The Heavyweight Championship Bout Goes to the Irish!

Sheldon Coach Marty Johnson was a proud father first, after watching his son Jordan QB the championship drive. "This is very special, because of what Jordan went thru, to rehab to even get out on the field again.", referring to a basketball injury that had to be overcome before any thoughts of overcoming the likes of Lake Oswego, Grant, and Tualatin became a thought.

Jordan Johnson agreed, describing it as "Awesome for the family." Johnson, who was the ball boy for the '02 title team, had to overcome cramps that laid him out, as well as the loss to a possible concussion of his best back Zach Todd, but said "There was no doubt I was going back in!"

Todd had a little different version. Despite insisting he was ok, the trainers "Couldn't take the risk." So, when Johnson was flat on his back on the sideline, Todd went to Johnson and said "We can't both go out! I can't go back in, so you have to!" And Johnson did just that, and capped the drive to put the second blue trophy on the Sheldon shelf. Johnson finished with 10 completions on 14 attempts, for 2 touchdowns and 127 yards, and importantly, no interceptions. He was also the Irish's top rushing threat, adding 61 yards.

Coach Johnson appreciated that, noting "I didn't feel like we had it until Curtis (White) caught that last touchdown. Only then were we able to begin to feel like we had anything. A lot of people talked about how we would win by 4 or 5 scores, but Tualatin beat Westview. They deserved to be here too, and we knew they would be in it all the way."

(Updated with photos.)

This is the eighth straight year Coach Marty Johnson has the Irish in the playoffs, and its their third trip to the finals in that stretch. Sheldon claimed the 2002 title with a 31-24 win over Lake Oswego. The Irish have 10 other playoff appearances, dating back to 1977.

Coach Craig Hastin brings the Timberwolves to the playoffs for the eleventh time, and fourth year in a row. This is the first shot at a state championship for Tualatin, after 3 prior semi final shortfalls. Coach Hastin also led Tigard to the title game in 1990, where the Tigers shared the championship with Roseburg, after a 14-14 tie, in the days before overtime.

The officials are from the Portland Assn.

The Irish are the odds on favorite to outpace the Timberwolves. But so were South Medford, Westview, and West Salem. Sheldon wasn’t exactly a clear pick to reach the title contest either, with Lake Oswego and Grant on their side of the bracket. But veteran coaches like Craig Hastin of Tualatin, and Marty Johnson of Sheldon, don’t get to be veteran coaches without knowing how to get a team ready for big games, and then having the nerve and commitment to stay with their plan when the going gets tough.

The Timberwolves have again brought the biggest, loudest bunch of supporters of the playoffs to Reser, easily outnumbering Sheldon, and even edging West Albany for "Crowd of the Day" honors.

1st qtr.

Tualatin has won the toss, and they want the ball first. Sheldon will kick from the Valley Football Center end of the field, as darkness falls, and the breeze drops off for the evening. And the temperatures, in the 40's all afternoon, head for the freezing mark.

Andrew Patton pounds into the Sheldon coverage with the opening kickoff, and the Timberwolves come out throwing! But not accurately, and they punt, putting Sheldon in business almost at midfield. Woody Toms, a two way player for Tualatin, goes down and out with a wrist injury right away.

Sheldon is sliding everything outside, but that lets Tualatin's big guys get a rolling hit on people. It also opens up the middle, and Zach Todd strikes first for the Irish, as Sheldon goes up 7-0 4 minutes into the game.

This time its Phil Rauly that brings the kick out hard, and now its a lot of Dennis Ranck, as the Timberwolves return to ground pounding. And to punting.

Phil Rauly (32) brings the kickoff out for Tualatin.

Todd takes it to the TWolve 25, but the first flag of the game brings it back to the Irish 34. Tualatin didn't panic when they got in trouble early against West Salem, and won't now either, but they had better figure out how to get their running game going. Because Sheldon has, as Todd is tearing it up.

And Jordan Johnson takes advantage of it, off play action, for an easy seam route to an undefended Tyler Martell, and it's 14-0 Irish, 5:33 into the game.

Jordan Johnson throws for Sheldon…

…for a wide open Tyler Martel (11)…

Danny Johnson's out route catch is worth watching on the FSN replay. A post pattern to Matt Losli looks like Tualatin will answer, but he can't hang on. And it forces a Twolve 4th.down gamble at the Irish 40. Which works, as Levi Levasa hits Patton with a perfect sideline strike.

Forget any idea that Tualatin can't throw. But when Levasa sails one over Losli, Pete Jaeger makes him pay, picking off the pass, and putting Johnson and Todd back in business. Similar to against Grant, Sheldon is setting back, waiting for a mistake, and when one is made, they are ready.

The referee grants a time out, and announces it is charged to Sheridan.

The quarter ends with Sheldon in punt formation, but they don't get it off, and will lose a mild wind advantage.

2nd. qtr.

Tualatin patiently pounds away, winding away time in typical Timberwolf fashion. Good thing; zone passes don't work when no receiver is in the zone. If Tualatin could hit openings consistently, there are big holes to work with. Levasa finds one, with Danny Johnson singled up at the flag, and suddenly, its a 14-7 game, and the battle is on.

Sheldon shows they can play with patience too. Now, its Sheldon's two way tackle, Brandon Baker who gets rolled, and goes down. And the drives stalls, just short of midfield. The slugfest has settled into the middle rounds.

A sack and a very near sack stalls the drive. Someone is missing an assignment on the left side of the TWolve line, and Levasa is paying the price.

If you aren't watching, you better be recording, because the hits in this game are worth watching all by themselves.

Tualatin takes a defensive time out, but a good Sheldon punt puts the Timberwolves in a hole they don't climb far out of, reaching only midfield by the time its halftime.

The game has taken on the look of an old-style NFC game, where a sustained drive or two will probably put it away.

A little surprisingly, both teams are out passing their running games, and Tualatin has outgained Sheldon, but only by 17 yards. That's a product of the Sheldon "secure defense", which very surprisingly allowed a man on man situation, and a TD as a result.

If Sheldon breaks a big play, they will break it open. If they don't, Tualatin gets more and more dangerous, just as they did against West Salem.

3rd. qtr.

The wind has completely stopped, keeping the chill managable. Sheldon gets the ball first, and Tualatin will defend the Valley Football Center end.

Almost a seam up the middle, but the crowd gasp is for naught. Side note, tricky doesn't work in the 15th. week of the season. Why, exactly, Sheldon tried some escapes everyone.

It turns into a Timberwolf opportunity, but nothing comes of that either. No great halftime adjustments are apparent, though Tualatin has taken some lanes away from Sheldon, and the heavyweight slugout is approaching the "test of will" point.

Sheldon uses a direct snap to Todd with some regularity (and again to get the drive going), but Tualatin hasn't been confused by it.

Johnson is one of the most accurate passers on the run as a sophomore around.

Todd takes a big hit from Robert Kennedy, and stays down, for a lengthy delay. He's up eventually, and wobbling off, but with 4:58 left in the quarter, the Irish might be without him for quite a while.

Brandon Baker, a LB and sometimes tackle, fills in for Todd, and while not as fast, at 225 lbs., is just right for tonight's kind of ball.

After some Baker banging, a completion to Martel sets up a Baker burst up the middle, and with Todd still having trouble holding his head up on the bench, this was a HUGE response by the Irish, going up 21-7 with 1:28 left in the qtr.

Tualatin bangs their way to midfield, as the quarter ends.

4th. qtr.

Ranck moves the sticks again; he's a load when he clears the edge, and is approaching 100 yards on the game. Levasa is fearless, a handy thing, given the hits he has taken. Tualatin gambles at the Irish 40 on 4th. down, but a big sack sets up Sheldon at their 49. With 9:34 to go, that might have been the knockout. Tualatin at least needs the standing 8 count at the TV timeout.

Todd is up, and has his helmet on, but he coaching staff doesn't want him in, at least not yet.

And a Johnson fumble is the break Tualatin has been looking to create. With 8:48 to go, a TWolf score here is almost mandatory. The deep ball is well defended, but a Levasa sweep sets off a roar, and gets a first down.

The Sheldon defense is still getting deep, but, being the 4th. qtr., is tightening it up a lot. And John Campbell takes a deflection on the sideline, and brings the interception out to the middle of the field. With 6:37 left, the Irish are again close to landing that knockout punch.

But Alek Poti's sack staves off another threat, and Tualatin has 4:47 to score twice, starting at their 25.

Johnson is down on the Sheldon bench, with leg cramps. This has been one heck of a hard hitting game.

With the QB & RB down, Curtis White's sack to bring up 4th. & 12 is the best news the Irish could get. The fly route down the left side is overthrown, and Sheldon takes over with 3:18 left, at the TWolf 23.

Johnson shakes off the cramps, enough to hand off, and let his line lead his backup backs to the 1:59 mark, when Tualatin takes their first time out. The TWolves just won't lie down and give up.

But a surprise skinny post to Curtis White finishes it! Irish 28-7 with 1:54 to go.

Screen passes won't get 3 scores in 1:30. A deep out to Patton helps, but its too late. Only 9 seconds remain when Losli grabs a corner route to pull within 28-14.

Baker covers the kickoff, and Sheldon secures the win.

Postgame

Both Johnsons, and Todd seemed to have the script down, as all talked about the Irish defense, and the job Brandon Baker did, especially when Todd and Johnson were betting banged up

Jordan Johnson noted "We didn't lose much. Brandon loves football, and is not afraid to hit, or get hit." And in a slugfest of a game like this, he was the perfect fit. Baker added 37 rushing yards, against a tough as nails Tualitin defense that allowed only 140 rushing yards on the night.

Both Todd and Baker had scoring runs for the Irish.

Coach Johnson observed "We have kids that can play. The fast start really helped, but once Tualatin got it to 14-7, and they made some defensive adjustments to the pass, we knew we had to run it. Brandon was big in that."

Even while down on the sideline, J. Johnson said "I wasn't worried. I believe in our defense. We wouldn't have done it without defense." And his dad said "The game was won by our defense. The kids love to play defense." And for the second week in a row, a defense as exceptional in its concept as its execution proved the difference for the Irish, exciting even Alex Brink, who was as excited with this win as he was when he played at Sheldon.

Todd reflected on what Coach Johnson refers to as "What Sheldon football is all about", observing "A lot of people didn't expect us to go (this) far this season, but we knew if we played as a team, we would win."

Coach Johnson also saw this championship as possibly even better than the first one. "We were expected to win that one. This time, we were underdogs. It's hard to say just what it means, but the kids put a ton into the program. And it paid off."

Dennis Ranck led all rushers with 97 for the Timberwolves, who actually out-threw Sheldon, as Levasa completed 12 of 26 for 189 yards, but while he threw two touchdowns, he also tossed two interceptions.

Sheldon............. 14  0  7  7  - 28
Tualatin............   0   7  0  7  - 14

Scoring Summary:

1st. Qtr.

    07:59 SHEL - Todd, Z 4 yd run (Campbell, J kick)

                                                7 plays, 54 yards, TOP 2:59, SHEL 7 - TUAL 0

    05:33 SHEL - Martell, T 31 yd pass from Johnson, J (Campbell, J kick)

                                               2 plays, 66 yards, TOP 0:17, SHEL 14 - TUAL 0

2nd. Qtr.

    08:36 TUAL - Johnson, D 29 yd pass from Levasa, L (Neary, W kick)

                                               9 plays, 65 yards, TOP 3:16, SHEL 14 - TUAL 7

3rd. Qtr.

     01:28 SHEL - Baker, B 9 yd run (Campbell, J kick)

                                              14 plays, 73 yards, TOP 6:18, SHEL 21 - TUAL 7

4th. Qtr.

    01:54 SHEL - White, C 15 yd pass from Johnson, J (Campbell, J kick)

                                               4 plays, 23 yards, TOP 1:24, SHEL 28 - TUAL 7

    00:09 TUAL - Losli, M 13 yd pass from Levasa, L (Neary, W kick)

                                              5 plays, 72 yards, TOP 1:43, SHEL 28 - TUAL 14

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