Facing the No. 10 4A team in the state Friday, Yamhill-Carlton was within striking distance at the half. Third-quarter mental mistakes, however, allowed Gladstone to pull away and take a 42-12 season-opening win.

“It’s our first game and we were playing with a majority of players that have very little varsity experience,” first-year coach Ric Stahl said. “We have about half sophomores, half juniors and two seniors.

“We spotted them 21 points in the first half on three big plays. But we scored with 4.7 seconds left on a 27-yard pass from Jake (McGraw) to Shawn Kirby and we went into the locker room down 21-12 to the No. 10 team in the state.”

The third quarter, though, was a back-breaker. After the Y-C defense held Gladstone to a punt, the catch was fumbled and Gladstone put it in for a score. Then, on the kickoff, another muff led to another quick score.

McGraw finished 11 of 24 for 114 yards, but also threw two picks in his first varsity start. Kirby finished with a team-high six catches for 80 yards.

Dayton 14, Regis 6
Avenging a 2008 blowout, Dayton turned in a hard-fought 14-6 road win at Regis on Friday to get what the Pirates hope is a turnaround season started with a win.

Last season’s loss started a roller coaster ride of a year for Dayton, which missed the playoffs for the first time in nearly 30 years. But, taking advantage of a strong returning group — as compared to Regis, which lost more than a dozen starters from last year’s team — the Pirates took the first step in starting a new tradition.

Dayton will host Toledo in its home opener next Friday. Regis, meanwhile, will travel to take on Amity.

Perrydale 56, Days Creek 12
Coming into Friday’s season opener, Perrydale was hoping to figure out which of its two top quarterbacks would step in to replace last year’s star signal caller Daniel Lee. It looks like the Pirates have found their man.

In just one half of play, sophomore Corbin Reed tossed five touchdown passes at Days Creek on Friday afternoon, with Blake Barnes and Thomas Gallagher each pulling in two. Gallagher, a junior, was incidentally the other half of the battle for the quarterback position during the offseason.

Tyler Brown, Gallagher, Barnes and Bryce Farris each scored a rushing touchdown as well for Perrydale, which led 50-6 at the half, allowing the JV squad to play the entire second half.

Perrydale (1-0) will host Elkton on Friday in a 7 p.m. endowment game. It will be the season opener for the Elks, who took part in the Camas Valley Jamboree on Friday.

Sheridan at Monroe Jamboree
After a bit of a lackluster start at Friday night’s Monroe Jamboree, Sheridan found its footing and put on a solid showing in its second of two matchups.

The Spartans opened against Harrisburg, scoring just once on a touchdown pass from Brock Ingram to Henry von Euen. In the night’s second pairing, however, things finally started to click.

“We just came out kind of flat in that first game,” Sheridan coach Brice Ingram said. “We had one other touchdown called back. We moved the ball really well on them, but we made some critical penalties at times that really hurt. But against Monroe, we scored four times really quickly.

“We settled down, got the jitters out and really played like a different team, both offensively and defensively.”

Ingram tossed four TDs against Monroe, connecting with Patrick Mitchell, Tre Hale-Edmerson, Brenden Bittner and von Euen. Junior Alex Ludwig also played well, scoring once and running the ball effectively, allowing for a balance with the passing game.

“We tried out some young kids tonight and did some good things,” Ingram said. “I was really pleased tonight. And we’re excited about playing Vernonia next week.

“We had a great game with them last year, at Vernonia, and they gave us a real game. We beat them by six points, and I expect another good game from them next week.”