Tenth-ranked South Medford knew it was going to need to make plays in the passing game if the Panthers were going to have any success Friday night against Del Norte in Crescent City, California.

Where the Panthers were out of rhythm one week prior on any pass of distance, senior quarterback Colby Schwartz dialed in two long touchdown passes to Ajani Ingram — and almost had a third — to help spur South Medford to a 24-6 road victory.

“We had to throw the ball,” said Panthers head coach Bill Singler. “Shoot, they had seven and eight guys in the box a lot this whole game. They were not going to let us run the football.”

Schwartz connected with Ingram for a 26-yard TD pass on a clutch fourth-down play in the first quarter, with Ingram slipping off a tackle near the goal line to scoot into the end zone for his first score of the season.

Just like last week against Grants Pass, Del Norte hung tight as William McCovey broke through a pile of would-be tacklers and scooted around the outside for a 13-yard score that trimmed the Warriors’ deficit to 7-6.

The California grass field got chewed up from 20 to 20 thereafter as neither team wanted to flinch on defense, but Ingram again used his speed to get behind the defense and Schwartz was on the money for a 75-yard TD in the second quarter to create more cushion for the Panthers.

With six seconds left in the half, another deep pass by Schwartz was only 1 yard beyond the grasp of Ingram or else Del Norte would’ve been facing even longer odds in the second half.

Even with the 14-6 advantage, Singler said he wasn’t exactly thrilled with the opening 24 minutes of play following what turned into a five-hour journey down to the fire-ravaged areas near Del Norte High.

“It was like pulling teeth, which I kind of thought maybe that was going to happen,” Singler said of the sluggish start. “After getting a nice win Week 1, I think we kind of felt a little too good about ourselves and I don’t think we gave Del Norte the respect they deserved, and we played like it in the first half.”

Having to make three delays along the way to the game wasn’t what Singler hoped but also just another point in line with trying to test the team’s maturity.

“Those are the kinds of things that are good for a football team,” he said, “to get out of their comfort zone, have to work through some adversity and try to find a way to win a football game, and ultimately we did that.”

In the second half, South Medford’s defense was stout and the scoring came in the final 5 1/2 minutes of the fourth quarter on a 21-yard field goal by Jaeden Thonstad and 2-yard dive by Schwartz.

“Our defense played really well,” said Singler. “We only gave up six points and they run that Wing-T offense, which gave us some trouble early in the first half but I thought we played a lot better in the second half and kind of shut them down. Our kids played with a little more energy in the second half as well.”

The win did prove costly for the Panthers as senior defensive lineman Makani Manuwai re-aggravated a knee injury that cost him most of the summer training season. Also in the first half, standout running back Kameron Rague was believed to suffer a concussion and the Panthers sat him out for the final half out of precaution.

Ryder Scheid and Bridger Foss, like in Week 1, stepped up to fill the bill in the backfield but the Panthers likely will open things up for other opportunities should Rague need to miss more than a week of action.

South Medford 7 7 0 10 — 24

Del Norte 6 0 0 0 — 6

SM — Ingram 26 pass from Schwartz (Thonstad kick)

DN — McCovey 13 run (kick failed)

SM — Ingram 75 pass from Schwartz (Thonstad kick)

SM — FG Thonstad 21

SM — Schwartz 2 run (Thonstad kick)

CALDERA 34, GRANTS PASS 14: At Bend, Nathan Bassett dumped a 1-yard touchdown pass to Tim Hart and Pete Amatoi added a 1-yard rushing TD but Grants Pass couldn’t overcome an early onslaught by Caldera on the road.

The Wolfpack (1-1), who are coached by former North Medford and Grants Pass coach Mike Mitchell, led 27-7 at halftime and carried a 34-7 edge in the fourth quarter to ease past the Cavemen (1-1).

Bassett completed 6 of 21 passes for 94 yards with three interceptions, while Amatoi carried 18 times for 69 yards and Gage Blay rushed for 41 yards on 14 carries. Hart led the receivers with three catches for 56 yards.

Cole Carnes led the defensive effort for GP with five tackles.

MAZAMA 57, EAGLE POINT 51, 3OT: At Eagle Point, Eagle Point quarterback Bryton Livingston passed for 237 yards and four touchdowns and ran for two more but Mazama was able to wear the Eagles down and hold on in a wild three-overtime clash at Eagle Stadium.

Mazama (2-0) scored with no time on the clock on a 12-yard pass from Tyson Van Gastel to Kai Hunt and then Van Gastel’s two-point conversion run created a tie at 35-all to force overtime.

The teams traded TDs and conversions in the first two overtime sessions, with Livingston running 2 yards for a score and passing 20 yards to Alex Meadows. In the third OT, however, Kristopher Baldwin scored on a 10-yard run for the 4A Vikings and the Eagles (0-2) were unable to counter when Livingston’s final pass to Hugo Perezchica was incomplete.

Meadows finished with eight catches for 117 yards and two scores, while Kaden Huff ran 14 times for 70 yards and a TD and caught three passes for 67 yards and another score.

Two years ago, Mazama scored with eight seconds remaining and then kicked the ensuing extra point for a 21-20 victory.

Mazama 0 14 6 15 8 8 6 — 57

Eagle Point 13 6 8 8 8 8 0 — 51

EP — Perezchica 26 pass from Livingston (Cordle kick)

EP — Meadows 9 pass from Livingston (kick failed)

M — Lobdell 5 run (McCool kick)

M — Van Gastel 1 run (McCool kick)

EP — Livingston 18 run (Livingston run)

M — Van Gastel 1 run (kick failed)

M — Norlock 4 run (McCool kick)

EP — Huff 8 run (Perezchica pass from Livingston)

M — Hunt 12 pass from Van Gastel (Van Gastel run)

M — Norlock 2 run (Van Gastel run)

EP — Livingston 2 run (Raber pass from Livingston)

EP — Meadows 20 pass from Livingston (Perezchica run)

M — Norlock 1 run (Lobdell run)

M — Baldwin 10 run (run failed)

HENLEY 46, CRATER 7: At Klamath Falls, Henley intercepted Ben Higginson’s first pass from scrimmage and then scored on its first play from scrimmage when Joseph Janney dialed up a deep touchdown pass to Luke Bennett with just 39 seconds off the clock to set the tone for a runaway nonconference victory.

With Crater (0-2) trailing 40-0 in the fourth quarter, Valentin Rodriguez broke the drought with a 10-yard TD run with 4½ minutes remaining.

The Hornets (2-0) also scored on the final play of the game when Jeremiah Brunick broke loose for a 53-yard touchdown run at the buzzer.

Crater 0 0 0 7 — 7

Henley 13 7 20 6 — 46

CASCADE CHRISTIAN 49, SUTHERLIN 6: At Sutherlin, Cascade Christian quarterback Ashton Moody passed for two of his three touchdowns in the first quarter and the Challengers held Sutherlin to 129 yards of offense in the Far West League road win.

Moody connected with Deryk Farmer (39 yards) and Kristofer Fralich (29 yards) to help get Cascade Christian (2-0, 2-0 FWL) out to a 28-0 lead through one quarter of play.

Moody completed 9 of 12 passes for 189 yards, with Peyton Maurer leading in receptions with five for 89 yards and Fralich adding a 31-yard score in the second quarter.

On the ground, Wilson ran 35 yards for the Challengers’ opening score and finished with 61 yards on two carries, while Caleb Scaglione and Cole Breitler also added short scoring runs.

Moody led the defense against Sutherlin with two sacks and six tackles, while Luke Ryder added five tackles and Scaglione managed 4½ tackles.

Cascade Christian 28 21 0 0 — 49

Sutherlin 0 6 0 0 — 6

CC — Wilson 35 run (Hoffman kick)

CC — Farmer 39 pass from Moody (Hoffman kick)

CC — Scaglione 1 run (Hoffman kick)

CC — Fralich 29 pass from Moody (Hoffman kick)

CC — Fralich 31 pass from Moody (Hoffman run)

CC — Breitler 9 run (kick failed)

S — Flora 14 run (kick failed)

CC — Westlake 17 run (Hoffman kick)

NORTH VALLEY 42, ST. MARY’S 23: St. Mary’s freshman Joel Kiene passed for two touchdowns to T.J. Flowers, and Flowers added his own touchdown pass late in the fourth quarter but a third-quarter surge by North Valley provided the difference in the Far West League matchup at Lithia & Driveway Fields.

Kiene completed 10 of 17 passes for 182 yards, with Flowers hauling in TD passes of 28 and 64 yards to finish with four catches for 140 yards. Flowers connected on a 20-yard TD pass to Bradley Patten, who had five catches for 61 yards, on a tailback option pass.

Indiana Olson carried 21 times for 125 yards for St. Mary’s (1-1, 1-1 FWL), which rolled up 333 yards of total offense but couldn’t slow the Knights as they answered with 420 yards.

Lee Freedman ran for two TDs and 145 yards on 11 carries for North Valley (1-1, 1-1), while quarterback Roy McGregor had two short scoring runs and two TD passes to Kai Romero.

North Valley 7 7 21 7 — 42

St. Mary’s 7 3 7 6 — 23

SM — Flowers 28 pass from Kiene (Jones kick)

NV — Freedman 4 run (Smith kick)

SM — FG Jones 21

NV — McGregor 4 run (Smith kick)

NV — Freedman 49 run (Smith kick)

SM — Flowers 64 pass from Kiene (Jones kick)

NV — Romero 20 pass from McGregor (Smith kick)

NV — McGregor 1 run (Smith kick)

NV — Romero 24 pass from McGregor (Smith kick)

SM — Patten 20 pass from Flowers (kick failed)

COQUILLE 52, PHOENIX 21: At Phoenix, Cody Martin provided Phoenix its first points of the season and the Pirates’ first lead but Coquille began to heat up is punishing ground attack in the second quarter and outscored Phoenix 30-6 in the second half to win going away at Jack Woodward Stadium.

Payton Turner was able to zip a 1-yard touchdown pass to Shane Gordon and allow Phoenix to enter halftime trailing only 22-15, but four straight touchdown runs by Coquille created a 30-point burst to put the game away.

Parker Devey scored on a 30-yard run late in the fourth quarter to cap the scoring for the Pirates (0-2, 0-2 FWL).

Bo Messerle punched in four close-range touchdown runs and Cameron Houston ran for three touchdowns to guide the Red Devils (2-0, 2-0).

Coquille 6 16 16 14 — 52

Phoenix 7 8 0 6 — 21

P — Martin 4 run (Reneau kick)

C — Messerle 5 run (kick failed)

C — Messerle 5 run (Messerle run)

C — Messerle 2 run (Messerle run)

P — Gordon 1 pass from Turner (Martin run)

C — Houston 37 run (Messerle run)

C — Houston 27 run (Messerle run)

C — Messerle 3 run (run failed)

C — Houston 53 run (Houston run)

P — Parker Devey 30 run (run failed)