It was only one play, a third-quarter punt innocent enough that nobody on either sideline could have expected anything major to occur.

But it did, and Jacob Francouer’s 28-yard return of the “fumbled” punt for a touchdown proved to be the difference as the Scappoose Indians survived a close call from visiting Cottage Grove in a nonleague football game Friday night in Scappoose.

Francouer sprinted downfield and grabbed the ball, apparently touching it down at the Lions’ 28-yard line. But when the officials did not whistle the play dead, Francouer sprinted directly for the end zone, scoring a touchdown which, followed by a two-point conversion pass from Justin Engstrom to Francouer, pushed the Tribe to a momentum-turning 28-17 lead.

“I couldn’t tell if the punt touched the kid or not, and he really didn’t have any urgency to run back and grab it” Indians head coach Sean McNabb said. “Then I saw the near official go sprinting toward the goal line so we started screaming ‘Pick it up, pick it up!’ and Franco grabbed it and ran it in.”

According to the rules of the game, a punt can only be advanced by the kicking team if it is fumbled by the receiving team. Punts inadvertently touched by the receiver and covered by the kicking team are ruled dead at the spot the ball was recovered.

Cottage Grove head coach Randy Fisher was disappointed with the loss, especially with how things transpired to start the second half.

“Some unfortunate events took us out of the game,” a frustrated Fisher said afterward. “A couple of things didn’t go our way and it hurts a little bit.”

Fisher took two Pleasant Hill teams to the Class 3A state championships in 2000 and 2001 — losing both times to McNabb’s Indians — and in his third season, has the Lions ready to compete on that same stage this season.

And, for the first half, the upset-minded Lions dominated the ballgame.

After a first-series touchdown pass from Engstrom to Powers, the Lions scored 17 unanswered points, including a field goal early in the second quarter and a touchdown 12 seconds later to lead 17-7.

Jason Woody booted the 37-yard field goal and Scappoose’s Powers fumbled the ensuing kickoff, which the Lions recovered and quickly converted into a one-play touchdown drive on a 25-yard pass from Bryant Sentman to tight end Chuck McLeod.

Scappoose got within 17-14, scoring with 5:28 to go in the second quarter when T.J. Crane turned a run through the right side of the line into a 70-yard touchdown, his third TD run of 50 or more yards this season. Later in the half, after a pair of Cody Hoglund interceptions killed Cottage Grove drives, the Indians regained the lead on a 2-yard run by Crane in the final minute of the first half.

After Francouer’s “fumble return” touchdown in the third quarter, the Lions cut the deficit to 28-24 when Eric Anderson’s 40-yard scamper set up a 1-yard TD run by Blake Thompson.
Just 21 seconds later, though, the Indians extended the lead again on its first play from scrimmage, when Kevin Carpenter took a reverse handoff from Crane, broke around the left end and raced 77 yards down the sideline for a score and a 35-24 lead.

The play came after the Indians had spent most of the game getting their running game stuffed between the tackles by a dominant Cottage Grove defensive front.

“They were big and physical up front, and we knew they could probably shut down our inside running game,” McNabb said. “But our offense can attack you from different places on the field.”

Attack it did, as the Indians added a 32-yard TD pass from Engstrom to Kyle Goodnight for a 42-24 lead and, after the Lions cut the deficit to 42-32, added one more touchdown when Engstrom scored on a 1-yard quarterback sneak.

The Indians’ defense clogged up Cottage Grove’s power running game in the first half, allowing the Lions just 21 rushing yards in the first half. But the Lions were able to blast through the middle of the Scappoose defense to sustain long, clock-burning drives in the second half.

“They ran for a lot of yards up the middle,” McNabb said, “but that offense isn’t a good offense to run when you have to come from behind.”

Anderson led Cottage Grove with 129 rushing yards on 19 carries, gaining 131 yards in the second half after being held to negative yardage before intermission.

Crane finished with 110 yards on 17 carries, and Engstrom completed 18 of 30 passes for 193 yards, throwing one interception on a deep pass at the end of the first half.

Powers led all Scappoose receivers with seven catches for 82 yards and a score.

The Indians (2-0) overall, travel south this week to face defending Class 3A state champion Marist Friday night in Eugene.

Cottage Gr. 7 10 7 14 — 38
Scappoose 7 13 22 6 — 48

Scoring Summary
First Quarter
S — Weston Powers 16 pass from Justin Engstrom (Powers kick), 6:27
CG — Thomas Briones 2 run (Jason Woody kick), 1:43
Second Quarter
CG — FG Woody 37, 11:42
CG — Chuck McLeod 25 pass from Bryant Sentman (Woody kick), 11:30
S — T.J. Crane 70 run (Brian Moloney kick), 5:28
S — Crane 2 run (kick blocked), 0:46
Third Quarter
S — Jacob Francouer 28 fumble return (Francouer pass from Engstrom), 10:17
CG — Blake Thompson 1 run (Woody kick), 7:24
S — Kevin Carpenter 77 run (Moloney kick), 7:03
S — Kyle Goodnight 32 pass from Engstrom (Moloney kick), 2:28
Fourth Quarter
CG — Eric Anderson 26 run (Bobby Edwards pass from Sentman), 11:13
S — Engstrom 1 run (kick failed), 6:42
CG — Sentman 1 run (pass failed), 2:10

Unofficial Individual Statistics
Rushing (att-yards)
Cottage Grove: Anderson 19-129, Thomp-son 7-39, Taylor McCall 4-22, Briones 2-10, Sentman 3-(minus 12).
Scappoose: Crane 17-110, Carpenter 1-77, Francouer 3-18, Sean Wasson 4-16, Engstrom 4-4.

Passing (com-att-int-yds)
Cottage Grove: Sentman 3-9-2-45.
Scappoose: Engstrom 18-30-1-193.

Receiving (catch-yds)
Cottage Grove: McLeod 1-25, Edwards 1-18, Thompson 1-2.
Scappoose: Powers 7-82, R.J. Logue 3-21, Cody Hoglund 2-10, Crane 2-5, Goodnight 1-32, Carpenter 1-19, Ryan Wilson 1-10.