Column by Rick S. Alvord

Sports editor

They say one of the best cures for a nasty cold is to stand outside for two hours watching high school football on a crisp Friday night.

They say that, don’t they?

So I scribbled some notes on a few dozen Kleenex during the tussle between R.A. Long and Woodland at Longview Memorial Stadium. The Lumberjacks, 0-for-Woodland since joining the Greater St. Helens 2A League in 2006, forced five turnovers and punished the big-play Beavers with a plethora of bigger plays en route to a wild 48-35 victory.

Here’s what the Kleenex had to say …

• Somewhere, Steve Rooklidge is smiling.

Rooklidge, the former RAL head coach and current Kalama assistant, was on the sideline when the Lumberjacks opened league play at Woodland on Sept. 29, 2006. He watched the Beavers roll up a 60-8 win, the hosts shoving the Jacks’ face in the sand in the second half just for the heck of it.

RAL got closer in 2007. But still lost to the Beavers 28-10.

It was even closer last year. But the Jacks fell again, 18-12.

As for Rooklidge, his staff and his players from that ’06 team, maybe hearing about Friday’s win by the Jacks will add some spring to their weekend step.

• In case you’re still not convinced, Trevor Hurn is the real deal. If he were any more real, he’d be Joe Montana’s son.

Hurn, Woodland’s senior quarterback, spliced and diced the Jacks for 264 yards in the first half alone, finishing with 419 on 31-of-47 passing.

Yes, the kid is blessed with a powerful right arm. But his accuracy under pressure and coolness in the pocket are things you can’t teach.

For a while, it looked like Hurn and his two all-state-caliber receivers — Shane Brady and Elijah Denis — would be enough to torch the Jacks all by themselves. But RAL made the necessary adjustments in the second half and got more hands in the faces of Hurn’s targets, which led to a pair of J Nusbaum interceptions and several stalled drives.

• Gaudy numbers aside, it’s arguable that Hurn wasn’t the best quarterback on the field Friday.

William Yordy of the Jacks accounted for five touchdowns — three through the air, two on the ground — and was a playmaking pain in the Beavers’ neck all night.

Yordy threw TD passes of 10, 51 and 51 yards, and scored on runs of 6 and 2 yards.

He started a few games as a freshman quarterback during that 0-9 campaign in 2006, and has been an on-and-off starter ever since. Last year, he spent half the season at QB and the other half as a receiver, giving way to the multitalented Nusbaum.

Even heading into Friday, RAL coach Erik Bertram was set on Yordy alternating series with junior Austin Wegdahl. But after Wegdahl threw an ugly interception in his first stint behind center, Bertram stuck with Yordy the rest of the way.

OK, we’ve established that Yordy is a good all-around football player who can play multiple offensive positions. But leave the guy at quarterback. Please. That’s where he belongs.

• This GSHL 2A is shaping up to be a back-breaker. It appears that defending league champion Hockinson isn’t as fearsome as expected, leaving RAL, Mark Morris and Woodland to fight it out.

There’s plenty of football still to be played, but the Civil War between the Jacks and Monarchs on Oct. 30 could be … uh, rather important.

• With R.A. Long’s win over Woodland, Mark Morris’ shutout of Washougal and Kelso’s impressive road victory against Evergreen on Thursday, Cowlitz County’s big three are a combined 12-3.

• Woodland’s league title hopes hinge on next Friday’s home showdown against Mark Morris. The Beavers have the talent to hang with the Monarchs, but committing five turnovers the way they did against the Jacks won’t get the job done.

Woodland will point to those turnovers as the primary reason for losing to the Jacks. But none of the five were “bad” giveaways. The Jacks made solid defensive plays to pry away three fumbles, including a hit-and-strip on Hurn by linebacker Jerry Graham that led to Dylan Hopkins’ 72-yard fumble return for a TD to make it 13-0 in the first quarter.

Yordy also stripped the ball away from Denis to force another fumble. And neither of Hurn’s picks were poorly thrown. One was tipped, the other wrestled away.

Turnovers or not, the better team prevailed in this one.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to put the rest of these Kleenex to good use.