Local Sports

The 17th ranked Grants Pass Cavemen are hosting their first home playoff football game since they lost to Madison in 2016 by one point. The boys in blue hope to absolve that loss with a win over the 24th ranked Sunset Apollo’s Friday night in Mel Ingram Field. The Apollo’s are 4th in the Metro league with a 3 and 6 record while GP is 6th in league with a 5 and 4 record. The game will be broadcast live on KAJO with the pregame airing at 6:30 for 7 p.m. kickoff.

Both North and South Medford teams have home playoff games with the number 13 Panthers hosting #28 Jefferson at Spiegelberg Stadium and the Black Tornado, ranked 14th hosting #27 Roosevelt at Southern Oregon University. Other conference foes include sixth ranked Sprague in the Open Bracket hosting Clackamas. Third seeded Sheldon has a bye week and will host the winner of the Sprague game.

In the 4A Classification the Hidden Valley Mustangs, ranked 12th, play on the road facing number 5 Scappoose. At the three A level 9th seeded North Valley goes on the road to challenge number 8 Sutherlin.

 

The Grants Pass 9-1-1 Communications Center fielded hundreds of calls for local emergency first responders over the past week. According to the 9-1-1 Dispatch Center's weekly post on Facebook, dispatchers received a total of 1,248 emergency calls between October 24th and October 30th. The Grants Pass Police Department received the bulk of the calls with 943, with American Medical Response receiving 286 and Grants Pass Fire & Rescue getting 89. Rural Metro Fire Department received a total of 66 calls last week, followed by the Illinois Valley Fire District with 30, the Oregon Department of Forestry with 16, and both the Williams and Wolf Creek Rural Fire Protection Districts with 9. Dispatchers also received a total of 497 internal calls and they made a total of 572 outgoing calls. Recent rains have caused some tricky driving conditions as evidenced by several traffic crashes over the past week. In addition, the end of fire season means that a lot of seasoned wood has been burning and a few of the piles have escaped.

 

The Grants Pass Cavemen lost the final game of the regular season at Mel Ingram Field last night 40 to 14 to the West Salem Titans. Early mistakes doomed the Cavemen who finish the regular season at with a 5 and 4 record and sixth in Conference.

The Good news is the 17th ranked Cavemen qual8ified for a post season home game this coming weekend. The Cavemen will host the 24th ranked Sunset Apollos this coming Friday night at a time yet to be determined. West Salem earned a 16th ranking and will host Westview.

In other action last night the South Panthers beat the North Medford Black Tornado 33 to 30 and was ranked 13th to also earn a home playoff game against number 28 Jefferson. The Black Tornado also earned a home game against Roosevelt. It hasn’t been decided where or when those games will be played since the Panthers and Tornado share a home field.

The Sheldon Irish claimed the conference title going undefeated with a convincing win over Sprague 52 to 7. Sheldon was seeded third in the elite bracket drawing a bye week and will face the winner of the Clackamas/Sprague game.

In other action last night Ashland Edged Hidden Valley 50 to 48 and North Valley easily handled Klamath Union 42 to nothing.

 

The Grants Pass Cavemen have a big game Friday night when they host the West Salem Titans. The Cavemen are ranked 16th, the titans 20th and both teams are looking for a home playoff game. A win likely assures both a home slot. A loss for the Cavemen wouldn’t necessarily eliminate a home playoff game but a Titan loss would almost likely mean they would play of the road. The game will be broadcast here on KAJO with the pregame at 6:30 for a seven o’clock kickoff.

In other conference action, and a game that could impact the Cavemen, it’s the Black and Blue bowl with South Medford hosting North Medford in Spiegelburg Stadium. Sheldon is playing at Sprague in a game that will determine the confence championship.

Other local action has Hidden Valley hosting the Ashland Grizzlies, North Valley on the road at Klamath Union, Illinois Valley visits Bandon and Rogue River travels to Bonanza.

 

** Prep Football Scoreboard **

Sheldon 63, Grants Pass 6

North Medford 49, South Salem 15

South Medford 30, West Salem 10

North Salem 38, McNary 0

Hidden Valley 19, North Bend 18

Cascade Christian 41, North Valley 6

Illinois Valley 59, Gold Beach 36

Lost River 42, Rogue River 8

Riddle 38, Glendale 21