QuickTake:

Trailing at the half, the Colts relied on stout defense and a clutch performance by Leofatu Filipe to claim a quarterfinal win. Next up: West Albany, the only team to beat Thurston this year.

Leofatu Filipe is hosting a party. Location: your backfield, then your end zone, all in crunch time.

No. 2 Thurston steamed back from a halftime deficit Friday, Nov. 13, to down No. 7 Sandy 23-14 and roar into the OSAA semifinals. The Colts, missing starting quarterback Emmit Distefano, got a quality outing from backup Dean Knowles and a stunning defensive surge in the second half keyed by Filipe’s 2½ sacks and fourth-quarter receiving touchdown.

Thurston moves on to face No. 3 West Albany, the only team to beat it this year in the regular season, at a to-be-determined neutral site Nov. 20 for a place in the 5A championship game.

Head coach Justin Starck’s team hasn’t faced much adversity this year. It’s played running clock games for the last several weeks. It won the 5A-Special District 5 title undefeated in league play. But that word — “adversity” — rang around practice this week. 

“We haven’t had any in six, seven weeks, so they get complacent,” Starck said. “And we told them, ‘Adversity’s coming. Great teams are coming. We’re going to have to be ready to respond.’”

Distefano, a subject of that adversity, watched from the sideline, offering reminders to Knowles to just keep his head as he made his first start with the varsity team. 

Distefano, a senior who was hurt in last week’s win over St. Helens, is committed to George Fox University.

The Colts’ scheme gave Knowles (5 of 11, 33 yards, touchdown) time to find his feet with a opening drive — but that went three-and-out.

Thurston’s Dean Knowles throws a pass for a touchdown as part of a double pass trick play during a game between the Thurston Colts and the Sandy Pioneers in Springfield, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026. Credit: Nick Rohlman / Lookout Eugene-Springfield

Sandy drove inside the Thurston 10-yard line before quarterback Micaiah Turin found tight end Cameron Caruso for a one-handed touchdown catch on its first series. A 50-yard receiving score by Mason Fredrickson on the next drive doubled the Pioneers’ advantage and put Thurston in an early 14-0 hole.

Sandy wouldn’t score again.

The defensive stand began with Quintin Fisher, the running back and defensive back with freshman quarterback experience. Fisher tipped a second-down pass on the next Sandy drive, searched and snagged it out of the air and hustled 42 yards to the end zone to put Thurston on the board.

“We talked about adversity a ton (this week),” Fisher (17 carries, 97 yards) said. “We knew that this team was really good and they were going to come and they were going to punch us in the mouth at the start. We knew this was going to happen, but we knew just to keep our composure and take it play-by-play.”

Thurston’s Quintin Fisher (2) carries the ball ]during a game between the Thurston Colts and the Sandy Pioneers in Springfield, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026. Credit: Nick Rohlman / Lookout Eugene-Springfield

Back-to-back interceptions on the next two drives by Thurston’s Neil Price and Sandy’s Fredrickson sent the game to the half in a hurry as both offenses sputtered and the rain began in earnest. 

The turnaround began in the locker room at halftime, Starck said, when the coach challenged the linemen to “get it done.”

Out of the half, the Thurston defense backed Sandy’s offense inside its own 20-yard line, then swarmed the ensuing punt and blocked it out of the back of the Pioneers’ end zone for a safety. 

Knowles then drove the Colts into the red zone off the safety punt, but a third-down end zone shot to a wide-open Filipe was juggled and dropped by the tight end, and a fourth-down go-for-it call saw Knowles stuffed on a scramble.

Filipe was undeterred.

“I just trust the process,” Filipe said. “I know I’ll get it back. I know that’s a terrible drop.
It hurt a lot, but the game’s not over and I have multiple chances to get more.”

Three back-and-forth punts later, Thurston arrived back inside the red zone, still trailing 14-9. Adversity had nothing on Filipe — and his quarterback knew it.

“I’m still trusting (Filipe),” Knowles said. “In practice, he’s number one, he’s always doing the right thing.”

Fisher took a shotgun snap, then threw sideways to Knowles, who saw Filipe wide-open. The ball was juggled again, but this time Filipe secured it, tapped his foot and rolled into a vociferous celebration.

Thurston’s Leofatu Filipe tips the ball to himself as he makes a touchdown catch during a game between the Thurston Colts and the Sandy Pioneers in Springfield,, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026. Credit: Nick Rohlman / Lookout Eugene-Springfield

The party was yet to conclude. After Filipe dragged down Turin on second down to set up third-and-21, he beat the right tackle again to force a quick throw. Levi Woodman honed in on the hurried tossup over the middle and buried the Pioneers’ comeback chances with a 70-yard romping return for a touchdown.

“I’m just so happy right now,” Fisher said.
”The whole team is so happy. We worked for this all summer, spring, all winter, and it’s just coming in motion, and we’re just really happy.”

Distefano stood behind Starck in the huddle as the team gathered. Starck spoke to his team about adversity, about how they’d conquered it and how proud he was.

“It’s great, because everyone can put themselves in (Distefano’s) shoes, but they can’t feel it until that’s actually in their moment,” Filipe said. “So we just do it for him because we knew he couldn’t play this game, so we have to get more and more in the chance he can come back.”

Scoreboard

  • Lake Oswego 35, Willamette 13
  • Tualatin 46, Sheldon 38
  • Thurston 23, Sandy 14
  • Cascade Christian 49, Junction City 0
  • Culver 58, Lowell 12
  • Crow 45, Ione-Arlington 24