Tom Smythe has escaped with the win a couple of times before. Robin Hill has been the victim of that before. When Colin Casad grabbed Gabe Synegal's haflback pass out of the air in the back of the endzone as time ran out in Vancouver Thursday night, it looked for an instant like Hill had turned the tables. But when Casad landed out of bounds, Smythe had added another win to his total, most of which have been over Oregon high school opponents, though European teams, the USFL, and collegiate opponents have been a part of the story too.

Having lost to Central Catholic 43-40 on opening weekend, that next win over an Oregon opponent had to wait, but the heartburn for opponents was already back.

When Smythe retired briefly from McNary of Keizer after last season, not many figured it was the last we would see of the long time winning coach. When the Plainsmen from Evergreen put the old war horse to work again, it was no surprise. Even the horrid Breaker swish, evident still at Lakeridge and McNary, was back, this time in green. And a couple of interstate games were obviously attractive possibilities. Including a Thursday night special against his longtime friendly rival, Robin Hill from Sprague.

Hill, having been around for the wrong end of the deal in both of Smythe's Oregon championship runs with McNary in 1997 & 2001, left nothing on the sideline with the halfback pass off a reverse with 6.5 seconds left from the Evergreen 13. Smythe thought he had lost again (the Rams won on the last play of that first game), due to earlier errors more so than the last second heroics. But instead, it was Hill, who also saw earlier mistakes as the real problem. Notably, neither coach felt their team should have been in position to lose.

Tony Wilson broke thru the middle for the Olys, and outsprinted the Plainsmen secondary for a 63 yard touchdown to put Sprague ahead first with 5:41 left in the first quarter. The kick failed, and that allowed Evergreen to take the lead back 7-6 on Bobby Cowan's successful conversion kick. The kick came quickly, as Cowan, also Evergreen's QB, hit Kyrell Hudson for a 35 yard touchdown on the second play after the Olys kicked off.

Sprague struck first, when Tony Wilson broke a number of tackles up the middl

The first Evergreen possession of the second quarter put the Plainsmen back ahead 13-12. Tyler Coad's 7 yard touchdown catch from Cowan capped the drive. Evergreen's kick failed.

Most of the second quarter was a wash, but Sprague finally mounted a scoring drive. Or maybe Evergreen mounted it in reverse. 4 penalties, 3 of which produced first downs for the Olys, kept the drive moving. Wilson scored from 1 yard out to put the Olys up 18-13, but another missed conversion left that the margin at the half.

Evergreen cleaned up their act at the half, and took the lead back 19-18 on a 5 yard pass from Cowan to Nick Pullman. But Cowan's pass on the 2 point conversion was incomplete.

The Plainsmen got the 2 points anyway, when the Olys snapped the ball out the back of their own endzone. That also gave the ball back to Evergreen, and they drove to a 27-18 lead on Jerrell Bruner's 10 yard run to cap the drive.

Evergreen still led 27-18 at the end of the quarter, but missed a chance to possibly put the game away early in the fourth quarter. The Plainsmen started the 4th. qtr. on the Oly's 17 yard line, but a fourth down Cowan pass was picked off by Wilson, and he brought the ball out to the Sprague 46.

Sprague's longest drive of the night took most of the fourth quarter, but aftrer 11 plays, the Olys were faced with fourth down on the Evergreen 16. Despite all the conversion woes, Sprague opted for a 33-yard field goal attempt, and Casad made it. pulling Sprague to within 27-21 with 4:50 left.

Evergreen drove deep into Sprague territory looking for the knockout, but Brandon Tibbatts intercepted Cowan to give Sprague a chance for the comeback, though they were 85 yard line away with only 1:23 to go.

2 Kniffin completions and a pass interference penalty put the Olympians on the Plainsman 13. Kniffin's pass was incomplete, setting up the last play that almost tied the game, and would have given the Olys a chance to win it with the conversion. Though 3 earlier failures on conversions might well have meant overtime.

Wilson led Sprague with 110 yards rushing on 15 carries, but Kniffin, despite his 52-yard run, finished with only 14 net yards rushing. Kniffen did complete 12 of 19 passes for 181 yards, but, as noted, his last one was incomplete in the red zone.

Cowan, Evergreen's only senior skill-position player, finished 21 for 38 passing for 284 yards and three touchdowns , but he alto was intercepted 3 times. Hudson was the leading receiver with 12 catches for 150 yards.

But all the penalties, missed tackles, missed conversions, and interceptions meant both teams had opportunities to take control. And both coaches reason to believe they should have won by a considerable margin.

 Sprague      12   6   0   3  -  21

 Evergreen     7   6  14  0  -  27

1st. qtr.

Sprague - Tony Wilson 63 yard run (kick failed)

Evergreen - Kyrell Hudson 25 yard pass from Bobby Cowan (Cowan kick)

S - Adam Kniffin 52 yard run (run failed)

2nd. qtr.

E - Tyler Coad 18 yard pass from Cowan (kick failed)

S - Wilson 1 yard run (pass failed)

3rd. qtr.

E - Nick Pullman 5 yard pass from Cowan (pass failed)

E - Safety, Sprague snap out of endzone

E - Jerrell Bruner 10 yard run (kick failed)

4th. qtr.

S - Collin Casad 33 yard FG

Rushing

Sprague - Wilson 15-110, 2 TDs; Kniffin 12-14, 1 TD; Dohman 5-36; Angus 4-12; Giza 3-1; DeSouza 1-2; Potthoff 2-7.

Evergreen - Miller 8-38; Cowan 5-37; Bruner 6-28, 1 TD.

Passing

Sprague - Kniffin 12-19-0 TD, 1 Int., 181 yds.; Synegal 0-1-0-0, 0 yds.

Evergree - Cowan 21-38-3 TD, 3 Int., 284 yds.

Receiving

Sprague - Giza 5-52; Casad 2-60, McManus 1-34; Mangraves 1-7; Synegal 1-13; Lewin 1-11; Dohman 1-4.

Evergreen - Hudson 12-150, 1 TD; Coad 2-24, 1 TD; Monk 2-35; ; Briggs 1-28; Miller 1-19; Stone 1-16; Ulrich 1-7; Pullman 1-5, 1 TD.