Skyview finds its away around Sunset

BEAVERTON, Ore. –Skyview took awhile to get going in its season-opening football game Friday night against Sunset.

But once the seventh-ranked Storm’s running game got untracked, there was no stopping them en route to a 31-21 victory over their crossriver opponent.

“We came out a little slow. First-game jitters, but we got those out,” said senior quarterback Brody Barnum, who threw for two touchdowns and ran for 104 yards on 11 carries. “Once we got our run game going, we couldn’t be stopped. The line was just unbelievable. We were able to find holes.”

Indeed, led by Barnum and senior Hayden Froeber (22 carries for 142 yards), the Storm racked up 357 yards and 18 first downs on the ground in erasing a 14-7 second-quarter deficit.

“I thought our O-line did what we were hoping they could do this year,” said Storm coach Steve Kizer. “They were able to take over up front, all three running backs ran the ball hard, and Brody pulled the ball down and made plays.”

The Storm turned to the run game almost exclusively after forcing a field-goal miss midway through the third quarter. They ran the ball seven straight plays, which set up Barnum to execute a perfect play-action fake before hitting Cole Grossman on a 30-yard touchdown pass, giving Skyview a 24-14 lead.

Sunset, a second-round playoff team in Oregon’s 6A ranks last year, looked like it would answer on its next possession, marching 62 yards on 10 plays to reach the red zone.

But needing 6 inches on fourth down at the Skyview 18, the Apollos were turned away when junior Chyrius Duckett stuffed the hole to deny Gabe Leonard on a dive play.

“I saw what they wanted to do, so I just went in there,” said Duckett, a 6-foot-4, 315-pound defensive tackle who led the Storm with seven tackles and a sack. “It took us awhile on defense to get it going, but we flipped on the switch and turned it up at the end.”

Duckett’s stand turned the momentum in Skyview’s favor for good. Barnum scrambled 33 yards on the first play of the ensuing drive, and eight plays (all runs) later, junior Angelo Sarchi ran 2 yards around right end to give the Storm a 31-14 lead with 10:06 to play.

“It was a typical first game,” Kizer said. “It wasn’t a thing of beauty, but I thought the guys played real well in the second half. We’ve got a lot to work on, but I was proud of our effort tonight.”

SKYVIEW 31, SUNSET 21

Skyview 7 10 7 7–31

Sunset 7 7 0 7–21

First quarter

Sky–Jayden Chatman 11 pass from Brody Barnum (Travis Yajko kick)

Sun–Garrett Lewis 4 run (Ryan Berti kick)

Second quarter

Sun–Jason DuMont 45 run (Berti kick)

Sky–James Millspaugh 6 run (Yajko kick)

Sky–FG Yajko 26

Third quarter

Sky–Cole Grossman 30 pass from Barnum (Yajko kick)

Fourth quarter

Sky–Angelo Sarchi 2 run (Yajko kick)

Sun–DuMont 24 run (Berti kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING–Sky, Hayden Froeber 22-142, Barnum 11-104, Millspaugh 7-69, Sarchi 8-29, Tavis Pinkney 1-15, Austin Nolan 1-(minus 1), team 1-(minus 1). Sun, Gabe Leonard 19-82, Lewis 7-40, DuMont 14-136, team 1-(minus 4).

PASSING–Sky, Barnum 9-21-1-75. Sun, DuMont 16-30-2-141.

RECEIVING–Sky, Grossman 4-60, Yajko 1-7, Chatman 1-11, Froeber 1-3, Pinkney 2-(minus 6). Sun, Bobby Chopra 4-45, Jake Focht 2-25, Bradley Thurber 2-19, G.Leonard 2-18, Dakota Tomseth 2-9, Andrew Meyer 1-11, Jacob Leonard 1-5, Satchel Phillips 1-3, Lewis 1-6.