Clatskanie, ranked No. 10 in the OSAAtoday 2A football coaches poll, added to the best start in school history with its biggest win of the season Thursday.
The host Tigers, known more for their running game, did their damage behind the passing of sophomore quarterback Will Van Voorst to beat No. 5 Knappa 21-14 as the unbeaten teams clashed for first place in Special District 1
Van Voorst completed 12 of 20 passes for 178 yards and three touchdowns without an interception. Clatskanie (8-0, 5-0) now stands in first place ahead of Knappa (6-1, 4-1) and Nestucca (6-2, 4-1).
“We knew we had to be way more diverse because Knappa's just too good defensively for us to just sit back and pound the ball,” Tigers coach Sean Gorley said. “We did a pretty good job of keeping them off balance and spreading the ball around. We kept them guessing.”
Clatskanie took a 14-0 lead as Van Voorst threw touchdown passes of 26 yards to junior Michael Simpson in the first quarter and 30 yards to senior Daylon Gutierrez in the second quarter.
Knappa pulled within 14-7 with 12 seconds left in the first half on a 75-yard touchdown pass from junior Oliver Stevens to senior Kade Kinder. The Loggers threatened to draw even in the third quarter when they reached Clatskanie's 5-yard line, but senior Russ Carver tackled Stevens short of the first down on fourth-and-one.
“That was a huge turning point,” Gorley said.
The Tigers made it 21-7 in the fourth quarter on a 25-yard scoring strike from Van Voorst to senior Ayden Blackshire. Kinder turned a short pass into an 80-yard touchdown to cut the lead to 21-14 with three minutes left, and Knappa recovered the ensuing onside kick.
But the Tigers' defense stepped up to seal the win. On fourth-and-six near midfield, Simpson knocked the ball loose from Stevens and Carver recovered the fumble.
“My biggest fear was these kids have worked so hard the whole game, I just didn't want to see it slip away with just a couple plays at the end,” Gorley said. “To me, it would've been so unjust.
“I thought we honestly had control of the game pretty much all the way through. Our defense really had to stand up there in that last minute.”
Blackshire finished with eight catches for 93 yards and one touchdown. Senior Lucas Andreasen rushed for 88 yards on 21 carries and Van Voorst added 44 yards on eight carries.
The win clinched at least a share of the district title for Clatskanie, which has made dramatic improvement after going 3-6 last season. The Tigers can win the title outright by ending the regular-season with a home win over Nestucca.
-- Luke Roth contributed to this report
Wilsonville's 'next in line'
Trevor Glos had a near impossible standard to meet when he took over as Wilsonville's starting quarterback this season.
His predecessors – Kallen Gutridge and Mark Wiepert – combined to throw for 7,584 yards and 108 touchdowns in leading the Wildcats to 5A championships the last two seasons.
But the 6-foot-3, 165-pound junior is playing like he belongs in that company for No. 3 Wilsonville (7-1). In Friday's 42-14 home win over McNary, he completed 14 of 18 passes for 205 yards and four touchdowns with two interceptions. For the season, he has completed 70.9 percent of his passes for 1,999 yards and 31 touchdowns with 10 interceptions.
“Growing up in our program, I think he looked at them and he's like, 'These guys are something special, and this is what I want to be,'” Wildcats coach Adam Guenther said. “But he's his own player, and I think he realizes that.
“We're just fortunate that we have him for another year. We've put out some pretty good quarterbacks in the last eight years. He's next in line.”
The starting job came down to a battle Glos and senior Roman Kealoha, who played running back the last two seasons. Glos began to separate from Kealoha in training camp, and when Kealoha suffered an injury in the team's jamboree, Glos got the nod.
He hasn't disappointed. Three times he has passed for five touchdowns. He threw for a season-high 344 yards in a 50-7 win over Canby on Oct. 10.
Glos had a tendency to leave a collapsing pocket early in the year, but as the season has progressed, he is being more patient and keeping his eyes down field.
“As a junior, the one thing I think he's ahead of the game is his pocket presence,” Guenther said. “Kal's biggest jump between his junior and senior year was how he stayed in the pocket until it was time to go. I think Trevor is better there than we've had in a while at this early of an age.”
Gutridge and Wiepert were elite multi-sport athletes who kept defenses honest with their running ability. With his slimmer frame, Glos has not run as much, rushing for 185 yards and two touchdowns on 27 carries.
“We haven't turned him loose yet. I don't know when that will be,” Guenther said. “We don't have a lot of depth this year. We need to stay healthy. I don't want to expose him to that until we have to.”
Vale gets payback
Sophomore quarterback Cal Johnson lifted No. 4 Vale to a 21-18 win at No. 3 Burns on Friday night in a rematch of last year's 3A final.
Johnson rushed for 159 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries and passed for the go-ahead score – a three-yard strike to junior Maddox Hartley with 4:25 left in the game – as the Vikings (7-1, 3-0 Special District 6) avenged last year's championship loss to the Hilanders (7-1, 2-1).
“Cal's very elusive,” Vale coach Jeff Aldred said of Johnson. “He's a smooth athlete. It's kind of funny because it doesn't look like he's moving super fast, but nobody catches him. That tells you that he's extremely fast.”
Vale can claim a fifth consecutive outright district title with a win at Umatilla (3-5, 1-2) in the regular-season finale.
Friday's game shaped up as a duel between Johnson and Burns senior quarterback Jack Wright. Johnson ran for an 80-yard touchdown on Vale's first play for a 7-0 lead, and Wright answered with a 13-yard scoring run to make it 7-6.
But Wright left the game with a pulled quadriceps late in the first quarter. Burns replaced him with standout receiver Coltin Miller, who operated from the wildcat formation and rushed for 107 yards and one touchdown on 19 carries.
“Wright getting hurt was definitely a factor,” Aldred said. “It threw everybody's game plan out the window.”
Miller tossed a 29-yard touchdown pass to junior Cannon Kemper and ran for a one-yard score as Burns opened an 18-7 lead in the third quarter. Johnson scored on an eight-yard run to draw Vale within 18-14 in the third quarter, then came through with the winning pass to Hartley.
Burns, driving into a stiff wind, got to the Vale 35 on its final possession. But a long pass by sophomore Dallen Johnson to near the 10-yard line fell incomplete as time expired.
The windy conditions made passing difficult for both teams. Johnson completed 4 of 14 passes for 72 yards and one touchdown. Wright, Miller and Dallen Johnson combined to go 5 of 11 for 50 yards and one score for Burns.
Vale had a 296-281 edge in yards. The teams each had 12 first downs.
“Just two football teams thad didn't want to lose,” Aldred said. “Guys were trying to gut it out, so both teams had some cramping issues. It was a super hard-hitting defensive battle at times.”
Silverton rebounds, tops No. 2 Dallas
Buoyed by the return of senior quarterback Chase Dominguez and junior receiver Lincoln Teeney from injuries, No. 5 Silverton bounced back from its first loss of the season to win 30-23 at No. 2 Dallas in a 5A Mid-Willamette Conference game Friday.
Dominguez, who missed the last two games with a collarbone injury, completed 11 of 19 passes for 195 yards and two touchdowns. Teeney, sidelined the previous two games after having his appendix removed, caught a 35-yard touchdown pass and had an interception that led to a field goal.
The win comes a week after the Foxes (7-1, 4-1) lost at home to No. 6 Lebanon 34-28 on a 20-yard touchdown pass with two seconds left.
“The whole theme was, 'How are you going to respond?'” Silverton coach Dan Lever said. “And we responded this week. We got some guys back off the IR. That sure helps a lot.”
Silverton and Dallas (6-2, 4-1) are tied for second place behind Lebanon (7-1, 5-0). On the final night of regular-season play, Silverton visits Corvallis (3-5, 0-5) and Dallas goes to Lebanon.
The Foxes had a mild case of deja vu as Dallas threatened to score late, much like Lebanon did the previous week. But after the Dragons got to near the 30-yard line, Silverton stopped them on downs and ran out the clock.
“We didn't let them catch one in the end zone this time,” Lever said.
With Dominguez out of the lineup the past two games, Silverton moved senior Nolan Horner from receiver to quarterback. Getting Dominguez and Teeney back allowed the offense to be “more on time with things,” according to Lever. Dominguez didn't show any rust from his time off.
“He did a really good job in practice, staying engaged,” Lever said.
Teeney made his presence felt not only on offense, but at safety.
“He makes a lot of tackles at the line of scrimmage just because he sees it so well,” Lever said.
Hornets sting Marshfield
No. 5 Henley took over sole possession of first place in 4A Special District 4 on Friday with a 21-6 home win over No. 2 Marshfield, which was one of two remaining unbeaten teams in 4A.
Senior quarterback Joe Janney rushed for 126 yards and two touchdowns on seven carries and completed 9 of 12 passes for 81 yards to lead the Hornets (5-2, 4-0), who clinched at least a share of their third consecutive district title.
Heading into the regular-season finale at Mazama (1-7, 0-4), Henley has a one-game lead over Marshfield (7-1, 3-1) and North Bend (4-4, 3-1). Marshfield finishes the season at North Bend.
After falling behind 6-0 on Friday, Henley took control. The Hornets pulled ahead 7-6 in the second quarter on a five-yard run by senior Jeremiah Brunick and added two touchdown runs by Janney, from 11 yards in the third quarter and 23 yards in the fourth quarter.
Janney returned to the lineup after missing one game with a high ankle sprain.
“It was nice to have him back out there as our field general,” Henley coach Matt Green said. “He's just so strong and physical, and mentally tough. The game slows down to him. He's just a great team leader right now. He just gets the team going.”
Green lauded the play of senior center Jantz Kuhl Jr. and senior guards Theron Tyler and Cooper Mathis.
“Our interior linemen can match up with pretty much anybody, or be better than anybody, in 4A,” Green said. “Our guards are just maulers.”
Henley has won four in a row since losing to 5A No. 7 Thurston 35-27 and 3A No. 1 Cascade Christian 43-16.
“Those losses really helped us come together as a team,” Green said. “We decided at practice one day that we needed to start being more physical. Those losses helped us get that turned around.”
The Hornets, state champions in 2023 and runners-up last year, are looking to make another run.
“I feel like we're playing on an upward trend this year,” Green said. “We're not staying at a stalemate, we're steadily going up.”
Lowell upsets No. 2 St. Paul
Anyone that wrote off Lowell as a 2A contender after the graduation of star tailback JaMar Thurman might want to re-evaluate after what the Devils did Friday night.
No. 7 Lowell (7-1) went on the road to surprise No. 2 St. Paul 36-20 in a nonleague game, scoring the last 23 points to pull away from the Buckaroos (5-2).
The Devils outgained St. Paul 584-310. Senior Carter Harris completed 15 of 34 passes for 253 yards and one touchdown and ran for 134 yards and two scores on 15 carries.
“For our kids to respond how they did was special,” Devils coach Ray Yarbrough said. “They have really felt a little bit disrespected by the coaches poll all season. They've kind of latched on to that. This week it was, the polls mean nothing, let the pads do the talking.”
After St. Paul took a 20-13 lead on a 38-yard run by junior JJ Hempfling with 3:43 left in the first half, it was all Lowell.
Junior Jax Norcutt hit a 43-yard field goal to make it 20-16 at half. The Devils scored twice in the third quarter – a five-yard pass from Harris to sophomore Ben Thurman and a one-yard run by Harris -- to lead 30-20. Thurman's nine-yard touchdown run extended the edge to 36-20 in the fourth quarter.
Lowell held St. Paul to a season low in points.
“We dominated the line of scrimmage,” Yarbrough said. “We changed up some things. We've been a four-man front all season, and we kind of swapped between a four-man front and a three-man front. We thought that might cause some confusion scheme-wise.”
The Devils have won seven in a row since opening the season with a 32-26 loss to No. 6 Oakland. Prevailing at the St. Paul Rodeo Grounds, one of the state's iconic settings, was a thrill for the team.
“I think it's one of the coolest facilities in Oregon,” Yarbrough said. “I'm kind of envious of what they've got there. Having that as part of the community, and the history of it, is pretty special. For our kids to experience that was great.”
Lowell still has some championship DNA with three starters left from the title team in Harris, senior center David Finch and junior guard and linebacker Tyler Harris. The dynamic JaMar Thurman is gone, but his brother, Ben, is among those carrying the torch.
“He's a different runner than JaMar, but he runs really hard,” Yarbrough said. “We used to hand it to JaMar 25 times a game, and we spread it out to a lot of different guys now. It's harder to defend, I think.”
Metro shootout
Sunset and Beaverton lit up the scoreboard in a 6A Metro League shootout Friday.
Sunset rallied from a 12-point deficit in the third quarter to win 79-62 at Beaverton. The 141 combined points ranks No. 6 all-time for 11-man games in Oregon. The record is 150, set when Dallas defeated Crescent Valley 79-71 in 2022.
The game featured another dominant performance by Beaverton senior receiver Oliver Luebkert, who had 16 catches for 393 yards and six touchdowns. The yardage total is No. 3 all-time, well off the record of 456, set by Waldport's Kraig Pruett in 2012. The six touchdowns is No. 2 in state history, behind Siuslaw's Braydon Thornton (seven, 2021).
For the season, the Eastern Washington-bound Luebkert has 88 catches for 6A highs of 1,506 yards and 24 touchdowns. He is the 19th player to reach 1,500 yards in a season. He is near the state single-season record for touchdown catches of 28, set by another Beaverton receiver, Jesse Levin, over 14 games in 1997.
The 6-3, 190-pound Luebkert also threw one of nine touchdown passes for the Beavers, who had 515 passing yards. Senior Spencer York passed for seven touchdowns, hiking his 6A-leading total to 33.
Sunset set a school record for points, previously established in a 75-72 loss to Oregon City in the 2017 playoffs. Apollos senior Marcus Hahm rushed for 183 yards and six touchdowns on 17 carries and completed 18 of 34 passes for 266 yards and three scores.
jerryu@osaa.org
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