10 things to know from Week 8 of Oregon high school football

Marist Catholic cruises past Cascade in 4A showdown, West Albany hands Dallas its first loss, Wells wins PIL title

Will Ingle (right) and the West Linn defense stepped up against Nolan Keeney and Tualatin's high-powered offense to help the Lions secure a big Three Rivers League victory. / Photo by Dan Brood

The Oregon high school football season continued with Week 8 action around the state.

Our predictions: How did we do?

One of the biggest games took place in Tualatin, where West Linn bounced back from a loss to Lake Oswego with a 56-26 win over the Timberwolves. Read more about that game here:

West Linn ‘not out of the state championship race’ after beating rival Tualatin: 5 takeaways

Here are 10 other things to know from the Week 8 slate of games.

10 things to know from Week 8

‘That was a statement.’ No. 3 Marist Catholic drubs injury-riddled No. 1 Cascade

A matchup between two of the top teams in 4A turned out to be no match.

Cascade entered Friday’s game at Marist Catholic ranked No. 1 in this week’s coaches poll, with the Spartans at No. 3. 

But the Spartans took advantage of injuries that sidelined several of the Cougars’ key players, blasting them 47-0 as last year’s state runner-up seized control of the Oregon West Conference title race.

Nick Hudson threw for 255 yards and three touchdowns, including two to Aaron Bidwell (eight catches for 183 yards), and Connor Harvey ran for a season-high 148 yards and three touchdowns for Marist Catholic (7-1, 4-0), which travels to Philomath next week with a chance to win the outright championship.

“That wasn’t just a win — that was a statement,” said Spartans coach Zach Loboy, whose team rolled up 404 yards. “But we are not done.”

The Cougars (7-1, 3-1) were without standout junior running back Bryce Kuenzi, who learned this week that the knee injury he played through against Philomath was not a sprained ligament but, in fact, a torn ACL that ended his season.

Their No. 2 running back and leading tackler, Matthew Hinkle, was hampered by a high ankle sprain, finishing with one carry for two yards and one tackle for loss. Star sophomore wide receiver/defensive back Josiah Hawkins limped off the field in the second quarter after returning a kickoff and didn’t return.

With those weapons depleted from their arsenal, the Cougars managed 101 yards and turned the ball over three times — including Jackson Skinner’s strip sack that Ryan Lemley returned for a 19-yard touchdown in the third quarter.

Cascade coach Shane Hedrick delivered a simple message to his team after the game.

“Keep battling and never quit,” he said. “Tonight was the perfect storm — injuries at key positions, playing a very good team, self-inflicted mistakes and personnel groupings were off due to injuries. And we did not respond well to a very good team. We were shell-shocked and failed to snap out of it.”

The Spartans boast one of the best passing offenses in 4A, but Loboy said the plan was to lean on Harvey if Cascade “gave us the light box” to stop the pass.

After junior safety Kaiden Bernards intercepted a pass by Hudson on Marist Catholic’s opening drive, that’s just what they did. Harvey finished with a season high in rushing attempts, and he has 11 rushing touchdowns in OWC play after scoring three times in the Spartans’ first four games.

“He’s been getting better each week,” Loboy said. 

Strong second half lifts West Albany past previously unbeaten Dallas

Another team that fell from the ranks of the unbeaten in Week 8 is Dallas, which traveled to West Albany and lost 34-20 to the Bulldogs in a key Mid-Willamette Conference matchup.

Tyler Hart-McNally’s 22-yard touchdown early in the second half broke a 14-14 tie, and he added a 25-yard score late in the third quarter. He finished with 175 yards and three touchdowns on 21 carries.

West Albany (6-2, 4-0), which was No. 7 in this week’s 5A coaches poll, secured at least a share of its first MWC title since 2019. The Bulldogs will win it outright if they defeat crosstown rival South Albany in next week’s regular-season finale. 

“Give Dallas credit, because in that first half, the game was being played how they wanted it to be played,” West Albany coach Brian Mehl said. “We were not being clean enough on early downs, and they were able to maintain possession. 

“In the second half, we didn’t make a lot of adjustments. We were able to clean things up, got some third-down stops to get off the field, and the offense backed it up. We found some looks in the run game that popped.”

The No. 4 Dragons (7-1, 3-1) led 14-7 after Hunter Rivers’ 12-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter. Hart-McNally’s first touchdown run from 28 yards tied the score at 14-14 midway through the period.

“We got some penalties that put us behind on drives, and they started to load the box, and it gave us fits,” Dallas coach Andy Jackson said. “West made more plays than we did in the second half.”

Crook County’s ‘special group’ remains unbeaten by rolling over La Grande

It had been 40 years since Crook County had a season that approaches what the Cowboys have accomplished in 2024.

Their 33-6 victory at La Grande moved them to 8-0 for the first time since the 1984 team went 14-0 and won the Class AAA title. 

That season also marks the last time the program won a league championship, but with only a matchup with injury-riddled Baker left on the schedule, Crook County (8-0, 3-0) has at least a share of the Greater Oregon League title wrapped up and can claim it outright with a victory next week.

“I’m just proud of our boys,” fourth-year coach Pard Smith said. “We have a special group.”

Gavin Sandoval ran for a touchdown and threw for another to Ethan Lamphere, who also had a touchdown run. Emiliano Dominguez had a touchdown run late in the first quarter, and Gabe Love kicked two field goals in the second quarter to help give Crook County a 27-6 halftime lead. 

Sheldon avoids trap, blasts Grants Pass to set up showdown with Sprague

With a game against undefeated Sprague looming, it would have been easy for Sheldon (No. 5 in this week’s 6A coaches poll) to get caught looking ahead as the Irish faced Grants Pass.

Instead, they burst out of the blocks against the Cavemen, building a 63-6 halftime lead en route to victory by that score, meaning next week’s matchup between 8-0 teams will decide the South Central Football Conference title.

“The guys were really focused throughout the week and trusted our process,” Sheldon coach Tyler Martell said. “We played well and scored in bunches in the first half.” 

Sherwood, Newberg to meet with Pacific Conference title on line

Another team that avoided a trap game is ninth-ranked Sherwood, which remained undefeated in Pacific Conference play ahead of next week’s rivalry game against Newberg that will decide the title. 

The Bowmen scored twice in the final 90 seconds of the first half to seize control against Liberty, going on to a 35-6 home win that moved them to 3-0 in conference play, tied atop the standings with the Tigers.

Sherwood led 14-6 midway through the second quarter, with Liberty facing fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line. A delay penalty pushed the Falcons back five yards, and they lost 20 yards on fourth down. Six plays later, Wilson Medina scored on a 1-yard run with 1:30 left in the half.

A quick three-and-out and short punt set up the Bowmen with a short field, and they needed two plays to cash in as Medina rumbled 47 yards for his third score and a 28-6 halftime lead. 

Medina finished with four touchdowns, and Jackson Bell connected with Wyatt Ferguson on a 56-yard touchdown pass.

Lincoln’s OT win at Jefferson secures second consecutive PIL title for Wells

The last possible challenge to Wells’ supremacy over the PIL for another season was snuffed out in overtime in North Portland as Lincoln stopped a two-point conversion try to defeat Jefferson 29-28.

The defeat gives the Guardians — who defeated Cleveland 70-33 — the outright title as every other team in the league has at least two losses.

The Democrats, who finish the regular season next week at Wells, needed to win out to grab a share of the title and the league’s automatic berth in the 12-team 6A state championship bracket.

They had a potential winning touchdown pass as time expired in regulation wiped out by an illegal forward pass penalty. In overtime, the Cardinals took a 29-22 lead after Leonardo Correani’s 23-yard touchdown catch. Jefferson answered with Zae Clark Anderson’s 2-yard scoring run before Lincoln denied them on the two-point attempt. 

Mountain View holds off Summit in ‘gritty game’ to clinch IMC title share

Fans could ignore the records when Summit traveled the eight miles across Bend to meet Mountain View with the Intermountain Conference title on the line.

The Storm started the season 0-3 but had won four in a row entering the matchup with the undefeated Cougars, and the result was what Mountain View coach Brian Crum called “a very gritty game. Tough.”

When the dust settled, Crum’s team had gutted out a 28-27 victory to secure a share of a second consecutive IMC title, surviving after No. 9 Summit missed the PAT after a touchdown with 5:20 to play. 

The third-ranked Cougars ran out the clock the rest of the way — no small feat considering the Storm held the hosts to 71 rushing yards.

Mason Chambers finished 19 of 27 for 229 yards and two touchdowns, and Ryder Carpenter’s 8-yard run late in the third quarter stood up as the winning score. 

The Cougars benefited from blocking two field goals — one at the end of the first half to keep their deficit at 21-14 heading to halftime and another after they tied the score at 21-21 to set up the go-ahead scoring drive. 

“It was a great high school football game from both teams,” Crum said. “They are very good. But we reacted the right way to adversity.”

Cascade Christian rounding into form at just the right time

The previous time Cascade Christian started a season 1-3 was nine years ago, when the Challengers went on to win their final five regular-season games to earn the Southern Cascade League title.

History is about to repeat itself after Cascade Christian traveled to North Valley and won its fourth in a row after a 1-3 start, defeating the Knights 41-6 to hand the hosts their first Far West League loss and secure at least a share of a third consecutive FWL title.

“I don’t know if we have turned the corner, but this group of young men is coming together,” coach Jon Gettman said. “You want to build each team quickly, but sometimes it takes some challenges to build the unity, toughness and confidence that each team needs.”

Junior quarterback Deryk Farmer recorded a touchdown hat trick — throwing for 168 yards and two touchdowns, rushing for 68 yards and a score and catching a 27-yard touchdown from Grady Sickler to open the scoring in the second quarter.

The Challengers forced five fumbles and held North Valley to 201 rushing yards and 282 total.

No stopping North Douglas’ Vaughn as Warriors cruise past Crosspoint Christian

Crosspoint Christian coach Jim Johnston knew his team had to find a way to slow North Douglas junior Hunter Vaughn to have a chance to win their showdown of undefeated Southern Oregon eight-man teams in Klamath Falls.

And for a half, Crosspoint Christian kept Vaughn in check and trailed just 12-6 at halftime. 

But Vaughn returned the second-half kickoff 72 yards for a touchdown, opening the floodgates for him and North Douglas. The visitors scored 32 third-quarter points en route to a 58-12 victory that clinched at least a share of the 1A-8 Special District 1 title.

Vaughn finished with 462 all-purpose yards, including 375 on the ground and five touchdowns on 17 carries, in his first game playing all four quarters this season. He has 1,915 rushing yards and 2,842 all-purpose yards in eight games, moving him to No. 2 on the state’s single-season list for eight-man football.

Harper Charter victorious in 1A six-man district championship game

The first playoff games of the 2024 season took place in Echo, with the third-place and championship games of the 1A six-man Eastern Oregon district taking place.

East Division champion Harper Charter kept its undefeated season going with a 53-20 victory over South Wasco County to win the district title, and Joseph knocked off Prairie City/Burnt River 34-19 in the third-place game.

The district’s final automatic qualifier will be decided next week when defending state champion Echo takes on Jordan Valley in Baker City. The loser will have to depend on having a high-enough OSAA ranking to nab the lone at-large bid. The Cougars (No. 8) and Mustangs (No. 10) currently would make the field.

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