Oroville Plays WP Via Win Over White Swan

OROVILLE - Oro­ville's 37-8 victory over White Swan wasn't per­fect.

But Hornets coach Tam Hutchinson can live with aggressive mistakes and was pleased with his teams' intensity.

"We were aggres­sive when we came out," Hutchinson said after his team sealed a state Class 2B playoff bid Friday. "When we lost to Brews­ter we weren't very con­fident. "Tonight we got a lot of penalties. But that's the way these kids play and I'd rather have them ag­gressive than timid." Oroville was flagged 11 times for 80 yards but made up for it by holding the Cougars to 135 yards of offense before White Swan's final garbage-time touchdown drive. "We knew defense would be the key," Hutchinson said. "We wanted to force them to pass. They hurt us a little there, but we knew if they passed a lot we'd be in good shape." The Hornets scored their first points without even touching the ball. After pinning White Swan back at its own eight-yard line, the Cougars' shotgun snap sailed over quarter­back Curtis Ickes-Oliva's head into the end zone. Ickes-Oliva kicked the ball out of bounds for a safety and a 2-0 Oroville lead. C.J. Mathews returned the ensuing free kick to the White Swan 24. It took nine plays to do it, but the Hornets finally scored on a three-yard Nicky Perez run, and Iverson's PAT made it 9-0 with 9:10 left in the second quarter. White Swan's best drive of the night ended in disaster. After picking up a first down at the Oro­ville 16, another bad snap sailed 20 yards past Ickes-Oliva and was recovered by the Hornets. Iverson's 44-yard run set up a 15-yard touch­down pass to Mathews with 50 seconds left in the half. Oroville led 16-0 at the break.

The Hornets salted the game away in the second half. A three-yard Perez touchdown run in the third quarter, and rushing touchdowns by Mathews (eight yards) and Iverson (one yard) in the fourth lifted Oroville to a 37-0 lead. Kaleb Spencer's one-yard run with 13 sec­onds

remaining put White Swan on the board and ruined the shutout.

"Nick is just so consis­tent and Jose Velasco ran hard," Hutchinson said. "Preston and C.J. made a lot of things happen, too. But defense is the key. It always is." Perez finished with 123 yards on 16 carries, with Iverson adding 56 yards rushing and 27 yards through the air on 5-of-11 passing. Mathews added 36 rushing yards on six carries and the one touch­down catch for 15 yards. Tyler Clark had a big night defensively with 13 total tackles, while Caleb Whiteaker had seven, Iverson intercepted a pass, and Charlie DeMartino and Tyler Herrera each had fumble recoveries.

Oroville (8-2) advanc­es to play at Waitsburg-Prescott (10-0) in the state playoff opening round. White Swan finishes with a 4-6 mark.