High school football: Willamette’s rebound opportunity tops the Lane County schedule

With league play fully underway in prep football, this week features two of Lane County’s notable 6A teams — Sheldon and Willamette — with matchups to watch as every Lane County team with a game has a league opponent.

The Wolverines, who surfaced from a challenging nonleague schedule at 2-2, open league play Friday at home against North Medford. The Irish, meanwhile, recovered from an opening loss to 5A Thurston to dominate the rest of their nonleague slate and head to a Grants Pass program which has set a high bar of its own.

Elsewhere, Thurston continues its campaign through 5A, while two of its prior victims — Springfield and Churchill — face off. Siuslaw-Mapleton’s three-game winning streak faces a four-game heater in Douglas, and Lowell looks to remain undefeated against Central Linn.

All local games kick off Friday, Oct. 2 at 7 p.m.

Home games

Murray’s pick: Willamette (2-2) vs. North Medford (2-3, 0-1 league)

Willamette spent last year as the belle of the ball in Lane County football. A tough nonleague schedule, though, left the Wolverines mired in an 0-2 start to the 2026 season after losses to two of the state’s best in Lake Oswego and Silverton.

Since then, a pair of home wins have delivered Willamette to the doorstep of its first league matchup Friday against North Medford with a chance to go above .500 on the season. Those two wins — 37-28 over Sherwood and 54-31 over Jesuit — were consecutive season-highs in points scored for the Wolverines after they opened with seven- and 12-point offensive sputters.

Then, a bye week spent hammering lingering execution issues left head coach Josh Line to ask his team to do some “soul-searching,” and he feels they’ve emerged ready to take on their league schedule.

“We had a really good week last week,” Line said. “[We] treated it more like going to the doctor, really addressing the things that are causing those problems, like execution issues. I would say if I had to identify one major issue with this football team, it’s a lack of execution — on both sides of the ball and on special teams — so last week was a great opportunity for us to address some of those simple things that are causing us problems where we shoot ourselves in the thigh.”

On the other side will be a North Medford team which Line says is “much improved from last season,” when it went 1-8 in 2025 and lost to Willamette in Eugene 42-22. The Wolverines, who allowed 146 rushing yards in their season-opening loss to Lake Oswego, will have to deal with running backs Mason and Samson Vaelua alongside senior quarterback Quinn Scott.

In Willamette’s backfield, Line could get senior running back Zuzi Alwineyan, who exited the Jesuit game with an ankle issue, back. The coach said that will be a Thursday-night decision.

Last year, the Wolverines didn’t lose a game until they were upset in the second round of the OSAA postseason. Their mixed start this time has put them behind in the chase for the top of the rankings, but Line is choosing to find a silver lining as they open league play.

“We were all hoping to be way more competitive in those [nonleague] games than we were, but all that being said, I think we’ve been able to identify some things that had to be corrected or fixed,” Line said. “It’s a heck of a lot better learning those lessons early in the season than thinking you’re really good and then going into that playoff game and losing the game that you may have had a chance to win had you addressed some of those things that were going to become problems in a big game like that.”

Other home games in a sentence

• Springfield (3-1, 1-1) vs. Churchill (1-3, 1-1): The Millers hung on for the ride in what became a loss at Thurston last week, but flashed potential, while Churchill demolished North Eugene 49-13 after falling to the Colts at home two weeks ago.
• Cottage Grove (1-3, 0-2) vs. Junction City (2-2, 1-1): The Lions, losers of three straight since an opening victory over Creswell, go up against a Tigers team which rebounded from two losses with a 21-20 win over Marshfield last week.
• Elmira (1-3) vs. Sisters (1-2): The Falcons got their first win of the year, 26-14, over Umatilla last week and open league play at home against the one-win Outlaws.
• Pleasant Hill (2-2) vs. Creswell (1-3): Since putting up 49 and 48 points in its first two games, the Billies have lost a pair of shootouts at Dayton and to Salem Academy; the Bulldogs have a pair of heavy losses to go with their lone win, 29-26 over Coquille Sept. 19.
• Siuslaw-Mapleton (4-1) vs. Douglas (4-1): Another big win, 66-12 over Creswell, continued the Vikings’ rebound after a Week 2 loss at Vale; Douglas has won four straight since a season-opening loss.
• Lowell (4-0) vs. Central Linn (2-2): The Red Devils ran the nonleague table and completed that slate with a 29-20 win over Myrtle Point last week, while Central Linn is even on the year after splitting its last two.
• Oakridge (2-2) vs. Monroe-Alsea (1-3): La Pine snapped the Warriors’ two-game win streak last week in a 34-6 Oakridge loss; now, Oakridge tries to bounce back against a Monroe-Alsea group which was held to 10 points or less in its last two.
• McKenzie (2-3, 1-1) vs. Powers (1-3, 0-2): The Eagles, held to six points in each of their last two games, took a 65-6 loss at Crow last week and face a struggling Powers team winless in its last three.

Away games

Murray’s pick: Sheldon (3-1) at Grants Pass (4-1, 1-0)

To help discuss this game, let me talk first about why Thurston is probably the best 5A team in Lane County. Part of that reasoning is that the Colts are still the only team to beat head coach Tyler Martell’s Sheldon, which sits at 3-1 with wins over West Salem, Summit and Sprague on its way to a league opener this Friday at Grants Pass.

It will be interesting to see how Martell and quarterback Ryker Rohaley handle a Grants Pass team which has mostly rolled through its nonconference schedule. The Cavemen haven’t been in a close game since their opening 49-43 win over Nelson. (Their sole loss this season is a 35-10 thumping against Silverton.) Sheldon and Grants Pass have shared one opponent thus far this season, Sprague, and both teams easily posted wins over the Olympians, Grants Pass with a 35-0 win and Sheldon with a 55-14 romp.

Since that Thurston game, where the Irish allowed 20 points, they haven’t allowed more than 14. The preseason quote from Martell was about how this is a “redemption tour” for Sheldon, and we may not have seen the ceiling on how good that could be yet. The end-of-season Sheldon-Willamette matchup, in particular, is shaping up to be really interesting this year, and we’re keeping an eye on both this week. 

Other away games in a sentence

• Thurston (3-1, 2-0) at Crater (1-2, 1-0): As previously mentioned, the Colts are looking like the best 5A team in Lane County, and a test against a Comets team which got its first win over Eagle Point last week could add even more proof to that resume.
• Marist Catholic (1-3, 0-1) at Marshfield (2-2, 1-1): The Spartans have put up at least 28 points in every game this season, are averaging 33 points per game — and have lost three of four, including last week’s league opener 37-34 against Sweet Home; Marshfield has allowed seven points in its two wins and 33 and 27 in each of its two losses.
• Mohawk (3-1) at North Douglas (3-1): Last week’s 44-0 win over Prospect served as an emphatic rebound from a Week 3 loss, but North Douglas, which has won its last three by a combined 166-14, is high-scoring, too.