BEAVERTON — Lakeridge quarterback Drew Weiler didn’t want to take any chances with the football near the goal line and less than a minute to play Friday night.
So, he kept the ball to himself.
Weiler scored on a 4-yard run with 29 seconds remaining, capping a seven-play, 53-yard drive that lifted the Pacers to a 27-20 non-conference football victory over the Mountainside Mavericks at Mountainside High School.
Lakeridge running back Ansu Sanoe added touchdown runs of 3 and 8 yard and Weiler connected with Turner Tropio on a 26-yard scoring strike as the Pacers (3-0) hand answers for everything the Mavericks (1-2) threw at them.
“This is the first real test we’ve had,” Weiler said. “To come out and … it wasn’t necessarily the outcome that we wanted, but a win is a win and we can’t be complaining.”
Lakeridge never trailed in the game and looked ready to put the game out of reach when Sanoe scored his second touchdown on an 8-yard run to give the Pacers a 20-6 lead with 5:16 to play in the third quarter.
Mountainside responded with two impressive scoring drives to tie the game.
First, the Mavericks went on a 12-play, 80-yard drive that ended with Sam Vyhlidal scoring on a 2-yard run that made it 20-13 with 11:15 left in the fourth quarter.
The next drive covered 63 yards in nine plays, capped by an incredibly fortunate bounce for a touchdown.
Facing fourth-and-4 at the Lakeridge 13-yard line, Mountainside quarterback Cade Mitchell threw a pass intended for Vyhlidal, The Mavericks' 6-foot-4, 215-pound tight end. Lakeridge defensive back David Moore broke up the pass, but deflected the ball into the hands of Mountainside tailback Jordan Hicks — Mr. Right Place at the Right Time — who walked into the end zone untouched
Mountainside kicker Max Ryusaki added the extra point to tie the score at 20-20 with 3:48 left.
On the ensuing kickoff, Shanko Kornachuk’s 36-yard return coupled with a Mountainside penalty for an illegal cut block set up Lakeridge at its own 47 with 3:40 to play.
“That gave us good field position,” Lakeridge coach Spencer Phillips said. “At that point, we still had two timeouts and I just told the kids, ‘We have all the time in the world. The goal is to win this game with under 30 seconds left.
“Just clock management on our part. Our kids understand that. We practice these situations — it’s called ‘four-minute offense — and our kids did a great job of protecting the ball and keeping the ball in bounds for us to get down here and let the time come off the clock.”
Weiler connected with Marcus Post on a short pass that gave the Pacers a first-and-goal at the Mountainside 4 when the Mavericks called a timeout with 35 seconds left.
As the teams returned to the field, most eyes were on Sanoe, the 6-2, 225-pound junior who at that point had carried 16 times for 88 yards and two touchdowns.
Time to give the ball to him again, right?
“You know, we called our play and Spencer told me on the sideline, ‘If you need to call your number, call it,’” Weiler said. “I knew the defense was going to crash, especially with that down and distance and at that moment in the game. Everyone was keying on Ansu. I knew I had an opportunity to pull it.”
Sanoe said it didn’t matter who ended up in the end zone with the football as long as it was someone with a white jersey and powder-blue pants.
“We have a great offense, period,” Sanoe said. “When it’s time to make the plays in the air, we make the plays in the air. And when it’s time to get physical, we get physical. We kind of showed a little bit of that tonight and getting physical really won us the game.”
Mountainside got the ball back for the last time at its own 36 with 25 seconds left. The Mavericks pushed the ball as far as the Lakeridge 38, but the drive stalled there with Mitchell missing on three deep passes to end the game.
“I’m really proud of our effort,” Mountainside coach Keanon Lowe said. “We were down two scores and battled back against a really tough football team.”
The Mavericks stuck to their game plan for the most part, although the loss of junior middle linebacker Liam Ange — “the heart of soul of our defense,” Lowe said — to injury early in the game forced them to adjust on the fly.
Despite the loss, Lowe said Friday’s performance was “definitely a step in the right direction” heading into next week’s final non-conference game against Mountain View of Vancouver, Wash.
“It’s football, so one week doesn’t define you as a football team,” Lowe said. “I think the awesome part about this is we have one more preseason game next week and then the real season starts — the Metro League season.
“Our goal is to try and win the Metro League. Obviously, we would have loved to win every preseason game, but we had a tough schedule — one of the toughest in the state.
"This loss hurts now, but in the grand scheme of things, the season just started and we’re using these four games to prepare us for a tough Metro League. And if we take care of business in the Metro League, we’re going to get another shot at this and I really, really hope that our coaches and our kids get to play this Lakeridge team again, because I think it will be a different outcome.”
Mountainside ran 66 plays and finished with 327 yards offense. Hicks had a game-high 123 yards rushing on 27 carries, while Mitchell completed 13 of 20 passes for 108 yards with a 28-yard touchdown pass to Kellen Hicks and one interception.
Lakeridge ran 45 plays and had 290 yards offense — 148 on the ground and 142 through the air.
“Mountainside didn’t stop our run all night,” Phillips said. “They eventually had to commit seven (defenders) to the run and that’s when we were able to open up and get some big chunk plays in the passing game. But we ran the ball so well, that I really didn’t have to call anything, so props to our line and our halfbacks.
“Efficiency-wise, we scored on four of (seven) possessions, so I was proud of that. Defensively, a miraculous play on fourth down to defend a pass, it bounces off our guys’ chest and they walk in for a touchdown. I hate to be the coach who says, ‘It shouldn’t have been that close,’ but you know that’s how the ball bounces sometimes.
“For us to have that happen, the momentum totally swings, and then our kids respond and come back and score like that, that was really cool to see. I told them, ‘This is what makes me think we have a chance to be a championship football team.’ “
Next up, the Pacers visit Wilsonville to take on the defending 5A champion Wildcats.
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