High school football: New faces shine in debuts for West Albany and Crescent Valley (2024)

West Albany and Crescent Valley each got their high school football seasons started on Friday night and both jumped out to really solid starts.

The Bulldogs defended their home turf with a 49-26 win over Canby and the Raiders went on the road and put together a near-complete team effort with a 44-23 win. For both teams, it was the new guys who led the charge.

Quarterback Kaden Martirano made his debut for West Albany and in his introduction he made sure to let it fly.

The West Salem transfer went 11 for 17 with 323 yards and three passing touchdowns. That’s good for just over 29 yards per completion.

Dwayne Conrod Jr. was one of the main beneficiaries, with 121 receiving yards and a touchdown. He’s pretty happy to have Martirano as his quarterback and has felt that way since the summer.

“At Linfield camp he was just on it. Had over 10,000 throws in a four-day span. He was one of the most outstanding quarterbacks there,” Conrod said postgame. “... I’m glad that we have him on our team.”

Martirano felt that it didn’t take long to build the chemistry with his teamates and that was evident with their play Friday.

“It started Day 1,” Martirano said. “I felt really confident from the first time meeting them. Then it just kept building and building.”

But it wasn’t just through the air where Martirano had success.

The senior ran the ball 10 times for 56 yards and three touchdowns, showing his physical ability by fighting through tacklers to get into the end zone. It’s not the hallmark of his game, but it’s something opponents have to be ready for.

“I’m always going to be a pro-style quarterback, throw first kind of guy,” Martirano said. “But if we need a yard or two, I’ll definitely run the ball for my teammates.”

Coach Brian Mehl expected this level of play, saying he’s “not surprised one bit with how he played.”

But Mehl will never be content. Six incompletions, including an interception, means there’s still room to grow.

“I bet if you asked him he wished he could have a throw or two back,” Mehl said. “He was solid, gave us a chance to make plays.”

What gave Mehl confidence, though, was the fact that it was Game 1. There’s still plenty of time to grow, and plenty of plays in the playbook left untouched through day one.

“We were able to run some base plays with success," Mehl said."When we can run those Day 1 plays with success it’s going to open up a lot.”

West Albany (1-0) will look to build off of this effort Friday when the Bulldogs head to Bend (1-0).

CV's dynamic duo

As far as introduction’s go, Zeke Thomas and Truman Brasfield made pretty good first impressions.

Brasfield, the senior receiver and defensive back, transferred from Corvallis and put together a phenomenal performance on both sides of the ball.

At receiver, he had 10 catches for 175 yards and three touchdowns. On defense, he had four tackles, an interception, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries, one he took back for a touchdown.

Freshman quarterback Thomas made his varsity debut, showing his high potential. Thomas went 20 for 31 for 316 yards and four touchdowns.

This performance, combined with a defense that gave up only seven points — the other 16 came on special teams — has the Raiders feeling good heading into this week.

Crescent Valley (1-0) remains on the road and heads to Ridgeview (1-0) on Friday night.

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