There’s no doubt about it, North Medford turned a corner in last week’s 41-0 romp over Bend.

Equally unquestionable is that the Black Tornado cannot afford a letdown this week as they open South/Central Football Conference play against visiting West Salem.

The Titans bring to town an Oregon commit of their own in star senior lineman Trenton Ferguson — a mammoth obstacle at 6-foot-7 and 310 pounds — and a hint of desperation to get their first win after falling short in consecutive weeks to top-5 programs Sherwood and Lake Oswego.

West Salem also features good size in senior linemen Kameron Splonski (6-7, 300) and Carmelo Brown (6-3, 280) and junior Derek Brager (6-1, 245).

“They’ve got some big bodies up front, they’re tough,” said North Medford head coach Nathan Chin.

The only way to tackle that chore is to take it head on, and that’s exactly what the Black Tornado (1-1) aims to do Friday against West Salem at Spiegelberg Stadium. Kickoff is 7 p.m. on Military Appreciation Night.

“The one benefit that we have on defense with the way we play,” said Chin, “is with big guys you’ve got to see if they can match your speed in that kind of case. That’s obviously one of our big go-tos so we’ll test them and kind of match up our front against their front, for sure. It’s pretty fun to watch our front seven.”

North Medford may not have the same weighted base as its counterparts in the trenches — defensive tackles Connor Trinca and Trey Kennedy-Coleman each come in at 260 pounds — but the athleticism inside as well as the quick-twitch abilities of ends A.J. Pugliano and Joey Newberg spelled disaster a week ago for the Lava Bears.

The Black Tornado defense has allowed only 67 yards rushing on 58 carries thus far, and a minuscule 101 yards per game.

On offense, sophomore Traeger Healy stepped up in his first start with three touchdown passes — two to Pugliano and a 77-yarder to Tony Martinez — and came through when running lanes were hard to come by against Bend.

“He did a really good job of making the throws, making good decisions and distributing the ball,” Chin said of Healy. “I was super happy with the way he came out. That’s a good building block for him to be able to come off, and that’s what we need to continue to grow.”

Healy has completed 27 of 37 passes for 394 yards and a lone interception against No. 7 Tigard.

An Oregon commit as well, Pugliano is an obvious feature to the passing game with a team-high 10 catches for 129 yards, but he’s far from alone. Fellow senior Connor Cesaro has nine catches for 112 yards, and Martinez factored in well on the perimeter one week ago.

“We do have those guys around A.J. to be able to get them the ball and they do great things with it and they have great hands,” said Chin. “It’s nice to have those pieces. It was nice for us to be able to come out of a game and be able to throw the ball around when our run game wasn’t working.”

That running game will look to get untracked against the Titans, certainly a tall task, behind Landyn Meeker and Jeremiah Robbins, who started at quarterback in Week 1 but certainly seems suited to bring a physicality to the backfield as the team’s leading tackler at linebacker.

“I think the big key to get the running game going is that people have to respect our passing game and we have to do something to make them respect that,” said Chin, “and I think last week was a start to that. If we can make some big plays on the edges and downfield, you loosen up the box and then hopefully you can get back to the things that we’ve done on the ground.”

West Salem junior QB Kaden Matriano (6-3, 205) is a promising talent who will be looking to make his own big plays in the SCFC opener.

SOUTH SALEM AT GRANTS PASS: Grants Pass knew this season was going to be a work in progress but offensive execution has made that a little slower than hoped, with the Cavemen averaging 228.5 yards and 17 points per game through two weeks.

An early deficit to Caldera forced the Cavemen a little away from being able to rely on the ground game and a quicker start Friday will help against a South Salem team averaging 47 points per game thus far.

Seniors Gage Blay (31 carries for 114 yards) and Pete Amatoi (22 carries for 104 yards) provide the foundation for GP on offense, with sophomore QB Nathan Bassett experiencing the expected highs and lows that come with being a young first-year starter. Bassett has completed 10 of 33 passes for 173 yards but was intercepted three times a week ago.

EAGLE POINT AT CHURCHILL: Eagle Point dropped to 0-2 but with all the promise of a competitive run now that Midwestern League play is afoot after showing considerable grit in a 57-51 triple-overtime loss to Mazama — ranked No. 2 at the 4A level.

The Vikings scored with no time left on the clock and converted a two-point play to force overtime last week.

Senior quarterback Bryton Livingston is coming off a monster game in which he passed for four touchdowns and ran for two more, arguably his finest performance in four seasons for the Eagles. Livingston has now completed 34 of 48 passes for 422 yards with six TDs and three interceptions, with Kaden Huff adding a dual threat out of the backfield with 29 carries for 117 yards and seven catches for 91 yards through two weeks.

SPRINGFIELD AT CRATER: Crater found itself rolling downhill right away last week against Henley and never could slow that momentum against one of the top teams at the Class 4A level.

Interceptions halted the Comets first two drives and they had five turnovers overall, while the only scoring drive came on Crater’s final possession in a 46-7 defeat.

The improvisation abilities of quarterback Ben Higginson and the bell cow running of Valentin Rodriguez have been staples of both games thus far for Crater (0-2), but struggles in the passing game have kept the team from finding any offensive balance. Higginson completed only 5 of 13 passes for three interceptions and minus-10 yards last week after seeing several passes dropped in a Week 1 loss to North Bend.

On the ground, however, Rodriguez and Higginson each eclipsed 100 yards — 112 and 111 yards, respectively — against the Hornets.

Springfield is coming off an emotional overtime win against Marist for head coach Frank Geske, who earned his 250th victory in the process. Senior running back Connor Dye ran for four TDs last week and expects to be a focal point of the Millers’ attack.