Central Catholic delivers big win for Oregon in clash with Washington power Bellevue: 5 takeaways

“There’s just a lot of players, a lot of weapons.”

HILLSBORO, OREGON — There would be no need for last-second heroics this season for the Central Catholic football team against Bellevue. 

Last year’s meeting between two of the Northwest’s premier programs came down to a field goal on the final play for the Rams to pull out a 24-23 victory up north.

On Saturday at Hillsboro Stadium, the Rams jumped on the Wolverines in the second quarter, scoring 28 points in 9½ minutes and never letting up in a 48-27 victory in the season opener for both teams.

Senior quarterback Cru Newman, a two-time Mt. Hood Conference offensive player of the year, kicked off his season with a banner performance, completing 18 of 22 passes for 343 yards and five touchdowns — including two each to a couple of summer transfers, juniors Landon Kelsey and D’Marieon Gates.

“We knew this was going to be a shootout,” Newman said. “But we’re deep. We’d have guys tapping their helmets, and I wasn’t worried, because I knew we had another guy going right in who was just as good. We’ve just got to stay healthy and keep going.”

Photos by Ken Waz 

5 takeaways from Saturday's matchup:

Central Catholic gashes Bellevue for 541 yards of total offense

With Newman running the show, Central Catholic’s high-powered attack looked in midseason form despite not having a jamboree last week.

Central Catholic amassed 541 yards of total offense and scored on each of its first five possessions, with only halftime stopping the Rams on their final possession of the first half.

Central Catholic took the second-half kickoff and went 72 yards on six plays, with Tyson Davis scoring from 17 yards to give the Rams a 42-20 lead.

TD @ccramfootball Tyson Davis gets in on the fun with a 17yd run. PAT good CC 42-20 1006 3Q #opreps #wapreps pic.twitter.com/RG3IGvaWn1

— Rene Ferran (@ReneJFerranJr) September 2, 2023

“We have a lot of depth,” Kelsey said. “D’Marieon and Tommy (Pempel), Pomer (Davison), Niko (May), Zhaiel (Smith), all our reps were pretty balanced, so that’s really good. There’s just a lot of players, a lot of weapons.” 

Newman, who somehow has not drawn a Power Five offer (Fresno State, Montana State, Eastern Washington and Weber State have expressed interest), credited the play of the offensive line — Zac Stascausky started at left tackle, Israel Palacios at left guard, John McGregor at center, Liam Madigan at right guard and Evan Brenner at right tackle — calling the unit “the MVP of this game.” 

“They did amazing,” Newman said. “I can’t give enough props to them. They made it all happen.” 

Former Southwest Washington star Kelsey shines bright in memory of his father

Southwest Washington football fans might recognize Kelsey’s name. The 6-foot-3, 190-pound junior receiver played for Ridgefield last season, making 12 catches in his first two games before sustaining a season-ending shoulder injury in Week 3.

“I haven’t played in a while, so just that feeling of being out there with the student section and all my brothers, too — that felt good,” Kelsey said.

Kelsey transferred to Central Catholic over the summer at the urging of his father, Steve, to better his chances of playing in college.

Sadly, Steve passed away suddenly a couple of weeks ago, and Kelsey said he could feel his presence through Saturday’s game. He also welcomed the love and support of his entire family — including cousins, aunts and uncles — and several former Spudders teammates in the stands. 

“That helped a lot,” said Kelsey, who finished with four catches for 118 yards. “I’m just happy I could put on a show for them.”

Rams do enough against Wolverines’ vaunted wing-T to build lead

The Wolverines are well-known for their wing-T offense, which has given teams fits for more than two decades. It’s not an offense the Rams see often, and it showed at times, as Bellevue racked up 452 yards of total offense.

But the Rams produced several big stops in the first half that allowed them to stem the momentum the visitors built with a game-opening touchdown drive.

Cade Gehlen’s fumble recovery early in the second quarter led immediately to Kelsey’s first touchdown grab and a 21-6 lead.

TD @ccramfootball after a Cade Gehlen fumble recovery Rams strike on next play as Kelsey gets behind his cover and takes home a 35yd pass from Newman. PAT good CC 21-6 1101 2Q #opreps #wapreps pic.twitter.com/Gb3bqsW9D9

— Rene Ferran (@ReneJFerranJr) September 2, 2023

Later in the quarter, Timmy Mitchell intercepted an overthrown ball down the middle, setting up a 33-yard scoring pass from Newman to Davison that pushed the lead to 35-13 with 2:28 before halftime.

TD @ccramfootball cashes in on Mitchell's interception as Newman has all day to find Pomer Davidson alone in the end zone from 33 yards out. PAT good CC 35-13 228 2Q #opreps #wapreps pic.twitter.com/4Kj1nqlnjL

— Rene Ferran (@ReneJFerranJr) September 2, 2023

“We knew going in that it was going to be a pretty hard game,” said senior lineman Matix Carpenter, whose nine tackles tied Gehlen for team-high honors. “We made plenty of mistakes last year, and I think we definitely learned from that. This year, we didn’t have a jamboree, and we took full advantage of that to prepare for them. That’s what made us capable of winning this game.”

The Rams lost standout defensive tackle Kainoa Hayes to a left knee injury late in the first quarter. Coach Steve Pyne said doctors cleared Hayes to return in the second half as needed, but he kept the junior out as a precaution.

Coaches get together to provide memory for Rams senior

A touching moment came after Roan Beaupre’s interception with 1:33 remaining gave Central Catholic the ball back to run out the clock. 

Rams coach Steve Pyne called timeout after the turnover and came across the field to confer with Wolverines coach Michael Kneip and the officiating crew.

“When I called timeout, (Kneip) was a little surprised,” Pyne said. “He was like, ‘What? What?’ But when I told him what was going on, he was like, ‘OK, yeah, no problem.’”

After two plays ran the clock nearly to zeroes, Pyne sent in senior Daniel Zavage, a developmentally delayed member of the program whom he described as “a fiery kid. He likes to motivate the other players and comes to practice every day and does what he can to contribute in practice.”

Pyne called a running play for Zavage, who burst through the line as the Wolverines stood aside and ran 63 yards to the end zone while the crowd and both sidelines cheered him on.

The touchdown might not have counted on the scoreboard, but Pyne thanked Kneip and the Bellevue staff for allowing Zavage to have his moment.

“It was very gracious of them to agree to that,” Pyne said. “I honestly didn’t think we were going to be in that position to do that at the very end of the game. So, I was very thankful to the Bellevue head coach for letting that happen.” 

No rest for either team as tough Week 2 matchups await

The schedule doesn’t let up for either team next week.

Bellevue plays host Friday night to Lake Stevens, the defending Class 4A champion and ranked No. 6 in the preseason state Power 50. The Vikings handled No. 15 Garfield 48-21 in their opener.

Central Catholic renews the Holy War rivalry with Jesuit that has been on hold in the regular season the past two years. The two Catholic powerhouse programs have met each of those years in the playoffs, with the Rams winning each meeting. 

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CENTRAL CATHOLIC 48, BELLEVUE 27

Bellevue - 6 - 14 - 7 - 0 — 27

Central Catholic - 7 - 28 - 7 - 6 — 48

First quarter

B — Hogan Hansen 7 pass from Lucas Razore (kick blocked), 7:09

CC — Killian Sombe 2 run (Zeke Van’t Hof kick), 5:16

Second quarter

CC — Landon Kelsey 43 pass from Cru Newman (Van’t Hof kick), 11:53

CC — Kelsey 35 pass from Newman (Van’t Hof kick), 11:09

B — Carson Rubin 5 run (Luke Scoma kick), 8:28

CC — D’Marieon Gates 45 pass from Newman (Van’t Hof kick), 5:43

CC — Pomer Davison 33 pass from Newman (Van’t Hof kick), 2:28

B — Jackson Downs 21 run (Scoma kick), 0:52

Third quarter

CC — Tyson Davis 17 run (Van’t Hof kick), 10:06

B — Bryce Smith 12 run (Scoma kick), 5:03

Fourth quarter

CC — Gates 45 pass from Newman (kick failed), 4:38

STATISTICS 

RUSHING—Bellevue: Rubin 24-105, Matthew Reed 11-100, Max Jones 6-44, Ryken Moon 6-24. Total 56-340. Central Catholic: Sombe 13-75, Newman 11-69, Davis 4-37. Total 31-198.

PASSING—Bellevue: Razore 5-15-2-112. Central Catholic: Newman 18-22-0-343.

RECEIVING—Bellevue: Moon 2-54, Cal Zimmerman 1-38. Central Catholic: Kelsey 4-118, Gates 2-90, Davis 4-51, Davison 2-39, Zhaiel Smith 3-34.

DEFENSE—Bellevue: Leo Ryals 11 tackles; Smith 6 tackles; Jones 5 tackles; William Musolino 5 tackles. Central Catholic: Cade Gehlen 9 tackles, fumble recovery; Matix Carpenter 9 tackles; Zach Davis 5 tackles; Phoenix-Orion DiCosmo 5 tackles; Roan Beaupre 5 tackles, interception; Timmy Mitchell 4 tackles, interception.

FIRST DOWNS—Bellevue 16, Central Catholic 23. FUMBLES-LOST—Bellevue 2-1, Central Catholic 0-0. PENALTIES-YARDS—Bellevue 7-47, Central Catholic 7-70.

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