It was a special night at WLHS as the homecoming king and queen were announced and the Lions (2-5, 0-3 Three Rivers League) took on their bitter rival the Oregon City Pioneers. For nine years the Lions had dominated OC and they were searching for a tenth straight victory. It was not to be though as the Pioneers took an early lead and never let go.
Oregon City struck first with a 68 yard touchdown pass from Jon Hall, junior quarterback, to Nick Martin, junior wide receiver. West Linn wasn’t phased and struck right back with a 32 yard pass to Jarrod Howard, senior, from Hayden Coppedge, junior quarterback. The Pioneers retaliated with a 32 yard touchdown of their own to Justin Cornejo, senior wide receiver, and Hall added a second touchdown pass for the game. West Linn failed to score on their next drive, but pushed OC back into the shadow of their goal post and forced a safety on the punt. At the end of the first quarter the score was 14-9.
Cornejo and Hall connected again for a touchdown, this time from 37 yards. Oregon City stopped West Linn and took the ball back and scored on a 17 yard dash from Mitchell Thompson, senior running back. In response, the Lions put up another touchdown from Louis Germain, junior running back, from a yard out. They went for two but failed and the score was 28-15 going into halftime.
The third quarter was just the opposite of the first two quarters. The only score resulted from 12 yard pass to Dalton Tuor, senior, from Coppedge. The score was 28-22 at the conclusion of the fourth quarter.
Oregon City scored on a 21 yard run from Thompson to put them up 35-22. West Linn fought back and scored on a one yard pass to Colin Davis, senior. It wasn’t enough and Oregon City had the ball in the dying seconds and emerged victorious.
Coppedge lead the game with 358 yards and three touchdowns on 22-42 passing. Howard had 12 receptions for 183 yards and one touchdown. Hall threw for 262 yards and three touchdowns, and Thompson rushed for 141 yards and two touchdowns.