Pass-happy Indians

Most times when a team switches from an option run to a spread attack, football gets less smashmouth as players get spread out on the field.

Roseburg High took the high-flying spread offense while keeping the smashmouth defense Friday night in a 35-0 bombing of McMinnville at Finlay Field.

Senior quarterback Jake Johnson broke four single-game school records, passing for 375 yards and five touchdowns and the Indians (2-1) had their first shutout since 2005.

"A lot of things clicked tonight. We had fun," said Roseburg coach Thurman Bell, whose offensive game plan made for 428 yards of total offense. "The most important thing is that we got more aggressive after the game went on. That's confidence building."

Johnson broke Aric Fromdahl's 20-year old passing mark of 305 yards. Three different players had thrown four touchdown passes in a game. He also set marks for completions and completion percentage (.840).

"This was definitely my best game," said Johnson, who completed 21 of 25 passes. "I couldn't have done it without the boys up front, and my receivers caught everything I threw at them."

The win helped erase memories of a 41-14 loss at McMinnville in 2006 and last week's equally humbling 28-point loss to West Salem.

"It felt good to get that one back," Johnson said. "We practiced hard this week against what we thought would be their defense, but you never know how that will translate to the game."

Johnson completed passes to eight different Indians, but his favorite was senior wideout Gideon Sharp, who hauled in eight passes -- three for touchdowns.

After a scoreless first quarter, that duo got the rout started with a 50-yard pass play. Defensive tackle Brian Tiqui recovered a Grizzly fumble at midfield, and one play later Johnson found Sharp up the left hashes on a play action counter.

"I was trying to get my cover man over my shoulder, looked back and saw Jake coming up with the throw," Sharp said. "I just had to reach up and catch it."

The Indians again found themselves at midfield after holding McMinnville to a three-and-out, and Johnson nearly had another half-the-field pass play as slotback Derek Priestley caught a bomb and was shoved out of bounds at the 4. That merely set up Sharp's second TD grab two plays later.

The Grizzlies mustered only 160 yards of total offense and never made it past the Roseburg 31. Junior linebacker Joe Hennricks helped make sure of that, as he recovered a fumble caused by defensive end A.J. Royal on his own 33.

"It kind of says it all with a shutout," Henricks said. "We stuck it to them. They came in with a power running game and we were prepared for it."

Tribe special teams fared well, too, getting an average starting field position at the 39 while pinning McMinnville inside the 20. Soccer player Lucas Walker was 5-for-5 on point-after tries.

Nolan McGinnis caught a TD pass just before the half and Josh Davis put his team up 28-0 in the third quarter on a 20-yard grab.

Johnson had ages to throw in the pocket and rarely had to throw into traffic.

"They gave us a lot," Bell said. "I think they were bent on not getting beat with the deep ball, so we threw under them."

Roseburg rushed for only 53 yards, but can look forward to the return of senior running back Jordan Radford, who missed the game with a sprained ankle.

The Indians continue a three-game homestand next Friday against Bend (2-1), their final non-league opponent of the regular season.

McMinnville 0 0 0 0 -- 0

Roseburg 0 21 14 7 -- 35

2nd: R -- Sharp 50 pass from Johnson (Walker kick); R -- Sharp 4 pass from Johnson (Walker kick); R -- McGinnis 15 pass from Johnson (Walker kick). 3rd: R -- J. Davis 20 pass from Johnson (Walker kick). 4th: R -- Sharp 17 pass from Johnson (Walker kick).

McM. Rose.

First Downs 7 12

Rushes-Yards 31-93 27-53

Passing Yards 67 375

Comp-Att-Int 6-20-0-67 21-25-0

Fumbles-Lost 2-1 0-0

Penalties-Yards 8-50 6-55

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- McMinnville, Toft 21-70; Cook 1-16; White 5-5; Medeiros 3-2; Patterson 1-0. Roseburg, Johnson 5-26; Weaver 12-19; Hennricks 3-7; Corder 2-6; Miles 1-0; Rosco 3-0; Priestley 1-(-5).

PASSING -- McMinnville, White 6-20-0-67; Lee 0-1-0-0. Roseburg, Johnson 21-25-0-375.

RECEIVING -- McMinnville, Slaughter 4-39; Cook 1-14; Smith 1-14. Roseburg, Sharp 8-149; McGinnis 3-36; Priestly 2-59; Royal 2-35; Davis 2-31; Green 1-16; Castro 1-8; Weaver 1-(-3).

TACKLES -- McMinnville, Nichols 5; Sitton 5; Cook 4; White 4; Carillo 4. Roseburg, Smith 5; Hurt 5; Whitman 5; Castro 4; Huff 4.