Best line in Oregon? Sherwood can make a case after championship at lineman competition

In their second year participating in the event, the Bowmen claimed the team title at the Metro Area Lineman Challenge

The Bowmen sent a message.

At least, their big guys did.

And the rest of the state might be well-advised to pay attention.

That message: The Sherwood football team is ready and primed for battle in the upcoming season.

The Bowmen linemen yelled out that message loud and clear as they turned in an impressive performance in winning the team title at the 2024 Metro Area Lineman Challenge last month at Hare Field in Hillsboro.

“I think this says that we’re going to show up again this year,” senior tackle/defensive lineman Jack Richardson said after Sherwood’s victory.

“This shows that we’re going to be good again this year,” junior guard/inside linebacker Isaac Bean said at the competition, which featured such events as the 40-yard dash, shuttle run, vertical jump, standing broad jump, bench press, farmer’s carry, tractor tire flip, two-man sled relay and team tug-of-war. “We’re not going to be a one-and-done type team. We’re going to prove everyone wrong. We’re going to show up.”

The Bowmen are coming off a 2023 season in which they went 11-1, won the Pacific Conference title at 5-0 and reached the semifinal round of the Class 6A state playoffs. They graduated many key players from that squad, including quarterback Kasen Covert, who was named the Pacific Conference offensive player of the year, and linebacker Keaten Fried, who was tabbed the conference’s defensive player of the year.

But the returning Sherwood linemen are trying to make sure the Bowmen will be up to their usual high standards this fall.

“We’ve been doing a lot of offseason training. We’ve been working hard,” said senior-to-be Suliasi Laulaupea’alu, who was a first-team all-Pacific Conference selection and an honorable mention all-state pick at offensive tackle last year. “We’re always lifting in the mornings and then a lot of cardio after that. It helped us a lot with what we had to do here at the Metro Lineman Challenge.”

At the Metro Area Lineman Challenge, all of that hard work helped lead to a team championship for Sherwood. The Bowmen, in just their second year competing at the event, won the team crown with 78 points. Sunset was second in the 17-team field with 64, and Lake Oswego was third with 55.

“It’s very big for us,” Laulaupea’alu said. “It’s our first time winning it.”

“It was awesome. I was really happy to get out here and compete with my brothers and see what happens,” Bean said. “And we got the win. That’s big for us. It shows what our program has been putting in during the offseason, how we’ve been training. It showed all the work we’ve been putting in.”

With all that hard work on their side, the Bowmen were plenty motivated and carried some lofty goals to the Metro Area Lineman Challenge.

“We wanted to win,” Bean said. “If you’re not competing to win, what are you competing for?”

Sherwood came to the Metro Area Lineman Challenge to win — and did just that. / Photo by Dan Brood

The 6-foot, 239-pound Richardson showed his competitive spirit at the event, finishing in third place in the individual standings in the heavyweight division.

“I did pretty good in the farmer’s carry — I got 100 (yards), which tied for first place,” Richardson said. “I was really proud of this, because last year, I got something like 26 or 30. I’ve just been lifting a ton, doing everything in the offseason I could to improve myself.”

Richardson was correct. His distance of 100 yards in the farmer’s carry tied for the top mark of all competitors. He lifted 185 pounds 17 times in the bench press, had 10 tractor tire flips and recorded an impressive time of 4.73 seconds in the shuttle run.

“It’s fun getting out here with your friends. It’s good to do this, and it makes us a closer group,” Richardson said. “I doubled my reps on the bench from last year and did pretty good in the shuttle, too.”

Sherwood senior-to-be Neal Steger (6-2, 235) finished in third place in the lightweight division individual standings, and he was fourth overall. He paced the Bowmen with 24 lifts in the bench press, which was the fourth-best mark among all competitors. He had a vertical jump of 30.5 inches, which was the second-best mark.

Bean stepped up for the Bowmen with 15 lifts in the bench press, nine tire flips and 87 yards in the farmer’s carry.

“I think one of the events we shined in was the farmer’s carry,” he said. “Both me and Jack had pretty good runs. We all showed up on the bench press and we all showed up on the shuttle run.”

Sherwood sophomore-to-be Levi Klostreich had 14 lifts in the bench press, 11 tire flips and team-best marks of 97 inches in the standing broad jump and 4.53 in the shuttle run.

Junior-to-be Andres Hernandez topped the Bowmen with his time of 5.20 in the 40-yard dash. He had a time of 4.54 in the shuttle run, a vertical jump of 28 inches and a standing broad jump of 96.8 inches.

The Bowmen also shined in the team events. They took first place in the two-man blocking sled relay with a time of 1:07.8 (Sunset was second at 1:10.3), and they were third in the team tug-of-war.

“We just won the blocking sled relay, and that’s because of our team chemistry,” Steger said. “We spend a lot of time together, and our group is very tight.”

Blake Kelton, Ethan Portillo, Lukas Thorne, Jaymes Stutesman, Ryder Lamping and Elijah Alesana also competed for Sherwood at the Metro Area Lineman Challenge. All those Bowmen loudly celebrated when they were announced as the team champion.

The Bowmen are planning to carry their momentum to the 2024 high school football season. / Photo by Dan Brood

“They were very excited when Coach (Glencoe head coach and Metro Area Lineman Challenge organizer Ian Reynoso) announced the winners, and I could just see guys who were wondering who they were going to be and what they were going to be — well, this answered a few questions for them,” Sherwood assistant coach David Balfour said.

The victory at the Metro Area Lineman Challenge, as well as other positive aspects during the summer, could answer some questions for Sherwood entering the high school season.

“This was great. We brought a whole new group of guys. We have four new starters on the line. We believe in reloading — we don’t rebuild. They came out and proved that. We hired a strength coach, Coach (Justin) Barchus, and we got a heck of a lot better,” Balfour said.

“Coming out of Linfield (camp), us coaches were very happy with the unit we’re starting to build. Coming in here today, we learned more. We had a lot of guys step up. Our two winners (individual placers), Jack and Neal, they were both backups last year, and they got third place in their respective weight divisions. We had a lot of guys who had some great numbers. We got some depth today, and we got some confidence today.”

The Sherwood linemen are looking forward to — and are ready for — the upcoming season. The Bowmen will open Sept. 6, when they will play host to Roosevelt in a nonleague game.

“We’re definitely going to show up and show what we’re made of,” Richardson said.

“We’re looking solid — as always,” the 6-4, 320-pound Laulaupea’alu said with a smile.

Download the SBLive App

To get live updates on your phone - as well as follow your favorite teams and top games - you can download the SBLive Sports app: Download iPhone App | Download Android App