Santiam Christian rallies past Vikings, 47-21


Elijah Blankenship
Junior quarterback Ely Kennel fired three touchdown passes and ran for a fourth Friday to lead the Santiam Christian Eagles to a 40-21 football victory over the Siuslaw Vikings at Hans Petersen Field.

The Vikings (0-2) will be at Harrisburg this coming Friday. Kickoff is 7 p.m. Harrisburg (0-2) lost Friday at Sisters, 42-6.

The Vikings put a scare into the defending 3A state champions in the first half, taking leads of 14-0 after the first quarter and 21-13 at halftime.

The second half was all Eagles, who took control with 20 unanswered points in the third quarter.

Siuslaw senior quarterback Elijah Blankenship scored on touchdown runs of 52 and 62 yards and passed 9 yards to junior tight end Rhys Fleming.

SANTIAM CHRISTIAN    0 13 20 14 — 47
SIUSLAW.                      14   7   0   0 — 21
First quarter
Siuslaw — Elijah Blankenship 52-yard run (Skyler Loomis run), 4:39
Siuslaw — Rhys Fleming 8-yard pass from Elijah Blankenship (run failed), 1:05
Second quarter
Santiam Christian — Ely Kennel 9-yard run (kick failed), 9:41
Siuslaw — Elijah Blankenship 62-yard run (Camp Lacouture kick), 9:24
Santiam Christian — Stone Spangle 13-yard pass from Ely Kennel (Garrett Cowan kick), 3:18
Third quarter
Santiam Christian — Heston Bain 2-yard run (run failed), 8:10
Santiam Christian — Garrett Cowan 21-yard pass from Ely Kennel (Logan Beem run), 4:15
Santiam Christian — Stone Spangle 7-yard run (kick failed), :47
Fourth quarter
Santiam Christian — Hudson Carter 19-yard pass from Ely Kennel (Garrett Cowan kick), 9:35
Santiam Christian — Logan Beem 11-yard run (Garrett Cowan kick), 3:02
Scoring from KCST simulcast on Facebook; individual statistics unavailable

SCHEDULE
Record: 0-2 league, 0-2 overall
March 5 — at La Pine 26, Siuslaw 24
March 12 — Santiam Christian 47, at Siuslaw 21
March 19 — at Harrisburg, 7 p.m., Coast Radio, NFHS Network
March 26 — Sisters, 7 p.m., Coast Radio
April 2 — Junction City, 7 p.m., Coast Radio
April 9 — Culminating Week game, to be announced

VIKINGS ROSTER
Seniors (5)
  4 Elijah Blankenship, QB/DB
12 Hector Garcia, RB/LB
23 Skyler Loomis, RB/LB
68 Christian Newlan, OL/LB
72 Michael Shick, OL/DL
Juniors (11)
  1 Rhys Fleming, TE/LB
  2 Isaac Garza, WR/DB
  5 Camp Lacouture, RB/LB
  8 Braydon Thornton, WR/DB
  9 Avery Hart, TE/DL
10 Beau Erickson, QB/DB
24 James Smith, WR/DB
50 Joe Slaughter, OL/DL
51 Henry Rankin, OL/DL
52 John Corser, OL/DL
69 Ethan Aaron, OL/DL
Sophomores (7)
  7 Ian Sissel, RB/LB
15 Noah Dotson, TE/DL
16 Hunter Petterson, RB/DB
22 Odin Smith, RB/LB
53 John Rose, OL/LB
54 Victor Ayala, OL/LB
56 Julian Loftis, OL/DL
Freshmen (8)
  3 Talin Loomis, WR/DB
  6 Tate Bottensek, WR/DB
13 Owen Garneau, RB/LB
14 Dayne Muller, QB/LB
55 Billie Massey, OL/DL
58 Cort Waggnoner, OL/DL
70 Landon Severy, OL/DL
71 Daniel Schick, OL/DL
Coach: Sam Johnson
Assistants: Andy Johnson, Billy Jones, Bob Teter, Dennis Davidson, Gerald Fleming, Jeff Gray, Lane Johnson, Nick Johnson, Tom Shinn