Lake Oswego outlasts Tualatin as Three Rivers League play opens with a bang: 5 takeaways

LaMarcus Bell runs for 245 yards and three touchdowns in the Lakers' 45-31 win over the Timberwolves

Lake Oswego opened Three Rivers League play with a memorable 45-31 victory over Tualatin at Lake Oswego High School. / Photo by Dan Brood

LAKE OSWEGO — To call it a heavyweight fight on the gridiron would not be an overstatement.

In one corner was 4-0 Tualatin. In the other corner was 4-0 Lake Oswego.

And the Lakers came out throwing big blow after big blow. The resilient Timberwolves got up, over and over, after punch after punch, and kept battling back.

But when the final bell rang, Lake Oswego stood tall with its hand raised, as the Lakers battled and fought their way to a 45-31 win over Tualatin in a hard-fought Three Rivers League opener at Lake Oswego High School.

“This means a lot. We went into this game at 4-0, and we knew we had to come out 5-0 against a really good team,” said Lake Oswego junior running back LaMarcus Bell, who ran for 245 yards and three touchdowns on 24 carries. “We just had to play how we play. We know we can handle some really good teams.”

“This shows the state that we’re really here, and we’re ready to play,” Lakers senior running back/linebacker Justin Craigwell said. “We’re a great team, and we’re ready to keep going.”

“It was a great win, especially against a tough team like Tualatin,” Lake Oswego sophomore linebacker Cash Wilks said. “It means a lot to the team to win a tough game like this.”

Tualatin, which never led, is looking to take some positives from the heavyweight showdown.

“It wasn’t how we wanted it to go,” said Tualatin senior quarterback Nolan Keeney, who passed for 313 yards. “But we fought really hard. I’m really proud of how my guys fought.”

“We came out slow. They came out with more energy than us. We gave them too much momentum, and they just took over from there,” said Tualatin senior receiver Zhaiel Smith, who had 10 receptions for 174 yards. “But we’ll learn how to respond to adversity. We need to come out faster and with more energy.”

Here are five takeaways from Friday night’s matchup:

Lake Oswego likes to get offensive

The Lakers’ offensive attack is explosive — very explosive.

When you talk about Lake Oswego’s offense, you have to start with the 5-foot-11, 190-pound Bell. Among his three touchdown runs Friday was a spectacular 76-yard scamper, coming on a third-and-23 play, which gave the Lakers a 14-0 lead in the final minute of the first quarter.

“This was a really great feeling,” Bell said. “Toward the end, it was like, ‘This is ours; we got it done.’”

But Lake Oswego boasts more than just the standout running back — just ask senior Liam Davis, a former quarterback who now plays receiver for the Lakers.

“Going into the offseason, we got this son of a gun over here (pointing at junior quarterback Hudson Kurland), and he’s an animal,” Davis said. “He’s the hardest worker ever, and he’s one of the best leaders on our whole team. He’s just a junior, and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for him.”

Hudson Kurland transferred from Sunset to Lake Oswego during the 2023-24 offseason. / Photo by Dan Brood

Kurland showed off his dual-threat capabilities, running for 64 yards and three touchdowns and passing for 152 yards. But Kurland, a transfer from Sunset, is quick to give all the credit to his Lake Oswego teammates.

“We’ve got the best O-Line in the state,” he said, referring to the group that includes Jaden Moore, Jagar Shean, Aiden Anderson, Amin Ashaati and Jackson Gaetz, among others. “We’ve got the best backfield in the state — LaMarcus Bell and Justin Craigwell. Those two are dogs. And we’ve got a great perimeter.”

All of it seemed to be working in high gear for the Lakers in Friday’s game.

“We just do what we do — 40 points a game. We did it today,” Bell said. “We’ve got a new quarterback. He’s been an amazing piece to the team. Getting him was probably the best thing that happened to us.”

“(The offense) was clicking,” said Davis, who had three catches for 61 yards and a 2-point conversion run. “Our coordinator, Coach (Karl) Halberg, he really dialed it up. We really honed in on what we were going to do, and we executed really well. We had some hiccups. We could have been a little cleaner, but we got the result.”

Now, the question is: Can anyone stop that offense?

“We’ll see,” Bell said with a smile.

Lakers also get it done on defense

On the surface, holding an opposing team to 31 points might not seem too impressive, until you consider the Timberwolves entered Friday’s game scoring at an astounding average of 59.8 points per game.

That number had Lake Oswego fired up for the challenge.

“In practice all week we were talking about how it’s a different week, with different energy. We just played with fire,” Craigwell said. “We just had a really good game plan. We practiced well and we executed to perfection.”

“We knew Tualatin had a tough offense and that we needed to focus on some of their guys, and we did that,” Wilks said. “They usually score a lot of points, and we held them to a good amount, and we got the win.”

While Keeney did pass for an impressive number of yards, he was seemingly under constant pressure most of the contest. The Lakers came up with five sacks, and even when they didn’t get a sack, they had Keeney scrambling around in the backfield before he could get off a pass.

“He’s a good player, a good kid,” Craigwell said of Keeney. “He’s shifty and gets around. We just had to make the plays and contain him.”

Craigwell certainly did his part in that, coming up with three of the Lakers’ five sacks.

“It means a lot. It was nice to help us win,” Craigwell said.

Justin Craigwell had three of Lake Oswego's five sacks in Friday's win over Tualatin. / Photo by Dan Brood

Wilks had one of the other sacks.

“It was great,” he said. “I came off the edge, looking to contain. I saw my opening, got past the block and lit the quarterback up.”

Lake Oswego’s swarming play on defense brought a smile to Kurland’s face.

“It was a back-and-forth game against one of the great offenses in the state, but we got it done. We’ve got a great defense,” he said.

Lakers look at some big goals

Potent offense.

Strong, attacking defense.

Lofty aspirations.

Lake Oswego has all of that — and the 5-0 Lakers aren’t hiding that fact. They know what their ultimate goal is this season.

“State championship,” Craigwell said. “That’s the end goal — that’s the only goal.”

“One goal, one common goal — a state championship,” Davis said.

“State,” Kurland said. “To win a ring. Go all the way.”

Junior running back LaMarcus Bell (24 carries for 245 yards and three touchdowns against Tualatin) is just one of the many players who make Lake Oswego a matchup nightmare for opponents. / Photo by Dan Brood

While that all sounds good, the Lakers know reaching that goal won’t come easy.

“We’re going to have to be a lot cleaner, and we’re going to have to practice harder and harder and harder as the season goes on,” Davis said. “This win means a lot, but at the end of the day, it’s just another regular-season game, and we’ve got to start preparing for Tigard next week.”

“It’s going to take a lot of work,” Kurland said. “We just have to keep working and keep getting better. We have to be better next week.”

“We’re just going to keep building,” Wilks said. “We’re going to keep building week by week, and we’ll be ready for what’s next.”

Kurland, always a gracious teammate, points out another key for the Lakers in reaching their goals.

“The scout team,” he said. “We’ve got the best scout team. They get us ready every single week.”

Tualatin aims to bounce back strong

Lake Oswego isn’t the only team with lofty aspirations.

The Timberwolves, even with Friday’s setback, are looking for big things the rest of the season.

“No, it’s definitely not changed,” Keeney said of the team’s goals. “We know that we’ll fight every day, fight against every team. We know we can compete with every team. Not everything went our way — in fact, you could say not much at all went our way, but we can bounce back from this.”

The 6A state championship is still the goal for Nolan Keeney and Tualatin despite Friday's loss. / Photo by Dan Brood

They’re looking to not only bounce back from, but maybe to benefit from Friday’s loss.

“This will help us — with our approach to the game, how we recover from this, how we change our mentality, how we change our practices,” Keeney said. “There’s a lot to work on. We see it in film all the time.”

“We’re going to move on to the next game,” Smith said. “We need to just keep moving forward and keep winning from here.”

The Timberwolves had plenty of bright spots Friday. In addition to the big games by Keeney and Smith, junior receiver Calen Simonelic had four catches for 103 yards and a touchdown. Junior Trenton Hertzog had two short touchdown runs, and sophomore Cole Hachmeister added a touchdown run.

On defense, Tualatin got sacks from senior Calvin Evans, Hertzog and senior Aiden Keister.

Maybe the brightest spot for the Timberwolves was how they kept fighting back — over and over.

“It’s really easy to just roll over and give up. That’s what a lot of people do,” Keeney said. “But I’m really proud of how we kept going. We had to keep these guys in it and keep pushing. Not everything went our way, but we battled, and I’m really proud of that. This isn’t the end of our season.”

The TRL gauntlet is going to be fun

Friday’s battle at Lake Oswego is just the start of big game after big game after big game in Three Rivers League play.

Entering Friday’s contest, the TRL boasted the top four 6A teams in the OSAA computer rankings in Lake Oswego, Lakeridge, Tualatin and West Linn — each of which was undefeated entering Friday’s action. In the latest 6A coaches poll, West Linn was No. 1, Tualatin No. 2, Lakeridge No. 4 and Lake Oswego No. 5.

The other two league members, Oregon City and Tigard, have also had success, both this year and in the past.

“We always talk about it — it’s the SEC of Oregon football,” Davis said. “There’s no weeks off.”

“It’s huge. It’s the biggest thing in high school football in Oregon,” Kurland said. “Everyone wants a piece of the TRL. They want the competition. Every week is like a Super Bowl.”

“It’s a very tough league — a very, very tough league,” Bell said. “You get a surprise game every week. You can have a blowout and an upset every week.”

Smith, a transfer from Central Catholic, is new to the Three Rivers League, like Kurland.

“I love this league,” Smith said. “I love the competition. I love that every game is a close game.”

In his first Three Rivers League game, Tualatin's Zhaiel Smith had 10 receptions for 174 yards. / Photo by Dan Brood

Lake Oswego, Tualatin and likely the other four members of the league agree — playing in this league will have everyone ready for the postseason.

“This will get us prepared for the big games — Central Catholic, championships,” Bell said.

“I love playing in a league like this,” Wilks said. “It shows us what type of team we are and how good we can play, and it really pushes us to be better.”

“It’s a hard league. It’s a tough league,” Smith said. “It’s definitely going to prepare us for the playoffs. We’ve got a lot of tough games ahead of us, and I think we’ve got a good chance.”

Lake Oswego 45, Tualatin 31

Tualatin 0 - 16 - 7 - 8 — 31

Lake Oswego 14 - 7 - 7 - 17 — 45

First quarter

LO – Hudson Kurland 1 run (Liam Davis run)

LO – LaMarcus Bell 76 run (kick failed)

Second quarter

T – Cole Hachmeister 1 run (Calvin Evans kick)

LO – Kurland 19 run (Hudson Gasperson kick)

T – Calen Simonelic 42 pass from Nolan Keeney (Evans kick)

T – safety, ball snapped out of end zone

Third quarter

LO – Bell 16 run (Gasperson kick)

T – Trenton Hertzog 1 run (Evans kick)

Fourth quarter

LO – Kurland 12 run (Gasperson kick)

LO – Bell 18 run (Gasperson kick)

T – Hertzog 2 run (Simonelic pass from Keeney)

LO – Gasperson 43 field goal

STATISTICAL LEADERS

Rushing – Tualatin, Ry’Von Reese 3-21, Hachmeister 7-16, Keeney 16-12, Zhaiel Smith 1-4, Hertzog 2-3. Total 29-56. Lake Oswego, Bell 24-245, Kurland 15-64, Justin Craigwell 5-7, team 2-(-14). Total 46-302.

Passing – Tualatin, Keeney 18-31-0, 313 yards. Lake Oswego, Kurland 9-13-0, 152 yards.

Receiving – Tualatin, Smith 10-174, Simonelic 4-103, Evans 3-19, Cole Newton 1-8. Lake Oswego, Davis 3-61, Jake Drakalovich 2-50, Cole Callahan 2-4, Baron Kurland 1-48, Hudson Kurland 1-(-11).

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