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Four first-quarter turnovers and a four-touchdown halftime deficit were too much for the North Eugene Highlanders to overcome Friday, Sept. 5, during the home-opener, falling to Corvallis, 48-21, in a non-league football game.
“We didn’t take care of the ball early,” said Rick Raish, North’s head coach.
“You can’t have your first three possessions and turn the ball over — in any football game, you can’t do that.”
The Highlanders are now 1-1 on the young season, having beaten another Corvallis team, Crescent Valley, 23-6, last week on the road.
Several North Eugene Highlanders players work together to tackle Corvallis Spartans running back Nate Bedford (2). Credit: Max Unkrich / Lookout Eugene-Springfield 
North Eugene Highlanders wide receiver Solger Pescosolido (4) talks with his team during the game. Credit: Max Unkrich / Lookout Eugene-Springfield 
North Eugene Highlanders placekicker Silus Sixkiller (26) claps and yells during a long kick return. Credit: Max Unkrich / Lookout Eugene-Springfield 
North Eugene Highlanders running back Riley Whitwood (6) takes off down the sideline. Credit: Max Unkrich / Lookout Eugene-Springfield 
North Eugene Highlanders running back Drake Anderson (11) scans the crowd while on the sidelines. Credit: Max Unkrich / Lookout Eugene-Springfield 
Corvallis Spartans defensive back Brody Todorovich (3) tackles North Eugene Highlanders running back Josiah Corsini (7). Credit: Max Unkrich / Lookout Eugene-Springfield 
Scott Feldman, line coach, smiles on the sideline during the game. Credit: Max Unkrich / Lookout Eugene-Springfield 
North Eugene Highlanders linebacker Riley Whitwood (6) slams the breaks on Corvallis Spartans running back Nate Bedford (2) during a run. Credit: Max Unkrich / Lookout Eugene-Springfield 
Corvallis Spartans running back Nate Bedford (2) tries to evade North Eugene Highlanders defensive back Duncan Roudabush (12) as he dives toward him. Credit: Max Unkrich / Lookout Eugene-Springfield 
Corvallis Spartans tight end Cristian Gabriel (4) attempts to clear running back Nate Bedford (2) after North Eugene Highlanders linebacker Riley Whitwood (6) makes the tackle. Credit: Max Unkrich / Lookout Eugene-Springfield 
Corvallis Spartans running back Nate Bedford (2) charges forward on a run. Credit: Max Unkrich / Lookout Eugene-Springfield 
Corvallis Spartans defensive end Cristian Gabriel (4) lunges toward North Eugene Highlanders quarterback D’Mariyae Ireland (8) for a sack. Credit: Max Unkrich / Lookout Eugene-Springfield 
North Eugene Highlanders running back Riley Whitwood (6) and offensive tackle Ben Norene (50) face the Corvallis Spartans captains before the coin flip. Credit: Max Unkrich / Lookout Eugene-Springfield 
North Eugene students scream from the stands after a touchdown. Credit: Max Unkrich / Lookout Eugene-Springfield 
Lexie Marshall, left, and Travis Webber ride onto the field with flags during the national anthem. Credit: Max Unkrich / Lookout Eugene-Springfield 
Corvallis Spartans quarterback Elijah Lundeen (8) shakes hands with North Eugene Highlanders running back Drake Anderson (11) after the game. Credit: Max Unkrich / Lookout Eugene-Springfield 
North Eugene Highlanders running back Riley Whitwood (6) and offensive tackle Jamison Heatherly (64) hold flags as they walk out before the start of the game. Credit: Max Unkrich / Lookout Eugene-Springfield 
Corvallis Spartans wide receiver Brody Todorovich (3) throws up his arms in confusion on the sideline. Credit: Max Unkrich / Lookout Eugene-Springfield 
A referee tosses the coin as North Eugene Highlanders and Corvallis Spartans captains line up at midfield before the game. Credit: Max Unkrich / Lookout Eugene-Springfield 
North Eugene Highlanders players carrying flags line up under the goalpost as a coach addresses the team before kickoff. Credit: Max Unkrich / Lookout Eugene-Springfield 
North Eugene Highlanders guard Gavin Church (69) runs a drill as line coach Scott Feldman observes. Credit: Max Unkrich / Lookout Eugene-Springfield 
The North Eugene Highlanders offensive line performs drills during the pre-game warmups. Credit: Max Unkrich / Lookout Eugene-Springfield
The season-opening win over the Highlanders was spurred by three touchdown runs from Spartans’ junior running back Nate Bedford.
Corvallis senior quarterback Elijah Lundeen threw two early touchdown passes for a quick 14-0 lead after North turned the ball over twice in its own territory.
The Highlanders didn’t get on the scoreboard until the third quarter, when junior quarterback D’Mariyae Ireland hit senior wideout Solger Pescosolido on a 5-yard touchdown pass in the left corner of the end zone with just under eight minutes to go in the quarter.
Mylee Johannsen’s point-after kick, the first point ever scored by a female football player at a Highlander home game, made it 28-7.
The excitement was short-lived, though, as Bedford ran 88 yards down the right sideline to make it 35-7 Corvallis after Asher Beatty’s point-after kick with 6:15 left in the third quarter.
A couple of touchdown runs by junior Cristian Gabriel made it 48-7 Spartans with 3:27 left in the third.
North got the final two scores on the night, though.
The 5-foot-7, 140-pound Pescosolido skirted into the end zone on a 34-yard end-around to make it 48-13 after the missed extra point with 1:22 to go in the third quarter.
“We knew he was special,” Raish said. “I’m proud of him. He’s that type of player.”
With less than two minutes to go in the game, the Highlanders went for it on fourth-and-nine from the Corvallis 17, Ireland’s pass caught by a leaping Duncan Roudabush, who made a spectacular one-handed grab.
“He’s a great athlete,” Raish said of the junior.
North faked the point-after kick as the holder, Pescosolido, picked up the ball and ran back and forth, looking for a hole, and finding it for the 2-point conversion.
The Highlanders outscored the Spartans 21-20 in the second half and will use that as momentum heading into their first Midwestern League game, at South Eugene, 7 p.m. Sept. 12.
“They were ready for the first punch, and we weren’t,” North senior running back Riley Whitwood said of Corvallis.
“But next week, I think we’re going to build off what we worked on in that second half. We’re going to carry our second half into that next week against South and open up league great.”
