The Jesuit crusaders traveled to West Linn High School to take on the defending 6A football champions, the West Linn Lions, on Friday September 15. The Lions defeated the Crusaders 43-14.
Jesuit received the ball first and tried to come out strong for their first drive of the night but turned the ball over on downs. West Linn took possession and had a successful drive resulting in a 7 yard touchdown catch by Junior Wyatt Smiley.
A few possessions later Jesuit strip sacked West Linn quarterback Baird Gilroy, resulting in Jesuit’s first touchdown, a 6 yard touchdown run by senior Lonnie Burt.
Game tied at 7-7, but it only became a West Linn show for the rest of the half. West Linn led at halftime 29-7.
Despite the lopsided score, Georgia Daskalos, a Jesuit fan at the game, was impressed with the crowd.
“I would say the atmosphere at the football game was good for Jesuit throughout the first half and I thought that the crowd was super loud.”
Opening into the second half, West Linn received kickoff and started off strong. Lions tight end Gus Donnerberg punched in a 44-yard touchdown catch and run for the Lions. The Lions led 36-7 halfway through the 3rd.
Jesuit then attempted to decrease the Lions lead and get back into the game with a 34-yard throw to Junior Grant Valley. Valley completed the catch but went down and left the game due to an injury.
Junior Grady Keljo has recognized the toll injuries have had on the team.
“As a team, our weakness is injuries.”
West Linn took the victory 43-14. West Linn is now 3-0, while Jesuit is now 0-3 and will take on Tualatin at Cronin Field on Friday, September 22.
Coach John Andreas is looking towards improvement for the Crusaders.
“Every week, we always talk about getting better and trying to learn from our mistakes from previous games, and we’re doing the same thing this week. We’re focused a lot on the process and focusing on just getting better every week.”
