McMinnville beats rival Forest Grove to retain Pigeon Bowl trophy: 5 takeaways

‘You’re not getting that back for a long time. You best believe that.’

McMINNVILLE – The pigeon isn’t flying away — and neither is the Pigeon Bowl trophy.

The McMinnville football team kept possession of the trophy, which goes to the winner of the rivalry game between the Grizzlies and Forest Grove, in very convincing fashion, running to a 62-7 win over the Vikings in Pigeon Bowl IX, played Friday at McMinnville High School. 

“It’s just great to start the season off this way,” McMinnville senior Kellen Strong, who had a touchdown catch and two interceptions, said of the win, which gives the Grizzlies a 2-0 record. “We’ve been working hard; we’ve been working for a long time. It’s a great win. We want to pick up some momentum going into league and keep doing this.”

“It means a lot,” said McMinnville junior quarterback Kane Sullivan, who had four touchdown runs and two touchdown passes — in the first half. “Going 2-0 is good. We played hard; we played good.” 

“It means a lot,” McMinnville junior lineman Landon Fay said. “Last week, we had a bit of a rough game. We had a lot of penalties. But this week in practice, we cleaned it all up. We were really ready coming into this game, and I think it really showed tonight.”

It certainly did. 

The Grizzlies struck fast and struck often in Friday’s rivalry game, grabbing a 21-0 first-quarter lead and pushing the score to 48-0 by halftime.

“We’ve been working so hard for this,” Strong said. “It felt good to finally have a good impact like that.”

Forest Grove moved to 1-1 with the loss.

Here are five takeaways from Friday night’s matchup:

This rivalry won’t fly the coop

The Pigeon Bowl began in 2013, following a somewhat comical tweet by then-McMinnville student Bryce Clinton. The Pigeon Bowl trophy with, yes, a pigeon perched on top was introduced in 2014, with the winning team getting to keep the trophy on campus until the teams’ next meeting. 

Entering last year’s game, Forest Grove held a 4-3 edge in the series. But McMinnville evened the series and claimed possession of the trophy a year ago with a 42-0 win over the Vikings. 

The Grizzlies were so determined to keep the trophy this year that they didn’t even bring it out to the field for Friday’s game.

“We had it from last year, when we won 42-0, and we wanted to keep the trophy with us,” Fay said with a smile. “It’s waiting for us in the locker room.”

“It’s in the locker room,” Strong said. “We’re going to go take our picture with it.”

For the Grizzlies, the rivalry and the Pigeon Bowl trophy are serious business — and they’re thrilled to now hold a 5-4 advantage in the series.

“It’s a rivalry game, so winning it means a lot,” Sullivan said. “I’m glad we got the win.”

Strong took it a step further.

“It’s just a rivalry that goes year to year. It’s one of those things. We’re saying, ‘One more year, one more year.’ We just want to keep it,” he said. “It’s Forest Grove. We play them every year, and it’s like, ‘You’re not getting that back for a long time. You best believe that.’” 

Sullivan states his dual-threat case 

While many McMinnville players stood out in Friday’s game, it would be hard for anyone to surpass Sullivan’s performance.

Playing in only the first half, the 6-foot-2, 180-pound junior completed 6 of 8 passes for 142 yards and two touchdowns, and he rushed for 92 yards on 14 carries with four more touchdowns — giving him six scores before the intermission.

“I can’t do it without my team. They go, I go. Everything I do is thanks to them,” Sullivan modestly said. “I would say I’ve grown. But my team pushes me to do better, so I get better.”

While Sullivan might be a bit reluctant to sing his own praises, his teammates are more than happy to talk about him.

“He is one of the hardest workers on the team,” Strong said. “He does his training. He’s a workhorse, and he’s a leader on this team. He’s grown so much.”

“I love Kane,” Fay said. “I’ve been friends with him since I was in third grade. I’ve been playing football with him since third grade. I’ve been blocking for him since third grade. The chemistry is there. It’s just amazing.” 

Grizzlies growl on offense and defense

McMinnville stepped up and really impressed in Friday’s game, both on offense and defense.

According to Strong, there’s one common factor for that. 

“Honestly, it all starts with our line, the big boys up front,” he said. “When they go, we go. They worked their (butts) off today. They’re doing so good. All kudos to those guys.”

On offense, that group includes Fay, senior Jake Ryan, junior Ahziah Fonoti, senior Gavin McIrvin and junior Jake Fairbank.

“We watched a lot of film and prepared,” Fay said. “They brought a lot of (line)backers, and we picked that up.”

The McMinnville offense had 411 yards on 35 plays in the contest, which had a running clock for the entire second half.

The Grizzlies also featured a balanced offensive attack. Strong had two catches for 50 yards and a touchdown. Senior Tyler Ackerman had two grabs for 52 yards and a score. Senior Gabe Blanco had two catches for 40 yards. Junior Bryce Wilson had a 66-yard touchdown run on his only carry.

On defense, McMinnville limited Forest Grove to 203 yards on 47 plays, with 67 of those yards coming on a touchdown pass on the final play of the third quarter.

“We just picked away at their weaknesses,” Fay said of the effort on defense. “We’ve got that chemistry down. It really showed.” 

“They did great. They did their job,” Sullivan said of the defense. “That’s all I can ask. When you get 11 guys doing their job, no one can stop us.”

Strong had two tackles for loss to go with his two interceptions. Ackerman also had an interception.

Pacifically speaking, McMinnville eyes title

With their 2-0 start, the Grizzlies are optimistically looking ahead to Pacific Conference play — with the highest hopes in mind.

“Oh, we’re going to win it. That’s the goal,” Strong said. “We just need to keep up our chemistry and keep playing as a team, like we’ve been doing.”

McMinnville, even with that lofty goal, knows that achieving it won’t be easy. Traditional conference power Sherwood is also 2-0, as are Liberty and Newberg.

The Bowmen claimed the conference crown a year ago at 5-0. McMinnville finished in a tie for third place with Century, going 2-3 in conference play. Liberty was second at 3-2.

Still, the Grizzlies are looking to jump all the way to the top this year.

“Hopefully, win,” Sullivan said of the goal. “It’s going to take a lot of hard work and a lot of time.”

“Our hope is, obviously, is to win it. That’s always our hopes,” Fay said. “If we go in with our heads up and with that warrior mindset, I think we’ve got it.” 

The Grizzlies will open Pacific Conference play Sept. 29, when they travel to Newberg.

Vikings ready to rebound

Despite the lopsided loss, Forest Grove is ready to look at the positives, put the loss aside and work to get better. 

“It takes 11 guys on the field to get the job done, and we all tried our best,” said Vikings junior receiver Kyle Fabela, who scored the Forest Grove touchdown. “I really think we could be a top team. I have confidence in us. I really think we could be top in the league. It’s going to take a lot of effort in practice. We need to really focus and get locked in.” 

Fabela said Forest Grove can learn from the loss.

“We can’t underestimate, and we need to always work hard in practice,” he said.

The Vikings were trailing McMinnville 55-0 late in the third quarter when Fabela teamed with sophomore backup quarterback Travis Hale on a 67-yard touchdown pass.

“Travis Hale threw me a bubble,” Fabela said. “I’ve got some breakout speed and took it to the house. I saw some open field.”

Most important to the Vikings, it showed they still had fight — and they weren’t going to get shut out.

“To me, I didn’t like the big zero that was up there,” Fabela said. “I wanted to change that.”

Fabela finished with two catches for 80 yards. Senior tight end Luke Dahl had three receptions for 25 yards, and sophomore receiver Asher Case had two catches for 23 yards.

Travis Hale completed 3 of 5 passes for 90 yards. Senior starter Kaden Hale completed 3 of 10 passes for 30 yards. Senior running back Coleton Noah was the team’s top rusher with 53 yards on 13 carries.

For the Forest Grove defense, junior Evan Anderson had a sack and junior Preston Vandehey had two tackles for loss. 

The Vikings return to action Sept. 15, when they play at Mountain View.

“I know we’re going to battle and work hard in practice next week,” Fabela said. “We’re going to flush this and move on to the next one.”

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McMinnville 62, Forest Grove 7

Forest Grove - 0 - 0 - 7 - 0 – 7

McMinnville - 21 - 27 - 7 - 7 – 62 

First quarter

M – Kane Sullivan 3 run (Bryce Wilson kick)

M – Sullivan 1 run (Wilson kick)

M – Sullivan 10 run (Wilson kick)

Second quarter

M – Tyler Ackerman 29 pass from Sullivan (Wilson kick)

M – Kellen Strong 12 pass from Sullivan (Wilson kick)

M – Wilson 66 run (Wilson kick)

M – Sullivan 37 run (kick failed)

Third quarter

M – Nick Gibson 22 run (Wilson kick)

FG – Kyle Fabela 67 pass from Travis Hale (Fabela kick)

Fourth quarter

M – Bradley Thompson 11 run (Wilson kick)

STATISTICAL LEADERS

Rushing – Forest Grove, Coleton Noah 13-53, Travis Hale 3-16, Hunter Stevens 5-9, Jonah Gillette 1-6, Kaden Hale 6-(-3), Logan Hale 1-(-6). Total 29-75. McMinnville, Sullivan 14-92, Wilson 1-66, Henry Seehawer 2-49, Nick Gibson 3-22, Hayden Church 2-19, Thompson 2-10, Austin Schoof 1-3, Gabe Blanco 1-(-2). Total 26-259.

Passing – Forest Grove, Travis Hale 3-5-0, 90; Kaden Hale 3-10-3, 30; Nolan Hudgins 1-3-0, 8. Total 7-18-3, 128. McMinnville, Sullivan 6-8-0, 142; Drew Bizon 1-1-0, 10. Total 7-9-0, 152.

Receiving – Forest Grove, Luke Dahl 3-25, Fabela 2-80, Asher Case 2-23. Total 7-128. McMinnville, Ackerman 2-52, Strong 2-50, Blanco 2-40, Hayden Briggs 1-10.

—

PIGEON BOWL HISTORY

McMinnville leads 5-4  

PIGEON BOWL I — Forest Grove 43, McMinnville 34 (2013)

PIGEON BOWL II — Forest Grove 35, McMinnville 28 (2014)

PIGEON BOWL III — Forest Grove 28, McMinnville 20 (2015)

PIGEON BOWL IV — McMinnville 42, Forest Grove 0 (2016)

PIGEON BOWL V — McMinnville 21, Forest Grove 14 (2017)

PIGEON BOWL VI — McMinnville 30, Forest Grove 0 (2021)

PIGEON BOWL VII — Forest Grove 24, McMinnville 21 (2021)

PIGEON BOWL VIII — McMinnville 42, Forest Grove 0 (2022)

PIGEON BOWL IX — McMinnville 62, Forest Grove 7 (2023)