Buzzards Fall to Champion Monarchs

The champs from last season maintained their reputation as an offensive powerhouse on Saturday as the Springfield Buzzards hosted the Portland Monarchs at Don King Field in Cottage Grove. Although the final score was 42-6 in favor of the Monarchs it in no way reflects how well the Buzzards maintained the Monarchs offense throughout three and a half quarters.

The Monarchs were on the board first when receiver Andrew Johnson scored four minutes into the first quarter.

The Monarch's next effort was thwarted by Jimmy Craig's end zone interception with 6:42 left in the first quarter.
Portland's James Loucks caught the next touchdown with about ten minutes left in the second half putting the Monarch's up 14-0, which was still the score when the teams headed to the locker room.

Three minutes into the second half the Buzzards got on the scoreboard when quarterback Jeremy Shay threw a touchdown to Kevin Pardy who was playing tight end. It would be Springfield's only points for the game as Sean Turner's 60 yard touchdown run was called back due to a penalty.

The Monarchs put up another seven points in the third finishing the quarter at 21-6.

"We knew going in we were outgunned. Our game plan was to slow their high powered O down," said Pardy, "and be in position to win late in the game and it almost worked."

That's when the wheels fell off for the Buzzards.

"With seven minutes left, down 21-6, a no call on an interference resulted in an INT for them." The Buzzards reaction to the no call resulted in 30 yards of penalties and according to Pardy "was the straw that broke the camel's back. [I] Wish the flag had been thrown."

That exchange put the Monarchs up 28-6 with five minutes left in the game. As emotions were running high and tensions were starting to build on the sidelines the Monarchs threw two more touchdowns in the last two minutes of the game padding their victory and finishing the game with a score of 42-6.

"The score doesn't reflect how good of a game that was," reflected Buzzard's receiver Travis Ratliff after the game.

The 1-4 Buzzard's next game will be Saturday, May 1, in Roseburg at South Umpqua High School at 6 p.m. as they take on the Knights of Umpqua Valley who are 4-1.

Go Buzzards!

Springfield Buzzards update

The Buzzards suffered another big loss on Saturday against the Oregon Outlaws who they had previously beaten a few weeks ago on March 30. The Outlaws hosted the game at Cottage Grove High School where both teams hold their home games so there was a lot of pride on the line, not to mention the huge rivalry that’s been brewing between the two teams over the years.
The Dirty Birds came out strong scoring a touchdown five minutes into the first quarter as Quarterback Jeremy Shay ran for his second rushing touchdown of the season.
The next score from the Buzzards came from Travis Warren blocking the Outlaws extra point and running it back for a safety at the end of the first quarter for a score of 9-6.
The Outlaws answered back at the beginning of the second quarter by scoring another touchdown to put the Outlaws up 12-9. This is where things started to go wrong for the Birds as the Outlaws continued to gain yards on the ground and in the air and getting two more touchdowns before the end of the half.
The third quarter started off as poorly as the second had ended as the Outlaws scored right out of the gate with 13:50 to go in the third giving them the lead of 31-9. The Outlaws would score a safety and another touchdown finishing the quarter at a dismal 39-9.
Never giving up our Buzzards rallied in the fourth quarter with one touchdown from Sean Turner and Shay hooking up with Andy Becker for the final touchdown of the game with about a minute left. The Buzzards finished strong with a final score of 39-21 giving them a 1-3 record so far this season.
The next game should prove to be a tough one for the Buzzards as they host the Portland Monarchs who are 4-0 and have been putting up impressive numbers against their opponents. The next game will be Saturday, April 24, at 6:00 p.m. at Cottage Grove High School.