QuickTake:

Wide receiver Gabe Dietmeyer was dominant in the first half as the Spartans raced to a 42-0 lead to set up a pivotal 4A game next week at Junction City.

Gabe Dietmeyer raised the curtain on Marist Catholic’s regular season home finale. Then, over and over again, he dropped the hammer.

The Spartans’ junior wideout racked up 112 first-half receiving yards to go with a 52-yard punt return score, an interception return and a pair of receiving touchdowns which closed the door on South Umpqua (3-5, 2-3 league) Friday, Oct. 23 in the penultimate week of high school football’s regular season.

Marist (4-4, 2-3 league) led 42-0 at halftime, then pulled its starters and eased off with a running clock in the second half in the 49-6 win to set up a matchup at county rival Junction City next week. 

Dietmeyer and interim head coach Jake Lowther cruised through the coach’s first home game since his appointment. The Spartans rarely saw their opponent cross midfield with their starters in the game as Lowther got his first win.

“Gabe, he’s a special kid,” Lowther said. “Those are the kids you don’t always have every year, and when they do come out and they shine, it’s awesome to see.
But you can ask Gabe — I mean, he’s had a game where he never got any catches and because he knows he’s that good, but also, he knows that the team’s more important, and at the end of the day, that’s what he will tell you as well.”

Dietmeyer’s breakaway speed came in handy on repeat as he took the ball behind the line of scrimmage and turned quarterback Brody Gilliam’s passes into conversion after conversion until he doubled an early Marist 7-0 lead with a 36-yard touchdown reception midway through the first quarter.

It was a rapid start for a Marist team which has struggled to spark early in games. The team also was working to integrate its new coach in his second week coming off a 41-40 loss at North Bend in last week’s debut.

“It starts with small things, and I think that’s the most important,” Lowther said. “It’s hard to change the whole thing in one week, so small things were important, and they bought in a lot, so it shows tonight. We started fast, and we haven’t started fast all year.”

Gilliam (11 of 13 passing for 200 yards, with three passing TDs, along with one rushing) dove for a 2-yard score and hurdles star Aidan Miller put his speed to work on a 7-yard outside run for a touchdown.

Marist’s Dietmeyer (13) makes a catch during a football game between Marist and South Umpqua at Marist Catholic High School in Eugene, Friday, Oct. 23, 2026. Credit: Nick Rohlman / Lookout Eugene-Springfield

Dietmeyer sparkled on defense and special teams as well.

With the ball back in the Lancers’ hands, Dietmeyer cut underneath a route to capture an interception, return it into South Umpqua territory, set the Spartans up off a 32-yard end-around, then pay it off with a 7-yard tussle of a run-after-catch into the end zone at the end of the four-play drive. After Marist stuffed the Lancers and forced a punt later in the second quarter, Dietmeyer handled a bouncing ball and weaved through traffic from 52 yards out into the end zone again to put the game out of reach.

“We’ve been working on punt returns this whole season,” Dietmeyer said. “I told my guys, ‘That blocking was great.’ It was, honestly, my team just making me look great. I’m just going out there doing my job, but it’s all my team, really.”

In the second half, Dietmeyer got a look at his potential partners under center next year when Marist pulled its starters and rotated between quarterbacks Trace Mann and Cooper Jones.

He and Gilliam watched from the sideline, too, as an impromptu install came to life for a play from quarterback Jones to star punter CJ Jones, who lined up out wide and hooked back to secure his catch from his brother’s throw to the delight of the bench. 

“[Cooper is] definitely a guy that, if you tell him something, he’s just going to try and get better next week and do everything he can to feel better,” Gilliam said. 

Freshman Nate Evans got the Spartans’ final score from a yard out with four minutes left in the game to wrap up the team’s first win with Lowther at the helm

“[Lowther] has a lot of fire,” Gilliam said. “I feel like he wants us to win. He’s a good team coach, good player, and, all around, he’s just a guy that wants the best for us and just wants us to win as a group. As you can tell, the seniors were playing pretty good tonight, so that was a good sign of how he’s doing a good job for us and all that.”

“This group has had a lot of adversity this year, and I think that’s been undertoned from the highlights of the news,” Lowther said. “I think seeing these guys do the things they did all week long and doing it right was awesome to see. And then seeing the scoreboard tonight was just amazing. It relieved a lot of stress for me — that’s for sure.”

Dietmeyer (13) celebrates with CJ Jones (11) during a football game between Marist Catholic and South Umpqua at Marist Catholic High School in Eugene, Friday, Oct. 23, 2026. Credit: Nick Rohlman / Lookout Eugene-Springfield

Scoreboard

Friday, Oct. 23

  • North Medford 27, Sheldon 16
  • Churchill 36, Eagle Point 23
  • Springfield 42, North Eugene 7
  • Marshfield 40, Cottage Grove 0
  • Marist Catholic 49, South Umpqua 6
  • Junction City 42, North Valley 25
  • Pleasant Hill 48, Elmira 7
  • Madras 43, Creswell 28
  • Siuslaw-Mapleton 31, Brookings-Harbor 28
  • Waldport 50, Lowell 12
  • Toledo at Oakridge, 7 p.m.
  • Mohawk 62, Camas Valley 6
  • Crow 26, Days Creek 24

Saturday, Oct. 24

  • Willamette at Summit, 7 p.m.