Through nearly a quarter and a half, Tualatin and Central Catholic appeared heading for a classic.
The two offensive heavyweights were trading punches with the game tied at 14 a few minutes into the second quarter, but Tualatin’s dreams of the school’s first football state title were dashed when quarterback Nolan Keeney and tight end Jayden Fortier were both injured in a matter of three plays.
Neither returned to the game, and the Timberwolves (11-2) couldn’t keep pace after that.
Central Catholic (13-0) capped off a perfect season with a 49-21 win Friday at Hillsboro Stadium in the state title game. It was Central Catholic’s second state title win against Tualatin in the last three years, with the Rams winning the 2021 state title game, 44-14.
“It’s the worst way it could end,” Keeney said. “I know my guys. We could’ve done something special. I believe in them. It’s really sad it had to end that way. There’s nobody else I’d rather be out here with. There’s no other group of guys I could’ve done it with. I love each and every one of them.”
Keeney’s day ended on a sack in the second quarter when he hurt the same left collarbone that was injured in Week 4 of the season against Jesuit. Keeney sat out the rest of the regular season and returned for the start of the playoffs. The Tualatin offense had put up 40-plus points in every playoff game with Keeney back under center.
He remained on the sideline the rest of the game, and came out of the locker after halftime with his left arm in a sling. Keeney said after the game he was about to get an X-ray, and wasn’t sure if it was broken again.
“I can feel it popping out of alignment, and I can’t even lift my arm,” he said.
After Keeney left the game, Fortier looked ready to take over as he had done so many times for Tualatin. He caught a screen pass on a second-and-21 after the sack to Keeney, and took it 17 yards. He took a direct snap three yards on the next play to set up a fourth-and-one. On that play, he again took a direct snap, rolled to the outside, and up the field for an easy first down.
He took a big hit near the sideline, and that was it for his day. He said he planted wrong trying to get out of bounds, and hurt his left knee.
“I knew something didn’t feel right, but I thought maybe I could keep going,” he said. “I got on the table, sat down, tried to bend it, started bending, and I was like, ‘Okay, I can do this.’ I kept sitting down, and the trainers kept feeling it and said I was done. After that, all the swelling came in, tightness, so it was rough.”
He wasn’t in uniform for the second half, but remained on the sideline in street clothes and spent the rest of the game encouraging and coaching up his teammates. Fortier, a senior, said it was a rough way to end his last high school football game.
Tualatin hung around for a bit, though. Wide receiver AJ Noland came in at quarterback, as he did in the regular season once Keeney was hurt. The injury to Keeney happened so fast that Noland didn’t have time to take any warmup throws.
“I practice [quarterback] when I can,” he said. “At practice, they fit me in at quarterback. I got in there and had to wing it. I just had to trust my instincts and make plays when I could. You get put in a situation like that, I try my best. It’s tough.”
He connected with fellow senior Kenen Elder on a 17-yard touchdown pass to cap off the injury-filled drive for Tualatin.
Central Catholic answered back with a quick score, and Tualatin went three-and-out with 4:24 left in the half. It was the first drive for either team that didn’t result in a touchdown to that point. The Timberwolves forced a turnover on downs on the next Central Catholic possession, stuffing the line on a fourth-and-one run attempt.
“I’m just so proud of them. Being one of the leaders on this team, it’s my job to keep everybody up and try to keep the positive influence going,” Fortier said. “After me and Nolan go down, it’s hard to win, especially against a team as good as Central Catholic, but I’m just so proud of my guys and how they battled and how they kept going.”
The firepower from Central Catholic proved to be too much for Tualatin, as the Timberwolves didn’t score after that touchdown pass from Noland to Elder. Central Catholic scored the last 35 points of the game.
“They took advantage of what happened and that’s a credit to them,” Noland said. “They made the most of the situation. For us, sometimes life just isn’t fair.”
The Rams were led by senior quarterback Cru Newman, who accounted for three total touchdowns and more than 400 yards of offense. Newman rushed for a game-high 102 yards and two scores and threw for 346 yards and one more touchdown.
Before the injury, Keeney looked as impressive as he had all through the playoffs. The junior completed 11-14 passes for 167 yards and two touchdowns.
Tualatin opened the game with a rare-for-them methodical 14-play, 82-yard drive that ended with a scoring pass from Keeney to Fortier. The drive took a little more than seven minutes off the clock in the first quarter.
Central Catholic scored a bit quicker, as Killian Sombe took the Rams’ first play from scrimmage 76 yards on the ground for a touchdown. The Timberwolves answered back in a fashion more typical of how their offense has looked these playoffs. On Tualatin’s first play of the next drive, Keeney hit Noland deep for a 60-yard touchdown pass.
The Tualatin defense had a rough time stopping Central Catholic’s weapons all over the field. Matthew Eleweke, Calvin Evans, and Thomas Ngure all had a game-high seven tackles for the Timberwolves. Eleweke also had two pass breakups.
Noland, who normally plays safety, was moved up on defense once Fortier went out. He said the one-two punch of getting put in at quarterback and then also having to move up on defense was a tough task.
“Everything just started happening really fast,” he said. “When you get put at quarterback, your mind starts thinking about the offense and you’re not as locked in on defense. It’s tough. You just try to control the controllable and tonight some things happened that you couldn’t control.”
