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West Salem moves on The fourth-ranked West Salem Titans will host Lincoln of Portland next Saturday afternoon at one o'clock in the OSAA 6A quarterfinals after outlasting West Linn, while fellow-CVC representatives Sprague and Redmond end their seasons with road losses. West Salem 41, West Linn 26
West Salem’s defense yielded 451 passing yards to visiting West Linn quarterback Bryce Baker, but also recorded three interceptions while keeping the Lions out of the end zone in the first half. West Salem turned the ball over on their opening drive after quarterback Aaron Hire threw his first interception of the season at his own 43 yard line. But West Linn could get no closer than the Titan 17 yard line, then missed a 24 yard field goal attempt by Robert Truax.
West Linn got another short field when Hire was picked off a second time early in the second quarter, giving the Lions a first and ten at the Titan 27. Again, the West Salem defense shutdown the West Linn offensive attack, and they had to settle for a 30 yard field goal by Truax to cut the deficit to 7-3. West Salem got the break of the game with four minutes left in the half, when a Lions punt hit off a Titan player and West Linn apparently had the ball at the West Salem 44. But officials ruled the West Salem player had been pushed into the ball, and gave it back to West Salem. Lions players and coaches were issued two unsportsman-like conduct penalties to move the ball into West Linn territory. The Titans then used a 24 yard run by Jenkins to move to the ten yard line, and two plays later, West Salem quarterback Chase Sexton plowed 11 yards into the end zone to increase the team’s lead to 13-3 with 3:47 remaining until half time. West Linn responded quickly with a flurry of passes from Baker to wide receivers Justin Monahan and Josh Oltman to move inside the West Salem 30, but again the Titan defense stiffened, and Truax kicked a 29 yard field goal to cut the Titan advantage to 13-6 with 1:58 left. But West Salem wasn’t quite done in the first half. After Bishop bobbled the kickoff return, West started at their own nine yard line. A couple of runs by Jenkins helped move the team to the 25 yard line, then Hire found Bishop streaking down the right sideline and hit him in stride for a 75 yard touchdown with 30 seconds left. West Salem led 20-6 at half. In the second half, West Linn found a little more room in their passing attack. Helped by the Lions’ block of a West Salem field goal, Baker engineered an eight play, 59 yard drive, finding a wide open Monahan with a 17 yard touchdown pass to cut the West Salem lead to 20-13. West Salem responded on the very next drive, as Hire directed his team on an eight play, 80 yard drive of its own. On third and five from the West Linn 40, Hire found Brett Gilbert with a 30 yard pass down the middle of the field to set up first and goal at the 10. On the next play, Hire hit a leaping Bishop for his last touchdown of the game and a 27-13 lead with just under 11 minutes left in the game.
But Baker, who threw 43 passes on the night, wasn’t finished. He found Monahan for yet another 17 yard TD strike as part of a two minute, 73 yard drive to make it 34-20 with 8:15 left. West Salem was unable to advance the football on their next possession and was forced to punt. Allen boomed a 53 yard punt to pin the Lions at their own nine yard line. Baker used a series of short passes to move his team to their own 41 yard line, but he was picked off by West Salem defensive back Tyler Scheller, who returned the ball to the Lion 11 yard line. The Titans scored a couple of plays later as Jenkins pounded it in from three yards out on fourth down with 2:32 remaining, making it 41-20. West Linn had one more drive left, as Baker used his pinpoint passing to move his team inside the West Salem 10. Lion running back Kyle Kraus caught a nine yard pass from Baker for the touchdown. The two point conversion try failed to make it 41-26. West Salem recovered the West Linn onside kick attempt and ran out the clock to seal the victory. West Salem’s Saturday matchup date with Lincoln was confirmed by the OSAA on Sunday. Sheldon 35, Sprague 14 After an exciting come-from-behind win last week at Centennial, the visiting Sprague Olympians had no answers for the strong running attack and stiff defense of third ranked Sheldon. Irish sophomore quarterback Jordan Johnson and senior running back Zach Todd each rushed for over 100 yards in the game, as Sheldon jumped out to a 21-0 lead at halftime. Todd scored the first touchdown late in the first quarter on a six yard run, then added another one early in the second quarter on a 47 yard TD scamper. Johnson scored the final TD of the half for Sheldon on a 39 yard TD run at the end of a time consuming 14 play, 98 yard drive. He tallied 133 yards rushing on the night. The Irish ran the score to 28-0 on their first drive of the second half, going to Todd on four straight runs, ending with a 4 yard TD plunge. Sheldon led 35-0 late in the third quarter before the Olympians finally got on the board.
Sophomore quarterback Jeff Kidd—whose passing heroics helped the Olympians beat Centennial last week—capped off the scoring with a 31 yard TD strike to Rory McManus with just over 1 ½ minutes remaining. Sprague was limited to just 83 yards rushing on 37 carries, and Sheldon sacked Oly quarterbacks nine times in the game. Sheldon advances to next week’s quarterfinals with a road game at Lake Oswego. Grant 28, Redmond 0 The visiting Redmond Panthers trailed Grant just 7-0 at halftime, but the fifth ranked Generals tallied three TDs in the fourth quarter to break open the game at PGE Park in Portland. Grant quarterback Andre Broadus rushed for 186 yards on 21 carries and a touchdown, while throwing for 131 yards and a TD on 9 of 15 passes.
Grant will play Central Catholic next weekend in the 6A quarterfinals.
GAME PHOTOS BY: JOE GOTTSCH, JIM ROWLAND AND NISHA STRAUCH (ALL West Linn-West Salem)
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Titan running back Jordan Jenkins rushed for nearly 160 yards on 30 carries and wide receiver Jordan Bishop caught five passes for 155 yards and three touchdowns as the number-four Titans (9-1) outgunned ninth-ranked West Linn 41-26 to move on to the quarterfinals for the first time in school history.
The Titan offense got the first points on the board with an eight play, 67 yard drive that began midway through the period, culminated by an 18 yard TD pass from Hire to Bishop. Ryan Allen’s extra point made it 7-0 with just over three minutes left in the quarter.
The Titan defense came up big on a strange series of plays on the very next possession. Baker was picked off by West Salem’s Bishop on the first play from scrimmage to give the Titans the ball at the West Linn 41, but Hire threw an interception himself on the very next play to give West Linn the ball at their own 18. But Baker was picked off again on the next West Linn play, and this time linebacker Landon Kuenzi took it 20 yards to the end zone to push the Titan lead to 34-13 with 10:18 remaining.
All-CVC running back Tony Wilson, who has verbally committed to play at Oregon State next fall, scored on a two yard TD run, which was set up by a double reverse pass from Billy Montangne to tight end Colin Casad to make it 35-7 with 9 ½ minutes left.
The Generals defense stymied Redmond’s normally high scoring offense, recording their fourth shutout of the season. Redmond quarterback Cody Johnson, a first team all-CVC pick for a second straight year, was limited to just 54 yards passing on 3 of 14 attempts with one interception.