No. 3-ranked South Wasco closes in on six-man football playoff spot

“We’ve almost locked ourselves into a playoff spot, so that’s great,” said Wain. “We should be able to win our next two games against some weaker opponents and then we’ll be able to get all the young guys lots of playing time early in the games. If we beat Joseph (4-1) in our last regular season game (Oct. 21), then we’ll probably get second place in our league. If we lose that game, then we’ll likely get third place.”

The top three teams from SD1 qualify for the state playoffs beginning Nov. 4. This is the first year the OSAA is sponsoring state playoffs in six-man football.

“Echo is a good team, and we had a great week of practice to prepare and get focused for the game,” said Wain. “We were able to really put a lot of defensive pressure on Echo in the first quarter.”

In that period, Redsides senior guard/defensive end Dominic Marquez had three quarterback sacks and the Redsides forced two fumbles. South Wasco built a 14-0 lead and was ahead 35-0 at halftime. South Wasco junior fullback back Joey Holloway and running back/linebacker James Best averaged eight and nine yards per carry, respectively, to help lead the Redsides offensively.

“We challenged our offensive line of Colby Brace, Marcos Chavez, Storm McCoy and Joey to win in the trenches and they really did that,” said Wain. “Our offensive line was the key to helping us win the game since they just did a tremendous job of blocking. Marquez and Best were our defensive players of the game and they both led us in tackles and they both did an outstanding job.”