WILSONVILLE-- This season, Wilsonville's football team has shown flashes of the championship form that carried the team to 5A titles in 2023 and 2024, but hasn't been able to sustain it.
Friday night, with the Special District 3 title on the line in the regular-season finale against No. 9 Aloha, sixth-ranked Wilsonville dominated wire-to-wire, looking every bit like a team ready to make another deep playoff run with a convincing 48-6 home victory.
Senior quarterback Trevor Glos completed 13 of 20 passes for 238 yards and five touchdowns, two to senior Cavan Rogers, and the Wildcats' defense came through with three sacks and three turnovers. Wilsonville (7-2, 5-0) led 35-0 at half and cruised to the running-clock victory over the Warriors (7-2, 4-1).
“Well, finally we put together a full game,” said Wildcats coach Adam Guenther, whose team carries a six-game winning streak into the playoffs. “We've played great halves, but we haven't really put anything together for the entire game. This was a good one. So we're really happy with it.”
It was the kind of win that Wilsonville needed to generate momentum for the playoffs.
“It' s huge,” Glos said. “Last year we played a team that hadn't won a game all season, and that doesn't get you ready for the playoffs. This was a league championship against a great Aloha team, and to beat them like that, it was amazing. These boys are fired up. We're ready to go.”
The Wildcats maintained their intensity, amassing a 451-117 edge in total yards.
“Especially in league, we've dominated the first half, then we let up in the second half, we get complacent,” Glos said. “But this game was different. We came out from the jump. We knew this game was going to be big for us, and we knew we had to stay on the pedal the whole game.”
Aloha was seeking its first outright league title since 2010, when it won the 6A Metro League and its only state championship. But Wilsonville hit the Warriors with an early flurry and never let up.
On Wilsonville's first drive, Glos threw to Rogers for a nine-yard touchdown to make it 7-0. Then, Wildcats junior Owen Weise intercepted Aloha senior quarterback Jason Krasnik and returned it 57 yards to the two-yard line, setting up a two-yard touchdown plunge by 6-foot-2, 310-pound senior lineman Eli Stevens for a 14-0 lead midway through the first quarter.
The Wildcats used some trickery for their third touchdown. On fourth-and-goal from the Aloha 8-yard line, Glos threw a touchdown pass to eligible senior lineman Daniel Lazaro, who was wide open on the back side of the play, to make it 21-0.
Glos added scoring throws of 39 yards to Rogers and 33 yards to junior Luke Cutting to extend the lead to 35-0 late in the first half. Glos passed for 201 yards and four scores in the first half alone.
“He was good,” Guenther said of the 6-4, 185-pound Glos. “He started a little off at the beginning, but he just settled in. Once he setttles in, he's as good as they get. We were lucky he was wearing a blue jersey tonight.”
Glos, who passed for 2,750 yards and 40 touchdowns for last year's state quarterfinal team, has thrown for 2,425 yards and 37 scores this season.
“I feel like I've stepped up from last year,” Glos said. “Besides the North Medford game (35-14 loss), I feel like I've been playing the best ball I've ever played in my life. I've just grown in so many ways.”
It helps that he has a talented receiving corps. In Friday's game, Cutting had three catches for 71 yards, Rogers had three catches for 53 yards and senior Ben Wiepert had three catches for 63 yards. Glos' fifth scoring pass was a 30-yard catch-and-run by senior Curtis Karr.
Cutting, Rogers, Wiepert and LJ Leland all have at least seven touchdown catches this season.
“I think they're the best in the state,” Glos said. “It's amazing. It's such a blessing.”
Wilsonville rushed for 183 yards. Junior Masen Putnam had eight carries for 68 yards, all in the first half, and junior Beau Johnson had 10 carries for 113 yards and one touchdown, all in the second half.
Weise had two interceptions and junior Brock Taylor had a fumble recovery for the Wildcats, who played one of their better defensive games of the season after giving up more than 20 points in each of their previous three games.
Wiepert, a key contributor on the 2024 state title team, said the Wildcats have what it takes to push for another championship.
“We have to work for it. It's not going to be given to us,” he said. “There are a lot of good teams and good players out there that are going to give us a good run, but I definitely believe this team has the capability to do it.”
Aloha's Krasnik, who has thrown 23 touchdown passes this season, struggled against Wilsonville's pressure. He went 6 for 13 for 57 yards with two interceptions before being replaced late in the first half with sophomore Bernard Bakiu (3 for 6, 67 yards).
It was a rough night for the Warriors, but coach James Mitcham savored the opportunity to play in the high-stakes game.
“This season has been an absolute wild ride for us,” Mitcham said. “To be able to compete for a league championship does not come often at our school. To travel to Wilsonville and compete with them, it's pretty amazing. The experience was awesome.
“I don't think the game was too big for us. I just think we got punched in the mouth a little bit, and stumbled back some, and before we could gather our feet, other things occurred that just didn't go our way.”
jerryu@osaa.org
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