It's been 30 years since Roosevelt's football team could claim outright, city-wide supremacy in the Portland Interscholastic League.
Thursday night, the Roughriders of north Portland ended that drought, putting the final touch on a perfect run through the league with a 20-10 win over visiting Grant.
Idaho-bound senior running back Geovoney Burks was the catalyst for the team's sixth consecutive win, rushing for 176 yards and three touchdowns on 21 carries. Roosevelt's defense forced four turnovers, turning two into touchdowns.
After coming close to outright league titles in recent seasons, the Roughriders (6-3, 6-0) finally got over the top. Their 18-14 win at second-place Lincoln (7-2, 6-1) on Oct. 3 turned out to be the difference.
“It's really cool to finally get the job done after all the years of being so close,” said sixth-year coach Ryan McCants, the former Oregon State running back. “Our kids are standing on the shoulders of the people that came before them, and worked hard and got close. It's so cool to bring a championship back to the north.”
Narrow losses to Grant forced the Roughriders to share first place with Grant in 2021 and with Grant and Jefferson in 2022. A loss to Wells cost them the league title in 2023.
Roosevelt last won an outright league title in 2013, but that was in a 5A PIL that did not include Grant or Lincoln, teams that played in 6A that season. Not since 1995 has Roosevelt finished alone atop all PIL teams.
McCants reflected on how far the Roughriders have come since his first year, when they went 1-5 in the COVID-shortened season in the spring of 2021.
“People were talking about transferring and there were all kinds of doubts,” McCants said. “We started having some success the following season. It's been a pretty cool journey.”
The 6-foot-2, 210-pound Burks has elevated Roosevelt this season. In Thursday's win, he had scoring runs of 37, 7 and 47 yards, leaving a trail of broken tackles.
Burks said he could have transferred to another program but “I wanted to finish with my guys.”
“This was my goal coming into the season,” Burks said of winning the PIL title. “This is unreal to me. I’ve been looking forward to this moment my whole high school career.”
McCants raved over Burks.
“Quite frankly, he's a man amongst boys at times,” McCants said. “He's able to assert his dominance when he gets his moments. He can run like the wind. It's pretty ridiculous to have someone that big that can move the way he does.”
McCants said Roosevelt was shorthanded due to injuries when it opened the season by losing to Sherwood 31-18, Sunset 42-6 and Tigard 59-6.
“We were able to get healthy and put our best foot forward,” McCants said. “We didn't play a soft schedule. Those are tough teams that play in tough leagues. I truly believe that set us up to make a run at the PIL title.”
Up next for Roosevelt is a daunting task – a first-round playoff game Friday at No. 1 West Linn (9-0), the reigning state champion.
-- Austin White contributed to this report
No hangover for Hawks
Coming off a monumental win over No. 5 Central Catholic, No. 3 Nelson could have walked into a trap Thursday when it visited rival Clackamas with a chance to claim the outright title in the 6A Mt. Hood Conference.
But the Hawks (8-1, 5-0) showed no signs of a hangover against the Cavaliers (4-5, 2-3), scoring touchdowns on seven of their first 18 plays. Nelson led 35-0 after one quarter and 49-0 at half on its way to a 63-7 victory, looking every bit like a team that has earned the No. 2 seed to the 6A playoffs.
Hawks coach Aaron Hazel wanted to avoid a repeat of what happened early in the season, when his team followed an impressive 26-21 win over No. 6 Lakeridge in the opener with a 43-15 loss at Timberline (Idaho).
“We beat Lakeridge and we were feeling pretty good about ourselves, and we go to Idaho and we get slapped around a little bit,” Hazel said. “We wanted to make sure that didn't happen again. Our coaching staff did a really good job of focusing on the details and not getting too high. Our kids prepared their tails off.”
Senior quarterback Danny Leary completed all eight of his passes for 162 yards and four touchdowns. Nelson quarterbacks went 12 for 13 for 247 yards and five touchdowns, two to junior Malachi Garlington. The Hawks rushed for 207 yards.
“We were cooking,” Hazel said.
Since Nelson opened in 2021, splitting from Clackamas, the Hawks have gained a clear upper hand on the Cavaliers. They lost to Clackamas 52-0 in the first meeting but have won the next four by seven, 20, 30 and 56 points.
Nelson's youth program also is thriving since splitting from Clackamas in 2023. The Hawks' eighth-grade team won a league title last year and played for another championship Saturday, falling to Silverton.
“We've got good kids coming up,” Hazel said.
Community support was a big reason why Hazel left La Salle Prep after seven seasons as head coach to start the Nelson program. He believed the building blocks were there for a successful program.
“In Year 4, Year 5, we wanted to make sure we were playing meaningful football in late October and into November,” Hazel said. “If you would have said, 'Hey, you're going to be the No. 2 seed in the tournament,' I would have taken it and ran with it.”
The Hawks play host to No. 15 West Salem (6-3) in a first-round playoff game Friday.
Cardiac kids
No. 5 Lebanon once again drew on its flair for the dramatic Friday to clinch the outright title in the 5A Mid-Willamette Conference.
Two weeks after winning at No. 2 Silverton on a touchdown pass in the final seconds, the Warriors rallied from a 15-point deficit midway through the fourth quarter for a 30-29 home win over No. 6 Dallas.
Senior quarterback Brison Edwards ran in a two-point conversion with 13.9 seconds left for the winning points for Lebanon, which opted to forgo a potential tying extra-point attempt.
“We talked about it as a staff. We knew we were going for two,” Warriors coach Troy Walker said. “We weren't going for the tie, we were going for the win.”
As a result, Lebanon (8-1, 6-0) completed a perfect run through the Mid-Willamette and avoided a three-way tie for first place with Dallas (6-3, 4-2) and Silverton (8-1, 5-1). It is the Warriors' first conference title since their state championship team in 2016.
Dallas junior Aidan Galusha ran for touchdowns of nine and four yards in the fourth quarter as the Dragons broke from a 14-14 tie to lead 29-14. The Warriors, struggling to stop Dallas' running game and plagued by penalties, were reeling.
“It was pretty ugly there for a little bit,” Walker said. “We were just not functioning. I pulled the kids over and I said, 'Look, we've got to knock this off.' The kids had kind of fallen off the rails. I got into them a little bit, and they responded exactly how they needed to.”
Edwards threw a one-yard touchdown pass to senior Logan Large, then connected with Large for a two-point conversion pass to draw Lebanon within 29-22 with 2:58 left.
The Warriors forced a punt, and Large lateraled to Edwards on a 46-yard punt return to the Dallas 42-yard line. Edwards threw a six-yard touchdown pass to senior Zechariah Halsey with 13.9 seconds to go, then ran in the two-point try.
“We put the ball in Brison's hands to make plays for us,” Walker said. “He's been doing it all year long, really his whole entire career. We've got some other guys around him, but he's what makes us go.”
Edwards completed 11 of 20 passes for 139 yards and two touchdowns with one interception and rushed for 104 yards and one score on 17 carries.
Junction City completes reversal
Junction City punctuated its stunning turnaround from going 1-8 last season by winning the 4A Sky-Em League title Friday night.
The Tigers, playing for a first-year coach in Tye Rauschert, won 17-10 at reigning state champion Marist Catholic with the league title hanging in the balance. Junction City (6-3, 4-1) finishes one game ahead of No. 10 Sweet Home (7-2, 3-2), co-No. 7 Marist Catholic (4-5, 3-2) and Crescent Valley (5-4, 3-2).
“The team last year was in a difficult spot. Morale was down,” said Rauschert, a former Junction City quarterback who graduated from the school in 2001. “But they chose to rise above that. They certainly set a standard for what the program should be moving forward.”
Staton Barnes, a 5-9, 165-pound senior running back, had another big game for the Tigers. He rushed for 166 yards and one touchdown, giving him 1,311 yards and 13 touchdowns for the season.
“We've relied so much on Staton,” Rauschert said. “He continues to perform. He's always falling forward when he gets hit. He has great vision. He anticipates cutback lanes.”
Barnes scored on a 55-yard run for a 7-0 lead. Senior Carter Franks, playing his second game this season after undergoing hip surgery in the spring, ran for a 32-yard touchdown to make it 17-3 late in the third quarter. Franks finished with 84 yards on seven carries.
Marist Catholic cut the lead to 17-10 with 2:50 left and reached the red zone on its final possession, but Junction City's defense turned away the Spartans. A third-down sack by sophomore Cash Dodson pushed them back to the 24-yard line, and senior Connor Lloyd batted away a fourth-down pass, setting off a Junction City celebration.
"At Junction City, we're such a family with this incredible bond," Tigers junior receiver and safety Madix Waldrop told the Register-Guard. "Kids don't come here from other schools like the other teams we play against. We're just one huge family.”
Rauschert, the school's athletic trainer, guided the Tigers to a league title in his first season ever on a high school coaching staff. Up until this season, he had been involved only in youth programs.
He put together a staff that includes two former Junction City stars in Josh Wilcox, who played tight end at Oregon and in the NFL in the 1990s, and ex-Elmira coach Jason Haddy, an all-state running back in 1995.
“I'm grateful for the opportunity,” Rauschert said. “I appreciate the confidence the administration showed in me. Those guys took a risk. They believed in me and the staff we put together.”
Adrian pushes through
It took a little longer than usual, but No. 1 Adrian – the reigning 1A-8 champion -- finally put the pedal down in the second half and rolled to a 38-0 win at No. 3 Union on Friday in a game that decided the Special District 4 title.
The Antelopes (9-0, 5-0), who have made a habit out of putting teams away early, led 14-0 at half against the Bobcats (7-2, 4-1).
“We had a couple of stalled drives,” coach Bill Wortman said. “We got behind the sticks quite a bit in the first half. We did well overcoming some adversity.”
The offense heated up in the second half, pushing the lead to 38-0 after three quarters. For the game, junior quarterback Trey Bayes rushed for 110 yards and two touchdowns on seven carries, completed 7 of 10 passes for 97 yards and had an interception on defense. Junior Kash Morford had 15 carries for 120 yards and one touchdown and junior Mannie Mulrony ran for two scores.
Adrian anticipated a challenge from an improved Union team.
“They were ranked up there for a reason,” Wortman said. “They've got five or six pretty tough seniors.”
But no team has been able to solve Adrian's defense. The Antelopes posted their fifth shutout and fourth in their last five games. They are holding opponents to 110 yards per game.
Wortman said the defensive line – junior Braysen Jordan at nose guard, seniors Brooks Martin and Gavin Epperson at tackle and Morford and senior Chase Franklin at ends – drives the team.
“It all starts up front with the defensive line,” Wortman said. “They put a lot of pressure on the quarterback. It gives our defensive backs opportunities to make plays.”
Mulrony thrives at middle linebacker, and Bayes and senior Silvestre Rico Jr. are ball hawks in the secondary.
Adrian takes a 21-game winning streak into the playoffs. The Antelopes are going for their fifth state championship since 2014.
Brackets finalized
Paths to the state championship came into focus this weekend with the release of the state playoff brackets.
The top overall seeds went to West Linn (6A), Summit (5A), Cascade (4A), Cascade Christian (3A), Heppner (2A), Dufur (1A-8) and Triangle Lake (1A-6).
In 6A, Three Rivers League rivals West Linn and Lake Oswego – the top two teams in the OSAAtoday 6A coaches poll all season – could meet in a rematch of last year's state final. The third-seeded Lakers are on the same side of the bracket as No. 2 Nelson.
The Three Rivers and Special District 1 each placed four teams in the 16-team 6A championship bracket. At No. 17, Sandy has the highest seed in the eight-team 6A Columbia Cup.
Roosevelt landed No. 19 in the 6A power rankings, but because the Roughriders are league champions, they were granted the last berth in the 16-team championship bracket. That bumped Sandy, which was No. 16, into the Columbia Cup.
Two-time reigning 5A champion Wilsonville enters as the No. 7 seed. Mountain View, the 5A runner-up the last two seasons, is the No. 3 seed.
Of the 14 unbeaten teams, the lowest seed is Clatskanie, which enters the 2A playoffs at No. 5.
jerryu@osaa.org
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