HILLSBORO – With a return to the 6A football final at hand, third-seeded Lake Oswego had a singular focus heading into Friday's semifinal against No. 2 Nelson at Hillsboro Stadium.
The Lakers stormed out of the gate with three first-quarter touchdowns and didn't look back, coasting to a 31-12 win over the Hawks that puts them in position to win their first state title since 2018. Longtime Lake Oswego coach Steve Coury sensed his players were on a mission all week.
“We were really locked in and ready to play, I told people that asked me,” Coury said. “You never know how that turns out, but it was just a great feeling when we came here. We started the game and you could tell they were ready.”
The Lakers (11-1) racked up 233 yards in the first quarter. Senior running back LaMarcus Bell ran for touchdowns of 17 and five yards to make it 14-0, then senior quarterback Hudson Kurland turned a rollout into a 73-yard scoring run for a 21-0 lead.
The fast start sent a pointed message to Nelson (10-2), which was playing in the semifinals for the first time in the program's five-year history and was eager to show it belonged against a traditional state power from the tough Three Rivers League.
“They were talking all week on social media, that they were more physical, they were faster, they were ready, and they didn't know if we had a good back or not,” Lakers senior tight end/linebacker Sam Vyhlidal said. “So we took that to heart. We knew we had to come out hard and fast. We had to show them what the TRL's all about. That's what we did.”
As a result, Lake Oswego advances to the 6A final to play No. 5 Central Catholic (10-2), which took down top-seeded and reigning champion West Linn 21-14 in the other semifinal. The Lakers beat Central Catholic 21-0 in a nonleague game Sept. 12 at Lake Oswego.
The Lakers were hungry to dethrone league rival West Linn – which defeated them in last year's state final and handed them their only loss this season – but getting another crack at the title is all that matters to them.
“The beginning of the season, we wanted to go to state. That was our main goal,” Bell said. “But now we've got to win it. We got to there, but we're not done. The job's not finished, for sure.
“We beat Central – that's who we got – but it don't matter. Teams get better as the season goes on.”
Kurland said that returning to the final is “the greatest feeling in the world.”
“Ever since last year when we lost, I've been waiting for this moment, for the whole entire year,” Kurland said. “We've been working so hard every since we lost that game.”
Bell added a nine-yard touchdown run in the second quarter and senior Hudson Gasperson kicked a 32-yard field goal in the third quarter as the lead grew to 31-0.
Nelson kept battling, though. Senior quarterback Danny Leary threw touchdown passes of 52 yards to junior Malachi Garlington in the third quarter and four yards to senior Brody Austin to make it 31-12 with 1:29 left in the game.
Lake Oswego finished with 481 total yards, 427 on the ground. Bell had 21 carries for 156 yards and three touchdowns, Kurland had 14 carries for a season-high 148 yards and one score and senior Justin Craigwell added eight carries for 83 yards.
In the latter half of the season, the Lakers have made a point to utilize the running ability of the Washington State-bound Kurland, and it paid off in a big way against the Hawks.
“We had a meeting with the coaching staff, and they thought my legs were pretty good,” Kurland said. “So they kind of incorporated that into our offense more and more. Coming into this game, it wasn't a big part of our game plan. It was a lot of rollout pass, and when I saw open grass, I just tucked the ball and ran.”
Coury liked what he saw from Kurland's running, especially on the long touchdown scramble in which Kurland improvised when his receiver fell down.
“He turned the corner and all of the sudden he was gone,” Coury said. “It's hard to defend when the quarterback's a runner, too. And we've got two pretty good running backs to go with him. We kind of opened that up here in the last few weeks.”
Bell had the play of the night late in the first half. From the Nelson 36-yard line, he ran right and was met with stiff resistance, pushing him back to midfield, but he kept his balance, reversed field and broke free up the left sideline into the end zone.
The touchdown was nullified, however, because he drew a personal foul for hurdling the final defender at the 9-yard line.
“It was an 80-yard run for 20 yards,” Coury said.
The other highlight came on the first series of the second half from junior linebacker Cash Wilks. Austin caught a long pass and appeared headed for a 66-yard touchdown, but Wilks flagged him down and stripped the ball near the goal line. Lakers junior Liam Carmichael picked up the ball and returned it 39 yards.
The play was among a handful of missed opportunities for Nelson. The Hawks finished with 421 total yards, with 335 coming in the second half.
Leary capped an outstanding season by completing 18 of 31 passes for 351 yards and two touchdowns with one interception, giving him 34 touchdown passes on the year. Austin had six catches for 121 yards and Garlington had four catches for 86 yards.
“I don't think we played to our extent offensively, especially in that first half,” Leary said. “We showed a little bit better offensively in the second half. … There were a lot of things we left out there that I'd love to have back.”
Falling behind early put the Hawks in an unfamiliar position.
“Them scoring first, all season, we haven't really been down like that,” Leary said. “I think that was a challenging obstacle that we had to overcome. We just didn't.”
Nelson was shorthanded due to key injuries suffered in a quarterfinal win over Lakeridge. Standout senior defensive end Ian Nix (knee) tried to play but left the game early. Senior edge/tackle Porter Maciag and senior receiver Cooper Stevenson were among those sidelined.
In defeat, the Hawks could take some solace from their breakthrough season.
“It feels great, obviously, making history, and getting as far as we did,” Leary said. “But I think everyone on this team really wanted us to go to next week, and win next week.”
jerryu@osaa.org
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