Jesuit shows its ‘grit’ in rebounding from 0-4 start to Metro’s No. 1 seed

“The grit we showed ... just shows the great determination by our team. I love it.”

When Jesuit got off to its first 0-4 start since 1977, the players and coaches didn’t panic. 

They knew they’d faced a nonleague gauntlet — Skyview of Vancouver (Wash.), Central Catholic, West Linn and Tualatin have a combined record of 30-2 — they believed would set them up for future success. 

“As a team, we have grit,” junior quarterback Trey Cleeland said after the Crusaders wrapped up the Metro League’s No. 1 seed in the 6A state playoffs with a 31-14 victory at Mountainside last Thursday. 

“We started off with this tough 0-4, but the grit we showed coming out of halftime, getting on the board, just shows the great determination by our team. I love it.”

Cleeland began the season behind senior Jacob Hutchinson on the depth chart, but he supplanted Hutchinson by Week 2, and he and the Crusaders endured some growing pains during their 0-4 start.

In Jesuit’s past five games, Cleeland has shown signs of progress. He has thrown for 607 yards and 10 touchdowns without an interception during that stretch, although his completion rate (33 of 72, 45.8%) shows he’s still learning on the job.

Meanwhile, senior Lonnie Burt is becoming the workhorse in the backfield that has been a staple in the Crusaders offense during Ken Potter’s 37 seasons at the Southwest Portland school. 

He ran for 133 yards against the Mavericks, marking the third consecutive game he eclipsed the 100-yard mark, and he had four tackles at linebacker.

“On both sides of the ball, he’s a terror,” Potter said. “As you can see, he’s all over the field on defense, and on offense, he just runs really hard.”

The victory was Potter’s 349th of his career, leaving him three shy of Dewey Sullivan’s state-record 352 victories over 42 seasons at Dayton from 1965-2006.

Burt acknowledged the record weighed on the players’ minds a bit at the start of the season.

“We definitely want to get it for him, especially us seniors,” he said. “Whenever he retires, we want to know we got him that win record.”

To accomplish that, the Crusaders will need to win Friday’s regular-season finale against Beaverton, then reach the semifinals of the 6A playoffs — likely having to win on the road in the quarterfinals against a top-four seed to do so. 

“We still have a long way to go,” Potter said. “We made a ton of mistakes today, but I just like their effort. We ran around on defense really well and pursued well, and I thought our offensive line just got better and better during the game and has been getting better each week.

“But that just comes with experience and playing together. So, I’m really pleased with the win, and hopefully we can build on it.”

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Jesuit 31, Mountainside 14

Jesuit – 7 – 10 – 7 – 7 — 31

Mountainside – 0 – 7 – 0 – 7 — 14

First quarter

J — Julius Christensen 2 run (Kadyn Butcher kick), 6:29

Second quarter

M — Jordan Hicks (Max Ryusaki kick), 11:56

J — Jace Burton 6 pass from Trey Cleeland (Butcher kick), 3:53

J — FG Butcher 35, 0:02

Third quarter

J — Elias Johnson 74 pass from Cleeland (Butcher kick), 2:21

Fourth quarter

J — Lonnie Burt 28 run (Butcher kick), 3:13

M — Cade Mitchell 3 run (Ryusaki kick), 0:06

STATISTICS

RUSHING—Jesuit: Burt 23-133, Cleeland 7-61. Total 37-200. Mountainside: Hicks 14-59, Alex Ingalls 9-13, Sam Vyhlidal 4-16. Total 29-101.

PASSING—Jesuit: Cleeland 4-16-0-130. Mountainside: Ingalls 9-20-1-106, Mitchell 1-2-0-49.

RECEIVING—Jesuit: Burton 2-33, Johnson 1-74. Mountainside: Andrew Ramtel 3-64, Madden Tanuvasa 3-27, Vyhlidal 3-15. 

DEFENSE—Jesuit: Kainoa Santiago 8 tackles; Kevin Keanaaina 5 tackles, forced fumble; Christensen 6 tackles, 2 for loss, sack, fumble recovery; Burt 4 tackles. Mountainside: Kellen Hicks 9 tackles; Tyler Hetrick 8 tackles. FIRST DOWNS—Jesuit 13, Mountainside 9. FUMBLES-LOST—Jesuit 0-0, Mountainside 2-1. PENALTIES-YARDS—Jesuit 11-91, Mountainside 10-85.

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