Oregon City Pioneers announce ‘we’re coming’ with signature win over Tigard: 5 takeaways

TIGARD — If there were any lingering doubts about whether upstart Oregon City was a legitimate threat in the wild and rugged Three Rivers League, question no more. 

The unranked Pioneers sent a huge statement to the rest of the state with a stunning 28-24 come-from-behind victory over No. 8 Tigard to open league play Friday night at Tigard High School. 

A couple of juniors spearheaded Oregon City’s thrilling comeback, with quarterback Ben Schneider passing for three touchdowns and running back Mitchell Johnson scoring one, as all 28 of the Pioneers’ points came after halftime.

“We’re all believing now,” senior linebacker Blake Lucas said. “This season, we’re coming back strong. We’re 5-0 and we’re ready to play.” 

Oregon City has matched last season’s win total with four regular-season games to play and finds itself among the upper echelon in the TRL with West Linn and Tualatin — each 5-0 overall and 1-0 in league play. 

“It’s taken us in another step in the right direction to become an elite program,” Schneider said. “This is huge for us, and I hope it sends a shock to the league that we’re coming. It’s our time.” 

Photos by Dan Brood

Here are five takeaways from Friday’s matchup:

Resilient Pioneers not lying down

It would have been easy for Oregon City to fold like the ghosts of years past, facing a 17-0 hole at halftime. 

The offense struggled to move the ball, totaling just 59 yards in the first half. The defense wasn’t holding up its end, either.

But a longer than usual halftime because of homecoming festivities at Tigard helped the Pioneers regroup, according to Schneider.

“It gave us a little bit more time to plan and attack where they were weak at,” Schneider said. “And hey, we let it fly.”

Schneider’s 22-yard dime to junior Easton Hunt for the go-ahead touchdown in the corner of the end zone with 9:12 left in the fourth quarter helped the Pioneers climb all the way back. It capped a frenzied back-and-forth three minutes of play during which Oregon City scored three times.

Schneider’s first touchdown came on a 51-yard strike to senior Clay Martineau that cut Tigard’s lead to 17-14 with 39.8 seconds to go in the third. 

The Tigers answered immediately behind senior Christian Warner’s 85-yard kickoff return for a score just before the quarter break.

Oregon City marched right back down, scoring again on Schneider’s 48-yard pass to junior Keaton Moore with 10:30 left in the fourth. The Pioneers also got help from senior Benjamin Rose’s block of Tigard’s ensuing punt to set up the winning touchdown.

“We didn’t play good football in the first half,” first-year Oregon City coach Aaron Skinner said. “It was beating ourselves primarily, so I’m just extremely proud of the way they responded. We have 18 seniors, and when you have that type of maturity and experience, you can have results like that. They weren’t going to fold, they believed, and the guys next to them believed.”

Schneider completed 10 of 17 pass attempts for 182 yards and three scores. Johnson led the Pioneers’ run game with 25 carries for 121 yards and a score, and Martineau finished with three catches for 63 yards. 

A monumental win for Oregon City

Since the transition to the TRL from the Mt. Hood Conference in 2018, the Pioneers hadn't beaten Tigard — until now. 

They lost all five previous meetings, by an average margin of 22.4 points. 

Oregon City has found its share of adversity over the past five years, adjusting and cycling through three head coaches, while trying to stay competitive against the league’s elite programs.

“(The win) means a lot,” Lucas said. “Over the past few years, it’s been tough, and we’ve had three coaches. It’s been a lot of transition, but this senior class of 2024, we’ve been through a lot, and we’re there for each other. We’re having so much fun; we’re loving it.”

Since 2018, Oregon City has compiled a 14-33 record, but the Pioneers appear to have revitalized and re-energized a program that hasn’t had a winning season in the past six years.

“Just incredibly proud of this group,” Skinner said. “They’ve invested so much over the summer, coming in with a new head coach and a new system on offense and defense. To commit to what we’re doing and buy in, they’re starting to believe. That’s what we’ve been talking about — believing that we should be here and compete at this level.”

A Pioneers defense worth watching

One of the season’s biggest surprises entering Friday had been the play of Oregon City’s defense, which had allowed one touchdown through four games and an average of three points per contest.

But when the Pioneers gave up 17 points in the first half to Tigard, did it prove the first month was an aberration? Not quite.

Oregon City’s defense buckled down to pitch a shutout in the second half.

“The halftime locker room was intense in there,” Lucas said. “We got together and told each other we believe in you. We’re brothers. Our mentality was we just keep driving. We don’t give up, and through adversity, we have each other’s backs.”

With nine seniors in the unit, Skinner described his defense as “very experienced,” with talent at all three levels, from the line to linebacker to the secondary.

“They trust each other, they trust the scheme,” he said. “They play with energy and everything you’d want out of a defense. Having playmakers at all three levels sets us up to do some nice things.

“We gave up an early score, which we hadn’t done. But the way they didn’t drop their heads and say, ‘Oh, this again from previous years,’ it shows their maturity to respond and say we’re fine.”

Oregon City prepared for more

Where does Oregon City sit now among the titans of the TRL? Time will tell as the schedule doesn’t lighten up and only gets harder with Lake Oswego, Lakeridge, Tualatin and West Linn — all ranked in the top 10 — waiting. 

The Pioneers are 2-19 in TRL play since 2018, but with a soaring confidence and belief they can win, Skinner said his players are ready to keep proving themselves.

“We have a stacked league, like everybody knows,” Skinner said. “There’s a lot of talent, a lot of depth and a lot of great coaching. I think our kids are starting to believe that we belong in this league and we can win football games in this league. Our league is very tough. We’ve got to bring it every single week that we play because we’re not going to get another game off.”

What’s next for Tigard?

Tigard coach Ken Feist said he was “obviously very disappointed” after seeing his team give up a 17-point lead at home.

Unforced errors, including six penalties for 75 yards in the second half alone, proved too much to overcome.

“Going into halftime and having a shutout game, we needed to manage the game from there and play possession with no more big plays,” Feist said. “Keep the ball in front of us, no stupid penalties — and all those things happened. They did a good job busting some big plays, and it was the difference.” 

Jake Feist led the Tigers with 11-of-19 passing for 88 yards, and he added eight carries for 50 yards and a touchdown.

Senior Nicco Simonetti scored Tigard’s first touchdown after recovering Feist’s fumble in the end zone in the first quarter. Senior Sam Graf kicked a 30-yard field goal.

The Tigers look ahead with Lakeridge up next, followed by West Linn, Lake Oswego and Tualatin to end the regular season. 

“I talk to the kids every week, (saying) we’ve got to play a clean game,” Ken Feist said. “There’s no silly mistakes. We accept when people are just bigger, stronger, faster, but we can’t accept when we shoot ourselves in the foot. Our penalties, those are difference-makers in drives and games and momentum and dynamics.”

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Oregon City 28, Tigard 24

Oregon City - 0 - 0 - 14 - 14 — 28

Tigard - 7 - 10 - 7 - 0 — 24 

First quarter

5:48 T - Nicco Simonetti fumble recovery in end zone (Sam Graf PAT)

Second quarter

5:09 T - Graf 30 field goal

:57.1 T - Jake Fiest 8 run (Graf PAT)

Third quarter

7:30 OC - Mitchell Jonson 7 run (Corbin Boyd PAT)

:39.8 OC - Clay Martineau 51 pass from Ben Schneider Jr. (Boyd PAT)

:28.0 T - Christian Warner 85 kickoff return (Graf PAT)

Fourth quarter

10:30 OC - Keaton Moore 48 pass from Schneider (Boyd PAT)

9:12 OC - Easton Hunt 22 pass from Schneider (Boyd PAT)

STATISTICS

Passing: Oregon City - Ben Schneider Jr. 10-17, 182, 3 TDs, 2 INTs; Tigard - Jake Feist 11-19, 88

Rushing: Oregon City - Mitchell Johnson 25-121, TD, Thomas Borden 1-5; Tigard - Feist 8-50, TD, Nicco Simonetti 1-0, TD, Christian Warner 17-37, Trevin Laird 3-11, Zach Klein 3-16

Receiving: Oregon City - Clay Martineau 3-63, TD, Keaton Moore 1-48, TD, Easton Hunt 1-22, TD, Borden 1-32, Braden Welch 1-3, Johnson 2-2; Tigard - Laird 3-23, Brian Smith 2-19, Roman Martin 2-18, Klein 2-17, Warner 1-11, Anthony Faler 1-0

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