COTTAGE GROVE – Since winning the last of its six state championships in 2010, St. Paul football had been haunted by a series of near misses, finishing as 1A-8 runner-up four times.
And when the Buckaroos moved up to 2A this season, they knew the degree of difficulty was only going to increase.
Saturday afternoon, though, fifth-seeded St. Paul finally completed its return to the top, overcoming No. 2 Oakland 28-20 in a battle of unbeaten teams in the OSAA/OnPoint Community Credit Union 2A final at Cottage Grove High School.
“What's crazy is we couldn't do it at the 1A level, but we can do it in 2A,” said St. Paul coach Tony Smith, who guided the Buckaroos to their last titles in 2009 and 2010. “We've got to move up to win a championship.”
It made it even sweeter for the Buckaroos.
“It means so much, especially at the 2A level, coming up and being the first team in St. Paul history to win it,” senior running back Diego Medina said. “It's just mind-blowing. It's a dream come true for all of us.”
It was certainly no fluke as St. Paul (13-0) not only went undefeated, but knocked off No. 1 Heppner in the semifinals and No. 2 Oakland (12-1) in the final, handing both teams their first losses.
“That is a legit team,” Buckaroos junior defensive end Sullivan Grott said of Oakland. “Heppner was very solid, too. I'm very glad we played Heppner before, to see a team like that. Heppner was just like them.”
The game was tied 20-20 early in the fourth quarter when St. Paul got its big break. Oakers senior Silas Arscott caught a short pass, but the ball came loose on the tackle, and Grott was there to recover the fumble at the Oakland 28-yard line.
“It was an insane feeling,” Grott said of the play. “I think our whole team, once we got back on offense, we just had that feel, that fire. We were ready to go.”
Medina ran for 21 yards to the Oakland 7, and three plays later, senior Clay Smith scored on a two-yard run. Senior Grady Wolf passed to junior Hudson Wyss for the two-point conversion, making it 28-20 with 6:07 remaining.
Oakland had a first down on the St. Paul 35 on its final possession, but the Buckaroos tightened on defense. On fourth-and-10, Oakers sophomore quarterback Ryan Fullerton passed downfield toward senior Kellan Sabo, but St. Paul junior Branson Cook broke it up, giving the Buckaroos the ball with 3:26 on the clock.
From there, St. Paul gained two first downs and ran out the clock.
The Buckaroos outgained Oakland 316-264. They gained 251 yards in the ground, primarily utilizing Wolf (nine carries, 103 yards, one touchdown), Clay Smith (21 carries, 77 yards, one touchdown) and Medina (11 carries, 67 yards, one touchdown).
“I thought we played great, better than the last couple games,” Medina said. “We balled out. Oakland was a great team defensively. Offensively, running the ball, we were just the better team today.”
Tony Smith credited Wolf for directing the team's running attack. Wolf had a 31-yard touchdown run in the first quarter – getting the Oakers to bite on a fake handoff and running free around the end – as St. Paul took a 14-0 lead.
“Gosh, Grady Wolf, how well did he play running the ball?” Tony Smith said of Wolf, who also completed 6 of 8 passes for 65 yards and one touchdown. “He made outstanding decisions today. …. Once they adjusted to the outside, we were able to get back inside and run some stuff. But a lot of that was just Grady making reads and keeping the ball and doing his stuff.”
Wolf knew that the Oakers would be keying on Clay Smith, who entered the game with a team-high 21 touchdown runs.
“Coach Smith told me all practice, he was like, 'Read the ends,'” Wolf said. “They told me, 'Just be ready to run the ball.'”
Wolf broke loose for a 66-yard run to the Oakland 2 in the second quarter, but was caught from behind by Arscott, and the Oakers defense held on downs to squelch the threat.
Oakland, the 2022 champion, fought back from the 14-0 deficit to tie 14-14 as senior Gabe Williamson scored on two-yard touchdown runs in the second and third quarters.
Medina caught an eight-yard touchdown pass from Wolf late in the third quarter to put St. Paul up 20-14. Oakland quickly answered with a 67-yard touchdown pass from Fullerton to junior Andrew McCurdy to draw even at 20-20 with 1:32 left in the third quarter.
That set the stage for the game-changing turnover. Oakland, the 2022 champion, could not recover.
“We played well against a great football team,” Oakers coach Ben Lane said. “I feel it was the two best teams in the state. We made one more mistake than they did, and it cost us in the end, and they took the game.”
The hard-running Williamson finished a brilliant high school career by rushing for a 128 yards and two touchdowns on 27 carries. For the season, he rushed for 1,867 yards and 31 scores.
“He started since he was a freshman on the offensive line, then we moved him to the backfield,” Lane said of Williamson. “What he's accomplished at the high school, he's a special kid.”
On the other side of the field, St. Paul celebrated with the coveted blue trophy, something that Tony Smith admitted seemed a bit far-fetched at the start of the season.
“We were hoping we could get in and win a playoff game or something,” Tony Smith said. “We didn't have any idea we'd have a chance.”
Wolf said he wasn't ruling out the possibility, though.
“We were good at the 1A level, and moving up to 2A, it just adds one guy,” Wolf said. “In 1A, we had games against 2A teams. We already had practiced that formation. So we never had a doubt that we could be a good team, a top-tier team.”
jerryu@osaa.org
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