Since the Klamath Union football program began in 1912, the Pelicans had never before run the table in the regular season.
That changed Friday night when the host Pelicans improved to 9-0 with a 56-21 home win over Pleasant Hill in a game that decided the 3A Special District 3 championship. It is their first league title since 2013 -- when they shared first place in the Skyline Conference with Henley - and first outright league title since 1975.
“It was a special night, for sure,” coach Josh Overstreet said. “The guys came energetic and excited, and accepted the challenge. We treated it like a playoff game.”
For years, the Pelicans have been overshadowed in Klamath Falls by nearby Henley and Mazama. They went 4-22 in their last three seasons in 4A, then after dropping to 3A, finished 2-7 in 2024 and 3-6 in 2025.
Early this season, Klamath Union ended a 12-game losing streak to Mazama in the Canal Bowl rivalry game, and hasn't looked back. The Pelicans earned the No. 3 seed to the 3A playoffs and will meet No. 14 Horizon Christian (7-2) in a first-round game.
The vibe around the program has done a 180.
“When I first took the job, the kids didn't like wearing their jerseys to school on Fridays because kids made fun of them,” said Overstreet, who took over in 2024. “Now they're super proud of it. It's cool to see our football logo around town now. They definitely understand that football is back at KU. We're getting back to being competitive every year. I'm just excited to see how this year ends.”
Leading up to Friday's game against unranked Pleasant Hill (6-3, 4-1), the Pelicans still heard the doubters despite being No. 3 in the OSAAtoday 3A coaches poll.
“Going into the game, rumor had it that we weren't the favorite,” Overstreet said. “They kind of took it with a chip on their shoulder, as, it's time to prove ourselves. That's kind of been the mentality all year.”
Senior quarterback Reese Johnson completed 9 of 15 passes for 230 yards and three touchdowns. The Pelicans also rushed for 237 yards, getting a big game from senior Handsome Townsend (11 carries, 179 yards, four touchdowns).
Johnson has passed for 1,789 yards and 28 touchdowns with three interceptions for the season. He threw for 22 scores last season.
“He's our centerpiece,” Overstreet said. “He's growing and being more efficient. Less incompletions, quicker, better reads. These last few weeks, he's really come on.”
Soph QB shows the way
After winning the 3A title last season -- and moving up to 4A this year -- Cascade Christian put much on the shoulders of a first-year starter at quarterback in sophomore Jacoby Gettman.
The 6-2, 165-pound Gettman, the son of head coach Jon Gettman, has delivered for the No. 2 Challengers (9-0), who secured the top seed to the 4A playoffs Friday with a 48-0 win at North Valley.
Gettman completed 10 of 14 passes for 255 yards and four touchdowns, one each to seniors Bryson Walker, Seth Scaglione and Grady Sickler and sophomore Hutton Walker. It marks the seventh consecutive game he has thrown for at least four scores.
For the season, Gettman has completed 66.5 percent of his passes for 2,381 yards and 37 touchdowns with three interceptions. Did his father envision this type of success so early?
“If you asked me what I thought he'd do as far as numbers, certainly not,” Jon Gettman said. “He knows the system, and he knows what we're trying to do with it. When I'm calling a play, we're on the same page.”
Jacoby Gettman has been on the field with his father since learning how to walk. He was a team ballboy at an early age and began playing quarterback in the sixth grade, following in the footsteps of Jon, a 2003 graduate of Cascade Christian.
Jon played quarterback in a run-heavy double-wing offense at Cascade Christian, but Jacoby is at the controls of a wide-open passing game.
“He sees the game differently than I do,” Jon said. “He'll talk about what he's thinking, and he can go through a full explanation of what he saw in just a matter of seconds, and it's a two-minute conversation about it. He certainly sees it a lot better than I do.”
Jacoby is under the wing of quarterbacks coach Haiden Schaan, who led Cascade Christian to the 2017 state title by passing for 3,079 yards and 37 touchdowns. Unlike Schaan and other dual-threat quarterbacks for the Challengers in recent years, Jacoby is more of a true passer, at least for now.
“For the type of kids that we've had, I think he's definitely more advanced throwing,” Jon Gettman said. “He's definitely different than the guys we've had.”
Counting the nine touchdown passes he threw in a reserve role last season, Jacoby already has 46 in his career. At that rate, he could be in position to chase the state record of 143, set by West Linn's Tim Tawa (2014-16).
Sandy overcoming 'curse'
Perhaps no team had to deal with more injuries to key players this season than Sandy, which wrapped up the outright title in 5A Special District 1 with a 43-22 win at Gresham on Friday.
The Pioneers (6-3, 4-0) have been hit with waves of injuries, but powered through them to emerge with the third league title in school history, and first since 2016, when they shared the 5A Northwest Oregon Conference crown with Wilsonville.
“In my 24 years of coaching, this is the most injuries I've had, from a team that's worked so hard,” said coach Josh Dill, whose team dropped from 6A to 5A this season. “We've had to overcome so much adversity. So it was nice to be able to get this title and start to get healthier.
“I haven't had a season quite like this where we've had to rely so much on depth. It just speaks volumes to the kind of guys I've got. The next-man-up mentality.”
Early in the year, Sandy lost two all-league caliber defensive players to season-ending knee injuries in senior defensive end Bo Wolf and junior linebacker Connor Carey.
In their second game – a 42-21 home loss to 4A No. 1 Cascade – senior quarterback Micaiah Turin exited early after suffering a concussion on a touchdown run. He missed the following game, a 6-3 loss to No. 10 Canby, and came back for a 49-14 loss to No. 6 Wilsonville, but “played scared,” according to Dill.
Senior Colton Lucas, a 6A first-team left tackle last season, and senior Mason Frederickson, a 6A third-team safety, also left the Cascade game with injuries to their knee and foot, respectively. They missed multiple games.
Senior running back James Richard, a first-team all-conference utility player last year, suffered a high ankle sprain Oct. 2 at Hood River Valley and has not returned.
“We had a three-game stretch where we just didn't play like ourselves, and we didn't look like ourselves,” Dill said. “I think the injured crew would be a playoff-contending team. Everybody can talk about injuries, but I've been doing this a long time, and this year just felt like there was a curse over us. It's starting to get lifted.”
In Friday's win, Turin completed 14 of 19 passes for 278 yards and four touchdowns, connecting with Frederickson and seniors Hudson Pearson, Cameron Caruso and Gracyn Fitch. Pearson had four catches for 112 yards.
Fitch, who also ran for a score, has 11 touchdowns in the last three games.
Sandy earned the No. 7 playoff seed and will play host to No. 10 Ridgeview (6-2) in a first-round game.
Sheldon edges Willamette
A late gamble paid off in a big way for co-No. 6 Sheldon in a 6A Special District 2 showdown against No. 5 Willamette on Friday night.
Trailing by three points and facing fourth-and-goal from the 3-yard line with 1:02 remaining, the Irish opted to forgo a field-goal attempt. Instead, junior Ryker Rohaley threw a touchdown pass to junior running back Owen Ashton, and Sheldon held on for a 30-27 win over the crosstown rival Wolverines.
As a result, Sheldon (7-2, 3-1) earned a share of the district title with Willamette (6-3, 3-1). It is especially meaningful for the Irish considering they slipped from being district champions in 2024 to 2-7 last year, relinquishing the district title to the Wolverines.
"These guys have been through a ton," Sheldon coach Tyler Martell told the Register-Guard. "I believe good things happen to good people who do things the right way, and that's all our guys did. They went to work. They've gone through a ton of adversity over the last couple of years. Our guys deserve it; they play so hard.”
Rohaley completed 19 of 29 passes for 257 yards and two touchdowns. He returned to action after leaving early in last week's 27-16 loss at North Medford with a jammed finger on his throwing hand.
"We battle through adversity so well,” Rohaley told the Register-Guard. “If you want to win, you come here. We have the best coaches. They get us through everything. We have such good players. Everything is just perfect."
Ashton came through in the absence of standout junior tailback Cody Hall, who missed the game with an injury. Ashton had a key second-half interception from his linebacker position.
Sheldon survived another standout performance by Willamette junior quarterback Zeke Thomas. The Oregon State commit had 19 carries for 206 yards and two touchdowns and threw two scoring passes to sophomore Amir Harris.
Perrydale prevails in 1A-8 showdown
No. 6 Perrydale spotted No. 4 North Douglas an early touchdown, then reeled off 52 consecutive points and won 52-12 in a game that decided the 1A-8 Special District 2 title Friday night.
It is the second year in a row that Perrydale (8-1, 5-0) took the district title from North Douglas (7-2, 4-1). Last year, the Pirates won at North Douglas 50-44 in a game that ultimately decided the district championship. The Warriors later won at Perrydale 42-36, but it was a nonleague contest.
Friday, an early Perrydale fumble set up North Douglas to take a 6-0 lead, but the Pirates' running game took over from there. Junior Landon Eichler and senior Broden Ferguson each ran for three touchdowns and Eichler caught a 12-yard scoring pass from senior Braydon Leslie as host Perrydale pulled away.
“We had that first hiccup on defense, and we were able to bounce back and were able to stay motivated throughout the game and lock in,” Eichler said. “You can’t let one mistake define your game. You gotta keep that mindset and just know that you want to win.”
Perrydale entered the game looking to make a statement.
“We were ranked down in a lot of the polls and we were ready to prove everyone wrong,” Ferguson said.
The result means that Perrydale and North Douglas are seeded fifth and sixth, respectively, in the state playoffs. The Pirates play host to No. 12 Sherman and the Warriors are home to face No. 11 Cove in the first round.
“This game was almost like an extended playoff game,” Ferguson said. “It gives us great seeding. We're looking to mimic every week what we did this week, because this was by far the best week of the season.”
-- Jeremy McDonald contributed to this report
jerryu@osaa.org
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