It’s certainly nice when things go as planned.
For the Lake Oswego High School football team, maybe things didn’t quite go exactly to plan, but it was close enough to get the Lakers an impressive victory.
Lake Oswego, taking advantage of last week’s bye, put together what looked to be a near-perfect plan and came away with a dazzling 49-24 win over Tualatin in a Three Rivers League-opening contest Friday, Oct. 3, at Tualatin High School.
“This is just the start to league, and it was a big start. We started against a good team. We knew it, coming into the week. They were preparing for us, we were preparing for them. We had a bye week, so we had a little advantage,” said Lake Oswego senior tight end/linebacker Sam Vyhlidal, who had both a touchdown catch and a touchdown run in the victory. “Yes, sir, we had it all planned out. It wasn’t exactly to plan. We had a few mistakes. We have to work on some stuff, especially on defense.”
“We game plan every week, and getting that bye really helped, getting those two weeks to really prepare, get our minds right and get that team chemistry down even more,” said Lake Oswego senior running back LaMarcus Bell, who ran for 247 yards and four touchdowns. “Most definitely, that really helped.”
“We had that bye week last week, and that was huge for us going into league,” Laker senior quarterback Hudson Kurland said. “We got to watch a lot of tape on these guys, and pick up everything they’re doing on offense and defense and that really contributed to this win.”
With the victory, Lake Oswego improved to 5-0 on the season, and, maybe more importantly, the Lakers got off to a 1-0 start to Three Rivers League play.
“It means a lot,” Kurland said. “It’s the best league in the state, and maybe in the whole Pacific Northwest. It’s so competitive, so getting this first win out the way is really huge to us. Now we just have to keep on moving forward.”
“This is a huge start to league,” Vyhlidal said. “It was an awesome jump, and now we just have to keep pushing forward.”
The youthful Tualatin squad moved to 4-1 on the season with the league-opening setback.
“It wasn’t what we wanted, but we’ll bounce back. We’ll see them in the playoffs,” said Tualatin junior quarterback Carter Powers, who passed for 147 yards and a pair of touchdowns. “Since we’re all young, this shows us what we need to do, what we need to work on. How they played is how we’re going to play next.”
“It went well, but I think we came out a little flat after halftime,” Tualatin senior tight end/defensive lineman Cole Newton said. “I think we need to build off this, come back next week and have better practices and be ready against (Oregon City). We know we can beat this team. We have a great group of fellas here. We’re going to be great, we’re going to bounce back, I know our team.”
It didn’t take long for Lake Oswego’s planning to pay off in Friday’s TRL opener. The Lakers, in the first possession of the contest, opened with long runs by Bell and senior Justin Craigwell. Then, on the third play from scrimmage, Kurland and Vyhlidal hooked up on a 25-yard touchdown pass play, giving Lake Oswego a 7-0 lead just 48 seconds into the contest.
“We really had a game plan,” Vyhlidal said. “Coach (Steve Coury) told me, third play, we were going to put that in, the post (pattern), and we capitalized on that. I was ready for it, Hudson was ready for it, and we connected.”
Tualatin, seemingly unfazed by the Lakers’ lightning-fast start, answered back with a long drive that was capped off with a 30-yard field goal by senior Trent Dearborn, which made the score 7-3 with 4:44 left in the first quarter.
But the Timberwolves would find themselves playing catch-up throughout the contest. In the Lakers’ ensuing possession, Kurland threw a 53-yard pass to senior receiver Jalen Bauman, setting up a 1-yard TD run by Bell, pushing the lead to 14-3.
Tualatin again responded, this time with a 29-yard scoring pass from Powers to senior receiver Reece Underwood, who made a sliding catch in the end zone, trimming the lead to 14-10 with 8:52 left in the second quarter.
Lake Oswego struck again with another big play. This time, it was Bell breaking free on a run up the middle for a 50-yard touchdown.
The Timberwolves responded again, this time with a big play of their own. Powers, faking a quarterback draw, pulled up and threw the ball out to his left to sophomore running back Iden Rule, who raced down the sideline for a 52-yard touchdown pass play, which cut the LO lead to 21-17 with 4:07 left before halftime.
“We put that in this week,” Powers said. “I really like that play.”
However, Bell would score his third touchdown of the first half, coming on a 6-yard run with 45.6 seconds left in the second quarter, to give the Lakers a 28-17 advantage at the intermission.
Tualatin and Rule came out strong to start the second half. A 32-yard pass from Powers to Rule helped set up Rule’s 32-yard touchdown run up the middle, which trimmed the margin to 28-24 with 10:25 remaining in the third quarter.
But the Timberwolves wouldn’t get any closer. Lake Oswego finished the game with three unanswered touchdowns, coming on a 12-yard run by Bell, a 1-yard blast by Vyhlidal and a 31-yard scoring scamper by Craigwell, to pull away for the 49-24 victory.
“It feels amazing,” Bell said with a smile. “We went into this game knowing what we could do. We wanted to dominate and get the ‘dub,’ and win as a team — win as a brotherhood. We got that done tonight, and it was very exciting.”
“This was so much fun,” Kurland said. “I love these guys so much. These aren’t just teammates, they’re brothers, and it’s so much fun going to battle with them.”
The Lake Oswego offensive attack, operating behind the offensive line of senior Tripton Ciupryk, senior Adam Williams, senior Solomon Kroeker, junior Oliver Proctor and junior Dylan Marquez, among others, was impressive all night, gaining 516 yards on 43 plays from scrimmage.
“We work on our offense every day,” said Bell, who gained his 247 rushing yards on 17 carries. “We’ve got so many playmakers, so many great players on the field, we want to be unstoppable. We’re just going to keep on doing what we need to do, keep on pushing.”
Craigwell added 62 rushing yards on seven carries.
Meanwhile, Kurland had an efficient night throwing the ball, completing eight of 12 passes for 198 yards.
“The passing game was great today,” Kurland said. “It’s great having Sam Vyhlidal back from that injury. That’s a huge guy to have in the receiving corps. Get him the ball and great things are going to happen.”
Vyhlidal had five catches for 80 yards in the contest, his first-ever Three Rivers League game.
“This competition in the Three Rivers League is a lot different, and it’s great, talent-wise,” Vyhlidal said. “I’m just getting better by the day.”
Sophomore Presley DeLance added a 56-yard reception for the Lakers.
For the Lake Oswego defense, senior Keylan Chand had an interception. Junior Josh Christensen had a sack and a tackle for a loss. Seniors Liam Tobin and William Herion each had a tackle for a loss.
“Most definitely, we had a lot of fun tonight,” Bell said.
Meanwhile, Tualatin is looking to benefit from playing the caliber of Lake Oswego.
“For sure, this will help us. They’re a great team. Hats off to them. They’re all studs. We just have to bounce back and build off this. It’s a loss in our book, but we’re going learn from this, for sure,” Newton said. “We definitely have to work on our tackling. Our offense showed up and we saw some great things. We saw some great things and we saw some bad things. We’re just going to work, come out next week and battle. I know our team, and I know we’re going to bounce back from this.”
“In practice, the defense is going to lock in, the offense is going to lock in, and we’re going to get better,” Powers said.
Powers, who has been splitting quarterback duties with senior Owen Hagerman throughout the early season, completed eight of 18 passes for 147 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
“I’d say I did pretty good,” said Powers, who also ran for 37 yards. “I think I could have done a little better in the second half, but it was pretty good.”
Hagerman completed seven of 13 passes for 60 yards.
Rule had a big game for the Wolves, rushing for a team-high 96 yards on 23 carries while also having two catches for 84 yards.
Dearborn had four catches for 26 yards and senior Trenton Hertzog had three receptions for 25 yards.
For the Tualatin defense, Dearborn had an interception while senior Cody Hartley, junior Luke Patzke and senior Ethan Coddington each had a tackle for a loss.
The Timberwolves also left the TRL opener with a bit of added inspiration — looking to get the chance to face the Lakers again.
“Hopefully, we’ll see them in the playoffs. That’s a great team,” Newton said. “That’s 100-percent motivation. We want to play the best of the best.”
“I think we’re going to do great,” Powers said. “I think we can go pretty far in the playoffs. We just have to lock in.”
Both teams will be back in Three Rivers League action Oct. 10. Lake Oswego will be home to face Tigard while Tualatin will travel to play Oregon City at Pioneer Memorial Stadium in games set to start at 7 p.m.
“This is the best league in the state, and everyone knows that,” Newton said. “Every team is a battle.”
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