West Linn was ready for rival Lake Oswego in the rematch: ‘Good things happen to good people who work hard’

After losing to the Lakers in the regular season, the Lions leave no doubt in the 6A Open championship game, rolling to a 44-30 victory

Viggo Anderson had two second-quarter touchdown runs to help the Lions build a big lead on their way to a 6A Open title-clinching win over Lake Oswego. / Photo by Leon Neuschwander

HILLSBORO — Six weeks ago, Danny Wideman called his shot.

The West Linn senior stood in the middle of the Lions’ home field after his team’s Week 7 loss to Lake Oswego and thought back to two years earlier, when they also tasted defeat at home during the regular season.

He said on that October night how the team needed a loss to refocus on their mission — winning a state championship.

And Friday afternoon at Hillsboro Stadium, Wideman and the Lions once again followed a regular-season defeat by overwhelming that same foe in the OSAA Class 6A state championship game.

Wideman caught three touchdown passes from Baird Gilroy, junior Viggo Anderson ran for 204 yards and two scores, and West Linn avenged its only loss of the season with a resounding 44-30 victory over the Lakers.

“We’re just so blessed to have a second chance,” said Wideman, a University of Oregon baseball recruit. “And we knew we couldn’t take this second chance for granted. Our coaches put up a great game plan, and it was our last game of the year, you know? You gotta leave it all on the field. So, I’m just blessed. Truly blessed.”

Two years ago, it was Sheldon that traveled north to West Linn and won in the second week of the season, only for the Lions to beat them in the title game, 23-14.

This time, it was West Linn’s Three Rivers League rivals who ended its three-year reign atop the standings, only for the Lions (11-1) to win when it counted most.

“Two years ago, we had some ballers who are now in college,” said senior Jake Normoyle, a three-year starter at left tackle who is committed to Oregon State. “What made this team special was that we’ve been playing with each other since fourth grade. We all know each other, we all would go to war for each other, and I think that’s the difference-maker for us.”

Since that Week 7 defeat, Normoyle said, the Lions spent as much time as they could studying film of the Lakers, hoping they’d get the chance to turn the tables.

“We were watching then, just getting ready,” Normoyle said.

And like the 2022 titlists, Normoyle said losing during the season was just what the Lions needed to spark this latest run to the program’s third championship.

“Sometimes, when you’re winning all the time, you kind of drink the poison that comes from the articles and all that stuff,” he said. “But once you get beat, you get a little bit of humility. It makes you work harder and helps you come out on top.”

And now, it’s the Lakers (11-1) who hope to fuel a return trip to the final with the fire stoked by defeat.

“I’m looking to the juniors, and I’m saying we’re going to be back here next year,” said junior quarterback Hudson Kurland, who threw for one touchdown and caught a touchdown pass. “We’ve got to get to work like it’s not over for us. It’s over for the seniors, and we’re going to miss them a ton, but it’s not done for us.

“We’ve got another year, and we’re going to be back in this same stadium on this same day, and we’re going to go win a championship.”

The Lions jumped all over the Lakers early, taking a 24-0 lead just 13 minutes into the game. And while Lake Oswego never laid down, neither could the top seeds make the one play that would jolt a comeback to life.

“When there was a time for them to shine, they shined,” said Lakers senior Lusiano Lopez, who led the team with eight tackles. “And when it was time for us to shine, we didn’t shine as much.”

One of those playmakers Friday for the Lions was Anderson, a junior who was an unknown at the beginning of the season but ended up outshining Lakers junior LaMarcus Bell, who figures to be a top candidate for 6A offensive player of the year.

The 5-foot-8, 160-pounder darted through creases and powered through tackles to keep drives alive and found the end zone twice in the second quarter to help the Lions build a 31-14 halftime lead.

“I just try to do that every game,” Anderson said. “But obviously, this game’s more important, so I had to show out.”

Bell was held to 87 yards on 20 carries, although he found the end zone twice on short runs in the second quarter and caught a 7-yard scoring pass from Kurland in the fourth quarter.

“We knew our game plan. It was stopping No. 2,” said Dickson, who finished with 11 tackles. “The run game was a big deal, so we put everybody in man and knew that if we shut him down, we had a really good chance at this.

“It wasn’t so much about X’s and O’s, and more about being physical, making tackles and executing. That’s what we did tonight, and that’s why we came out on top.”

The Lakers got the ball to start the second half, but Cole Dickson stepped in front of a pass by Kurland and returned the interception 13 yards to set up a 26-yard Gilroy-to-Wideman touchdown connection that pushed the lead to 38-14.

Lake Oswego answered with a little trickery, as senior wideout Liam Davis — who quarterbacked the Lakers the previous two years before Kurland’s arrival — found the Sunset transfer wide open for a 34-yard score.

West Linn followed with a long drive that faced fourth-and-goal at the 6. That’s when Gilroy laced a ball to Wideman with a defender draped on him, and the senior got both feet down just before going out the left side of the end zone with 36 seconds left in the third quarter.

“I look back at the jump balls and the close plays, and they made the plays, like that one down there on the goal line,” said longtime Lakers coach Steve Coury, who was denied a third title. “I tell our guys all the time, ‘Players make plays.’ Their players made more plays. That was the difference.”

Coury then reflected on a season in which his program returned to the title game for the first time since 2019 with a junior-heavy group of skill players.

“I told our kids that the shame about this game is there’s only one team that’s happy, and the other can’t look at the great accomplishments that this year was all about,” he said. “It was a great success. It’s important for our kids to realize they accomplished a hell of a lot. They won the best league in the state. We beat the best team in the state during the year. And we got to the championship game.

“You ask a bunch of teams out there, and they’d take that season. They would take it. So, yeah, I was really, really proud of our kids. It was a good game by them. We hung with them. But that’s probably the best team in the state, you know? We just got beat by a better team tonight.”

And for third-year Lions coach Jon Eagle, who added a second title to the two he won at Camas a decade ago, he didn’t want to compare Friday’s win with their championship from two years ago.

“You know, every year’s different,” he said. “The journey’s always different. It’s always special. I’m just happy that, you know, we want kids to learn that hard work pays off. We told them good things happen to good people who work hard, so this is the result of that.”

That left it to the remaining players from the 2022 champions to savor the similarities and drink in the moment.

“It’s my last football game ever,” said Wideman, who has won five state titles (three in baseball, two in football) during his career. “You know, I play football for fun. I don’t have to worry about recruiting or nothing like that. I’m just leaving it all on the field, just trying to cherish all my moments, playing my last game with my friends, all our last games,

“I moved here in second grade, and they’ve been my boys ever since. They brought me in, and they’re family. I’m just so blessed that I won a championship with these guys.”