua—Johnathan Warner 1-23, Tucker Pence 9-23, Shawn Rigsby 3-8, Triston Gross 4-7, Connor Yates 1-4, Nathan Thompson 6-(minus 2), Cody Gray 4-(minus 6).
Siuslaw—Kenneth Thrall 19-101, Preston Mitchell 15-97, Cade Clawson 4-11, Nick Steinman 5-10.

PASSING
South Umpqua—Nathan Thompson 9-18-1—118, Cody Gray 6-10-0—43.
Siuslaw—Preston Mitchell 9-18-0—76.

RECEIVING
South Umpqua—Triston Gross 6-78, Alex Kelly 2-30, Shawn Rigsby 2-28, Tucker Pence 2-15, Zaine Bogard 1-6, Dalton Magee 1-2, Johnathan Warner 1-2.
Siuslaw—Scott Gordon 8-75, Brogan Cornish 1-1.