Long-awaited Sheldon-West Linn rematch officially on after Irish fight off Tualatin in 6A semifinal: ‘It’s going to be a crazy game next week’

By René Ferrán | Photos by Dan Brood   

KEIZER — Josh Line’s voice caught as his emotions choked the words he wanted to say as he stood before his Sheldon players during the postgame huddle.

Behind his huddled teammates, senior defensive end Josh Merriman dropped to one knee, tears flowing down his cheeks, not wanting them to stop.

“This is one of the best things that’s ever happened to me,” Merriman said following the Irish’s 28-14 victory over Tualatin in the OSAA Class 6A semifinals Friday night at Flesher Field on the McNary High campus. “It’s a great moment.”

Merriman made a season-high 3½ tackles for loss as part of a defensive effort that shut out the Timberwolves in the second half, propelling Sheldon (12-0) to its first state final since 2018.

“We knew they were going to come out here and make some plays on us,” Merriman said. “But we just had to go play by play and do what we could. It just showed how we work as a team and just get things done.”

The Irish now get the highly anticipated rematch with West Linn, which ousted two-time defending champion Central Catholic 49-17 in the other semifinal, in next Friday’s championship game at 3 p.m. at Hillsboro Stadium.

Sheldon traveled north in Week 2 and pulled out a 35-31 victory in one of the best games of the season. The two have eyed a second bite at each other since.

“I feel like a lot of people think that we are the underdogs,” said senior Luke Leighton, who had a stellar two-way performance with five catches for 114 yards and two touchdowns to go with 10 tackles.

“But personally, I don’t think we are. I think we can completely get after them again. I see a bunch of stuff on social media, but I kind of like it, honestly, just seeing if we’re the underdogs, or if we’re meant to win.”

The Timberwolves (9-3) hoped they would be the ones getting a second shot at West Linn after the Lions defeated them in Three Rivers League play in Week 6. Instead, they fell one game short of returning to the final, where they lost to Central Catholic last December.

Senior quarterback Jack Wagner, who threw for 218 yards and a touchdown in his final game before heading to the University of Idaho next year, walked off the field with a mix of emotions.

“Obviously, I’m disappointed that we didn’t get to the next level,” he said. “But I’m happy with the season we had. I think that’s how a lot of us really feel.”

The Timberwolves spent the week battling a nasty bug that kept much of the offensive line from practicing until Wednesday and left senior two-way standout AJ Noland home sick.

“At times, we looked like a team that practiced for only a day and a half,” coach Dominic Ferraro said. “But you can’t control that. I was proud of the way we played. We fought, we clawed, and we were right there.”

Noland is also a top receiver for the Timberwolves, but Ferraro said his absence was felt more in the secondary.

“He’s the leader of the back end of our defense,” Ferraro said. “We got burned on a couple trick plays and a couple of misdirections, some of those little wrinkles that they threw at us. And AJ makes sure guys are all in the right coverage and everything like that.

“So, yeah, I’m just disappointed for our guys, that we don’t get to play one more week. It’s just tough, but I’m so proud because we had a great season.”

Tualatin possessed the ball for more than 30 minutes and held Sheldon’s run game to 14 yards through 2½ quarters, but the Irish kept finding ways to stop the Timberwolves from gaining control of the game.

Sheldon stopped Tualatin twice in the red zone in the first half. After the Timberwolves finally tied the score at 14-14 with 2:19 left in the second quarter on a 30-yard pass from Wagner to Naasei Lynn, the Irish quickly answered with a six-play, 65-yard drive to take a 21-14 lead to the locker room on Brock Thomas’ 8-yard touchdown pass to Leighton.

“We knew we had enough time to go down and score,” said Thomas, who threw two touchdown passes and ran for a third score. “That was just a well-executed drive, and that was big going into halftime. It gave us a little momentum.”

Leighton set up the touchdown with a 41-yard catch — a play that Line considered critical.

“He could have easily been tackled, but he knocked off another 15-20 yards and got us close to the end zone,” Line said. “I thought that effort there was not for him. It was for the team, because he knew we needed that, and the emotion that brought to the sideline going into halftime was huge.”

Tualatin threatened again in the third quarter, but a holding penalty and a sack by Cade Welch squelched the drive. The Irish then went on a nine-play, 69-yard drive capped by Thomas’ 3-yard touchdown run to give them a two-score cushion.

“I knew if we could get a stop there, we’d be able to wrap things up,” Thomas said. “I was very confident in our defense.”

And the defense proved that confidence well-placed by twice stopping the Timberwolves on downs in Irish territory in the fourth quarter — the second time after Teitum Tuioti and Will Haverland combined on the Irish’s fifth sack of Wagner.

“They made plays that we just didn’t,” Wagner said. “Their D-line is probably one of the best in the state. I mean, it’s hard to do both — have good coverage and have a good line — and kind of account for that. Overall, I thought we had a pretty solid game, but their D is pretty unstoppable.”

It wasn’t entirely unstoppable — but good enough to hold Tualatin to a season-low point total.

“We knew they were really explosive, and at the start, they were moving the ball on us pretty easily,” Leighton said. “But we made some adjustments at halftime, and I think that helped us out a lot.”

Leighton also caught the go-ahead touchdown in the Irish’s Week 2 game against West Linn, and when he heard that the Lions had held up their end of the bargain to set up what promises to be an epic rematch, he smiled.

“So, we get a second shot at them,” he said. “It’s going to be a crazy game next week.”

He and Thomas were up in the Hillsboro Stadium stands four years ago as eighth graders when the Irish made their last trip to the final, losing 34-27 to Lake Oswego.

“Awww, that was a tough one,” Thomas said. “You know, we’ve got to get a little revenge. Go out there, execute this week, and we can get one.”

Thomas then turned to what it would take to bring home Sheldon’s first championship since 2012.

“We knew West Linn was a great team in Week 2 and we’d see them again, most likely,” he said. “And that’s what we’re getting. So, this week, we have to prepare the way we always do and execute.”

—

Sheldon 28, Tualatin 14

Tualatin – 6 – 8 – 0 – 0 — 14

Sheldon – 14 – 7 – 7 – 0 — 28

First quarter

S — Teitum Tuioti 30 pass from Brock Thomas (Rocco Graziano kick), 10:02

T — Luke Ash 13 run (kick blocked), 5:29

S — Luke Leighton 47 pass from Cade Welch (Graziano kick), 5:06

Second quarter

T — Naasei Lynn 30 pass from Jack Wagner (Kenen Elder pass from Wagner), 2:19

S — Leighton 8 pass from Thomas (Graziano kick), 0:29

Third quarter

S — Thomas 3 run (Graziano kick), 1:23

STATISTICS

RUSHING—Tualatin: Ash 22-97, Wagner 12-44. Total 36-139. Sheldon: Grafton Robinson 7-37, Thomas 14-35. Total 21-72.

PASSING—Tualatin: Wagner 20-30-1-218. Sheldon: Thomas 13-21-0-173, Welch 2-2-0-69.

RECEIVING—Tualatin: Jayden Fortier 7-85, Richie Anderson 5-39, Elder 3-26, Lynn 2-49. Sheldon: Leighton 5-114, Zach McEwen 3-17, Welch 2-43, Tuioti 2-43.

DEFENSE—Tualatin: Fortier 6 tackles, forced fumble; Anderson 5 tackles, 2 sacks; Dylan Munley 4 tackles, fumble recovery, pass breakup. Sheldon: Tuioti 11 tackles, 2½ for loss, 1½ sacks; Leighton 10 tackles, 2 pass breakups; Mana Tuioti 10 tackles; Josh Merriman 7 tackles, 3½ for loss, sack; Will Haverland 5 tackles, 2½ for loss, 1½ sacks.

FIRST DOWNS—Tualatin 17, Sheldon 15. FUMBLES-LOST—Tualatin 1-0, Sheldon 2-1. PENALTIES-YARDS—Tualatin 6-43, Sheldon 2-11.