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QuickTake:
The Axe coach said the team, with about 30 players on its roster, needs a week to heal before a Sept. 26 game against Crescent Valley.
After sustaining multiple minor injuries in its 58-18 home loss to North Eugene Friday night, the South Eugene Axe football team decided to cancel its visit to Thurston High School this Friday, Sept. 19.
The Axe has a small roster of about 29 players in its fourth year back playing football after not having a team in 2020 and 2021, and several key players, including starting quarterback Felix Olietti, running back Henry Fausett and wideout Jackson Ingram, left the game against North Eugene with injuries.
Thurston will instead host Henley High School, from the Klamath Falls area, in a nonleague matchup at 7 p.m. Friday.
“We just don’t have the numbers, and the guys we do have (available) are younger guys, freshmen and sophomores,” said South Eugene first-year coach Eric Scott, a former Willamette High assistant, “and having them try to go both ways and a field a competitive team, it just wasn’t going to happen this week.”
The Axe will treat this week like a bye week, Scott said, letting players rest and recuperate to get ready for the nonleague matchup with Crescent Valley at South on Sept. 26.
“No one is seriously injured, but a couple of kids will have to get things looked at,” Scott said.
After losing to North Eugene, the Axe is 0-2 on the season after going 0-9 last season.
The program has lost 17 straight games dating back to the 2023 season, the last victory coming against Willamette, 28-25, on Sept. 14, 2023. Since the program was resurrected in 2022, South Eugene is 3-25.
Scott described the game against 1-2 Crescent Valley, a 4A school that lost to Corvallis, the state’s top-ranked 5A team, 44-12 on Sept. 12, as “a very winnable game” for South.
And a much-needed win at that, one that could change the direction of the program and give it a huge confidence booster.
But getting healthy again is a big key, he said.
In a statement that was sent to both South Eugene and Thurston, Scott said the decision to cancel the game was made “with the safety and well-being of our players as the top priority.”
“As we bring in more players and build this program, we remain committed to developing a safe, competitive and successful future for our athletes,” Scott said.
