TUALATIN – Rocked by its first loss of the season last week, No. 4 West Linn rebounded in emphatic fashion in its Three Rivers League football opener Friday night at No. 3 Tualatin.
The Lions (4-1) seized control early by scoring on their first two possessions and pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 42-14 win over the previously unbeaten Timberwolves (4-1).
Senior Sloan Baker completed 18 of 28 passes for 305 yards and two touchdowns and ran for two scores to lead West Linn, which not only bounced back from a one-point loss to No. 2 Nelson, but generated some momentum for next week's showdown with No. 1 Lake Oswego.
“It stung real bad. It was a real big wake-up call for us,” Lions senior cornerback Josiah Molden said. “We were ready this week, and we're going to be even more ready the next.”
First-year West Linn coach Anthony Newman liked how his players responded.
“I saw something was burning in their stomach,” Newman said. “They had a bad taste in their mouth against Nelson. We're looking to play Nelson in the playoffs. We know how good we are, and we beat ourselves.”
West Linn outgained Tualatin 496-389 and had a 5-0 advantage in turnovers. Senior safety Shane Peters had an interception, two fumble recoveries and a forced fumble. Molden and junior linebacker Kyle Benson also had interceptions.
The defense showed improvement after giving up 36 points to Nelson.
“We did a better job communicating,” Molden said. “Coming out of the tunnel, we were ready.”
Said Peters: “We knew our secondary could hold their receivers, so we just tried to stop the run.”
West Linn took a 14-0 lead in the first quarter as Baker threw a two-yard touchdown pass to senior Ashden Marquis and scored on a one-yard dive. Tualatin got on the board with an 18-yard touchdown run by junior Iden Rule, but the Lions led 21-7 after junior Cohen Bissell's eight-yard scoring run with 38 seconds left in the first half.
West Linn scored three touchdowns in the fourth quarter to make it 42-7. Baker threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to senior Tyson Donnerberg and ran for a two-yard score. Sophomore Zane Zellick triggered the running clock with 3:13 left by scoring on a 37-yard run.
“Just how we practiced, we knew we were going to get this result,” Donnerberg said. “After the loss, we practiced so much harder than we have all year. We all think the loss was a good thing. It made us work harder, practice harder.”
Peters said the Lions turned it up in practice “just because we knew we should have won last week. This is just a big victory. We're going to keep coming, building each week and getting better.”
Donnerberg led West Linn receivers with seven catches for 128 yards and one touchdown, giving him six scores for the season. Senior tight end Gavin Thaut had four catches for 77 yards and Marquis had five catches for 61 yards. Bissell ran for 102 yards and one score on 23 carries.
Molden, committed to Oregon as a cornerback, played on offense for the first time this season. He set up the Lions' second touchdown with a 25-yard catch to the 2-yard line.
“It feels great,” said Molden, who suffered a torn ACL in last year's semifinal loss to Central Catholic. “Obviously, I'm still getting my confidence back a little bit. I'm playing both sides of the ball now, so it's really just keeping my body healthy and just prepare for the next level.”
The Lions are in the midst of a difficult stretch against the other top-four ranked teams in Nelson, Tualatin and Lake Oswego.
“No joke,” Newman said. “It tests our endurance, our focus, and our consistency for playing at a high level. It's all about how fast you can bounce back and play the next game, and our kids did that well. Because there's a lot of football left. Tualatin, we might see them again in the playoffs, so we've got to keep moving.”
Tualatin lost to West Linn for the fifth consecutive season. The Timberwolves, who entered averaging 48.3 points per game, moved the ball but were unable to finish drives.
The 5-foot-11, 205-pound Rule powered through the Lions for 150 yards and one score on 15 carries. He carried the bulk of the load after senior running back Cole Hachmeister (10 carries, 54 yards) left the game in the second quarter with a knee injury.
Junior quarterback Lincoln Keeney completed 10 of 20 passes for 175 yards and one touchdown (28 yards to junior Brock Estes in the final minute) with two interceptions. Senior Carter Powers went 0 for 2 with an interception.
jerryu@osaa.org
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