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QuickTake:
The Irish scored to take the lead with 1:03 left to play — and then held off a final Willamette drive as time ran out in one of the most memorable Lane County football games of the season.
On an unforgettable night, Owen Ashton remembered every play.
Ashton, the Sheldon middle linebacker and running back who moved to Eugene and said he had no friends to start, so he watched football with his dad, was the heart of the Irish defense in its biggest game of the regular season Friday, Oct. 30 against Willamette.
When others go home and watch YouTube or play videogames, his teammate Cam Thomas said, Ashton watches film for fun. He never blacks out on the field, and Friday, once he’d arrived at a defining matchup, he soaked in the night, one snap at a time.
Like the one on defense where he dropped back over the middle because he knew that the tight end had him beat and that Willamette quarterback Zeke Thomas, his teammate from middle school, was good enough to spot it. That’s when Ashton, listed at 5-foot-8 and 175 pounds, appeared, snagged the ball in midair and stomped off the field.
Or like the fourth-and-goal, potential go-ahead play from the 3-yard line with just over a minute left. Ashton had been walking the sideline with a coach, Jordan Johnson, all fourth quarter, telling him that they were going to score and that they were going to win the game. So when Ashton came open in the flat for the go-ahead score, it felt like a foregone conclusion. He’ll remember that one, too.
“I’m just so happy for the team,” Ashton said. “I mean, I couldn’t have done it if we blocked it right. A lot of things had to go in our favor for this to happen, so I’m just so happy for the team right now, because we deserve this. We all do.”
No. 7 Sheldon’s (7-2, 3-1 league) students flooded the field to celebrate its 30-27 league-deciding, comeback-cementing win over No. 4 Willamette (7-2, 3-1), overcoming a 206-rushing-yard, four-total-touchdown performance from Thomas.
Both teams will advance to the state playoffs with a share of the league title, but the Irish, resurgent, revived and reinvented, are the league’s top seed, and the winners of an all-time game just a year after going 2-7.
“These guys have been through a ton, and I believe good things happen to good people that do things the right way,” Sheldon head coach Tyler Martell said. “And our guys, that’s all they did is they went to work. They’ve gone through a ton of adversity over the last couple years, and our guys deserve it. They played so hard. That’s a good football team. It’s just a great Friday night game.”
Familiarity all over the field — bad blood or not — was well-known. Willamette head coach Josh Line, the former Sheldon head coach with multiple former Irish players on his sideline, faced off against a team he knew well, his former defensive coordinator in Martell and a quarterback in Ryker Rohaley who’d spent a year at Willamette. The energy of a year spent recovering from last season’s disappointment fueled Sheldon.
“It just gave us something to play for,” Cam Thomas said. “It gave us a reason, and everyone bought in. I think that’s why we won. They were much bigger than us, and so was Summit. If you put those games on paper, we probably lose. But it’s what we bought into, the standard around here. We brought it back, and I think that’s why we win these big games.”
Martell didn’t know initially if Rohaley was going to be available Friday after a finger injury saw him pulled from Sheldon’s loss last week in the first quarter. But he was on the field hours early to throw, and became a key to an Irish offense missing star back Cody Hall to a late injury.
After Rohaley’s backup, Keaton Welch, ran Sheldon’s Wildcat package for the opening score, Rohaley took over. On the Irish’s final first-half scoring drive, the junior connected with Kyler Cordell on third-and-25 for 26 yards, then went back to Cordell for a 44-yard seam strike which put Sheldon ahead 14-7.
“We’re all so close together,” said Rohaley (19-of-29, 257 yards, two touchdowns). “We have the best team chemistry. I think we can have anyone (out there) and we’ll win.”
With Willamette’s trio of running backs not at full strength, Thomas (9-of-14, 78 passing yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions) took over on the ground. He opened with back-to-back 9-yard gains, then, late in the first half as the Wolverines drove under two minutes, broke free for a 33-yard sprint which set up his 5-yard rushing score and sent the game into the break tied at 14.
After the half, he added long runs of 11, 11, 39 and 42 yards to reach his final total and put Willamette ahead twice. The Irish couldn’t contain him.
“Zeke is the No. 1 player, the No. 1 quarterback in the state,” Rohaley said. “He’s really good, and he’s a great guy, too. That’s what most people don’t know. He ran the ball really well tonight, but we ended up winning.”
Once Willamette got to the red zone, wideout Amir Harris was the other end of Thomas’ two touchdown passes — its first and final scores. But the pair of interceptions, to Cam Thomas and Ashton, hampered the Willamette offense, which struggled to find a consistent air attack until the fourth quarter and relied heavily on Thomas’ legs.
After Ashton put the Irish ahead with his 3-yard touchdown reception with 1:02 remaining in the game, Thomas led a final Willamette drive.
Thomas scrambled, then hit Harris near the sideline for 15 yards as Willamette burned its final timeout on tries to push the ball downfield. Time expired on a hook-and-ladder play which ended inbounds, but offsetting penalties gave the Wolverines one final shot on an untimed down from midfield.
This is how high school football should be. Thomas had his shot: one more heave, into the end zone, before a shoulder-to-shoulder crowd.
Any ending would’ve been storybook. When Thomas’ pass fell through his receiver’s hands, one was chosen. Who cares about hyperbole?
“It’s probably the craziest thing in my life,” Rohaley said.
Scoreboard
Friday, Oct. 30
- Sheldon 30, Willamette 27
- Thurston 35, Roseburg 6
- Crater 19, Springfield 7
- Eagle Point 34, North Eugene 7
- Churchill 49, Putnam 13
- Marist Catholic 10, Junction City 7
- Phoenix 42, Cottage Grove 7
- Klamath Union 56, Pleasant Hill 21
- Elmira 26, Creswell 23
- Siuslaw-Mapleton 62, Coquille 6
- Lowell 44, Oakridge 22
- Mohawk 1, Reedsport 0 (forfeit)
- Triangle Lake 33, Falls City 0
- Crow 42, Powers 12
- Elkton 54, McKenzie 20
