As the first five games of the 2023 high school football season are in the books, The Jesuit Crusaders and head coach Ken Potter experienced something the program had not seen since 1977.
An 0-4 start.
The Crusaders have developed a young offensive line and worked through a quarterback competition as they completed one of the most difficult nonleague schedules in the state of Oregon.
Within the walls of Jesuit, the sky is not falling.
“Starting off like this has not happened in a long time, which means it’s never happened since I’ve been here,” Potter said. “So it is definitely something new for all of us. But you control what you can control and you don’t worry about things you can’t control. So we can control our effort. We can control our character and desire but we can’t control our opponents abilities and
talents.”
The Crusaders started out the season on the road where they faced the Skyview Storm. Skyview is ranked as one of the top teams in the state of Washington and have started their season off to an undefeated 5-0 record. The Crusaders would fall to the Storm 28-0.
A lot of questions for the Crusaders were answered during the season opener, one of which was how the revamped offensive line would match up against the best teams in the Pacific Northwest. A large focus for the Jesuit staff during the offseason was developing and building the young “Franchise” into a cohesive unit that the Crusaders have had for so many years.
Through five weeks, coaches like what they’re seeing.
“We’re coming off the ball better, we’re blocking the right guy,” Potter said. “Sometimes we’re outmatched size wise and a couple of positions but the guys that are there are working really hard and I couldn’t be more happy with how they’ve improved.
The next thing that the Crusaders established at the beginning of the season was the quarterback position. Going into game two against the Central Catholic Rams, Jesuit fans were unsure on who would start the game at quarterback. Senior Jacob Hutchinson and junior Treynor Cleeland had split drives in the previous game so there was a big question on whether that would continue or if a Jesuit would decide to go with one single guy.
It was Treynor Cleeland that was given the keys to the Potter and Andreas led offense. Cleeland has been established as the Jesuit QB1 and has started the past four games. Cleeland has shown strides of improvement every week and has been able to grow more comfortable with the offensive system.
“Treynor has done a great job of stepping in and playing the quarterback position. He has a lot of growth to do and is learning to make the right decisions and reads. Athletically, he’s really strong and is a great runner and has a good arm,” Potter said.
The next two teams that the Crusaders would face would be the defending Oregon state champions West Linn Lions and the number three ranked Tualatin Timberwolves.
The Crusaders seemed to be outmatched by both teams who have state championship aspirations. Both West Linn and Tualitan have rosters loaded with Division one talent and should both compete with Central Catholic as the favorites to hoist the OSAA trophy at the end of November.
After the Crusaders completed their non conference gauntlet, they would then turn their attention to the Metro League. With a young and improving offensive line, and an established QB1, Jesuit will look to stay at the top of the league that coach Potter has been so dominant for over three decades.
There has been no shortage of adversity in the Jesuit locker room this season as they have not only played an extremely difficult schedule but a lot of key players have also suffered injuries and have missed practice and game time. Seniors Lonnie Burt and Jace Burton along with junior Grant Valley who have all been critical pieces to both the Jesuit offense and defense have all suffered injuries of some sort.
“Adversity makes you stronger, and we’ve had some ups and downs. I think we’ve shown some really good improvement in certain areas, but we still make a few more mistakes than we’d like to make. But what I’ve seen is tremendous character. My players who care about one another and always play hard. They are doing their best and working really hard each and every day.”
Jesuit had not started off winless in the first four games since coach Potter has been at Jesuit and is obviously not an ideal situation for a four-time state champion and someone who is just eight victories shy of being the all-time leader in wins for a high school coach in the state of Oregon.
As Jesuit opened up their conference schedule looking to get in the win column for the first time this season, the Crusaders traveled to Aloha High School to take on the Warriors. In dominant fashion, Jesuit shut out the Warriors by a whopping 70-0 score.
“The players felt really good as well as the coaches. We went out and did what we are capable of doing. I thought we played really well. We flew around and the defense played excellent. It was a great team win, but it was also great to get everybody in the game and all the players involved.”
With the Crusaders winning so dominantly and putting so many points on the scoreboard, a lot of players on the Crusaders offense were able to put up some intriguing stats and multiple players were able to find the end zone.
Lonnie Burt led the Crusaders offense, rushing for 88 yards and four touchdowns on only nine carries. Burt had missed the previous game against Tualatin after suffering a concussion in the West Linn game. The senior running back was back in full force against the warriors and showcased why he is known as a top player in the state, putting up some impressive numbers.
“Lonnie is a team leader and he does that by example of how hard he works. Having him on the field makes us a lot better right away. We were really pleased to get him back as quickly as we did.”
Burt may have had a strong performance, but he was not the only one to do so. Senior Julius Christensen also contributed, rushing for 91 yards and two touchdowns on 10 carries. Cleeland chipped in as well, throwing for 101 yards and two touchdown passes while completing 5 of 8 attempts. He also ran one in a touchdown rushing for ten yards on two carries.
Senior Elias Johnson, who will head to University of Washington to play for Kalen DeBoer’s Huskies, hauled in a 41 yard touchdown reception from Cleeland.
Taking on a new role this season has been senior Jacob Hutchinson, who is now playing wide receiver and defensive back for the Crusaders this year. Hutchinson had previously been the Jesuit starting quarterback during his sophomore and junior seasons. Hutchinson was able to catch his first touchdown on a 28 yard bomb from Cleeland.
Coach Potter went on to talk about the new role of Hutchinson and how his sacrifice has benefitted the team on both sides of the ball.
“We have been incredibly fortunate that we have such a great teammate in Jacob Hutchinson, who is also one of the best quarterbacks in the state. Jacob was willing to move to wide receiver and defensive back and still is playing all the time and has helped make this team a whole lot better.”
Now that the Crusaders have their first win under their belt and have proved to themselves and the state that they can put up a lot of points similar to the other teams they have faced, what is next?
Coach Potter only seems to be focused on the game ahead and improving every day in practice. When asked about how his team can prepare for the rest of Metro play and a hopeful playoff run he kept things in perspective.
“Well, those are all good hopes. But right now we only have one game to worry about, that’s Westview. We know that we have lots to do to improve hopefully that’s what the mindset is going into the game. Just working on improving from last week to this week and just going one game at a time.”
UP NEXT
The Crusaders will look to build a win streak and continue their dominance from last week as they will take on the Westview Wildcats on Friday, October 4 at 7:00 pm on Cronin Field.
