North Medford senior Cameron Nix brings down South Salem's Colby Raddle during the first quarter Friday at Spiegelberg Stadium.

It didn’t take a rocket scientist to realize North Medford was carrying a little chip on its shoulder for Friday night’s matchup against South Salem, and the Saxons were able to do nothing to wipe it away at Spiegelberg Stadium.

Whether it was due to senior night, a realization that there are only so many games left this season or other more personal factors, North Medford hit the accelerator from the get-go and stayed on the gas to produce a 49-15 throttling in South/Central Football Conference action.

“One thing that you have to do is you’ve got to find an edge on a senior night that’s emotional, and our kids found it real quick,” said Black Tornado head coach Nathan Chin. “If it was personal or if it’s just the willingness and wanting to compete, our kids came to play tonight.”

It didn’t hurt that South Salem lost two of its prime offensive weapons on the game-opening drive, with sophomore quarterback Kellen Bowman suffering a rib injury on the first play after taking a hit from a blitzing Teagan Neron on a 9-yard pass completion.

Bowman never returned and was replaced by senior Ben Hennan, who was able to navigate his team into field goal position for a 28-yard conversion by Nathan Segura-Coley.

Still, the Saxons also lost the services of running back Colby Raddle on the play before the field goal after he took a swing pass and was crunched under an avalanche of Black Tornado defenders for a loss on third down. Raddle also didn’t return to the game.

North Medford then took the ball over with a lot of energy on the sideline, which was set off in a frenzy only two plays later when quarterback Traeger Healy slipped the ball to running back Cameron Nix for a quick screen and the magic unfolded as the senior made his way to the edge behind solid blocking and then used his speed to outrun everyone to the end zone for a 78-yard touchdown.

“That one hit the edge, he made one guy miss and then our kids did an awesome job blocking for him,” said Chin of the play. “Then, obviously, he just turned on the speed.”

From his perspective, Healy said he was just doing due diligence in going through his reads, never imagining where it would take the Black Tornado (5-3, 5-2 SCFC).

“It was just one of my reads,” Healy said. “The (defensive end) didn’t come upfield so I had to throw to him, and then he was gone. I didn’t think he was going to make it that far but he surprised me.”

Nix entered the game as the team’s leading playmaker, so no one was too surprised, mind you. The senior took to the field as North’s leading runner (56 carries, 374 yards, five TDs) as well as leading receiver (20 catches, 314 yards, three TDs) and did nothing to lower his status.

Nix next capped a 54-yard drive after North Medford had forced a turnover on downs with a 1-yard dive as time expired in the first quarter for a 14-3 advantage.

And that’s when everything began to snowball for the Black Tornado, with Logan McDougall recovering a fumble on the ensuing kickoff return by the Saxons (1-7, 1-6) and Healy finding Nolan Kelly downfield for a juggling 26-yard TD connection on the next play.

Healy wound up completing 14 of 16 passes for 231 yards, adding a 37-yard scoring strike to Easton Curtis in the third quarter after extending the play and showing belief again in his receivers.

“I’ve played with and against those guys for a really long time,” Healy said of his plethora of target options, “and we all have that good friendship and good knowledge of each other and we all love and care about each other a lot, and I think that helps.”

After another defensive stand, highlighted by a sack from Neron, Kelly did what he seems to do best and blocked a punt by Hennan to set North up at the South Salem 43-yard line. The senior playmaker blocked an extra-point attempt last week and did likewise when the Saxons did score at the end of the second quarter.

Given a short field to work with, the Tornado tacked on another touchdown three plays later when Jacob Owings tucked through the middle and then somehow only found open space ahead of him for a 32-yard TD run with 7:32 to go in the second quarter for a 28-3 advantage.

“It’s nice when you’ve had a few weeks where we’re operating in all three phases of the game,” said Chin. “Our defense, when you let them turn loose and play the way they like to play, you get those kinds of opportunities that we had tonight. When you can also create those on special teams, then you play with short fields and the name of the game on offense is percentages go up and up when you’re on the other side of the 50.”

South Salem was able to trim its deficit to 28-15 midway through the third quarter, but North never flinched and used interceptions by Tate Snyder and Zach Decker and a fumble recovery by Layndyn Meeker to halt drives by the Saxons in the fourth quarter. The Tornado answered with TD runs of 13 yards from Owings with 3:18 to play and 6 yards from Alex Alvarenga with 1:04 remaining.

“It’s been pretty good with us as a team improving,” senior defensive lineman Trey Kennedy-Coleman on North’s growth in recent weeks to a stifling crew. “That’s huge in any sport and for any team, so for us to improve on a daily basis and get better and better every single day is huge and has been awesome for us. I’m super happy for us.”

“We stopped the run tonight and I think getting home was also a huge thing, making them throw under pressure,” he added. “Those are two key things for us. And our coverage is just top-notch, nothing’s beating it.”

South Salem 3 6 6 0 — 15

North Medford 14 14 7 14 — 49

SS — FG Segura-Coley 28

NM — Nix 78 pass from Healy (Miller kick)

NM — Nix 1 run (Miller kick)

NM — Kelly 26 pass from Healy (Miller kick)

NM — Owings 32 run (Miller kick)

SS — Greer 2 run (kick blocked)

SS — Feik 29 pass from Hennan (run failed)

NM — Curtis 37 pass from Healy (Miller kick)

NM — Owings 13 run (Miller kick)

NM — Alvarenga 6 run (Miller kick)