Tualatin football Coach Dom Ferrao thought he’d have a three-headed monster in his backfield this year, but that lasted until roughly halftime of the season opener.
Junior Cole Hachmeister left the season opener with an injury and has yet to play again in the team’s first five games. In practice between Tualatin’s first and second game, running back Senior Ty Flowers suffered a season-ending injury.
That left Iden Rule as the team’s main running back, and the sophomore has made the most of his playing time.
He rushed for two scores in the season-opening win. In a loss to Lake Oswego, ranked as the No. 1 team in the state, Rule hauled in a receiving touchdown and rushed for another. In a shutout win against Sherwood, Rule intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown.
“There’s really no way to describe it other than he’s just a stud,” Ferraro said. “We saw it last year as a freshman. In fact, we got him some carries in the game against Tigard at the end of the year. He’s smart, he’s fast, he’s physical. He’s just got all the things you look for in a good football player.”
Still, Ferraro is looking forward to the return of Hachmeister, who was primed to have a big junior season. Heading into the year, he was perhaps the skill player with the most experience for Tualatin.
He started off the year incredibly strong, taking the Timberwolves’ first play of the year from scrimmage 83 yards for an electric touchdown on a screen pass. He followed that up with another receiving touchdown on Tualatin’s very next drive.
Ferraro said he’s hopeful Hachmeister will be back within the next couple of weeks.
“That way we’ll have a one-two punch again,” he said. “We’ve been kind of patchwork at running back.”
Even still, Tualatin has made it work on offense for the most part this season as of our press deadline. The Timberwolves sit at 4-1 on the season and are averaging a little over 37 points a game.
Perhaps making that number even more impressive is that Tualatin is still playing two quarterbacks five games into the season. Coming into the year, the quarterback position was up for grabs between senior Owen Hagerman and junior Carter Powers.
After the summer, Ferraro felt like both were playing well enough to earn playing time, so he alternated between the two, giving each one two drives at a time. The two have continued to battle, and Ferraro is still alternating between the two.
“Both of them have done a great job,” he said after Tualatin’s 43-0 win against Sherwood on Sept. 19. “Both of them have had great games through these first four. They’re making it really hard.”
Both quarterbacks have also had some help from their receiving corps, especially Trent Dearborn, Trenton Hertzog, Cole Newton, Calen Simonelic, and Brady Knips.
“Those guys have just been consistent all year long, and we’ve really done a good job of spreading the ball around,” Ferraro said. “I’m excited about the way our quarterbacks are playing, but also the way our receivers are playing. Our receivers are going up and getting the football, and they’re winning more wins. That’s what you need when you get into a league as tough as ours.”
Dearbon has had the most success finding the end zone, catching touchdown passes in each of the first two games before exploding for three receiving touchdowns in Tualatin’s fourth game. Newton, Hertzog, Knips, Carter Lemon, Houston Lillard, and Reece Underwood all have received touchdowns on the year, as well.
It hasn’t just been all offense for Tualatin. The Timberwolves won their first four games of the year and didn’t give up more than 14 points in any of them. Tualatin’s most recent game as of our press deadline didn’t go as well, with the Timberwolves dropping their Three Rivers League opener, 49-24, to Lake Oswego, the top-ranked team in the state at the moment.
Before the loss to Lake Oswego, Ferraro was pleased with how his defense was playing this year.
“We’re tackling well,” he said. “The one thing that this team has is they are relentless. I mean, they don’t stop playing regardless of the situation. Even when you’re wrong, you might not be in the right gap or you miss a tackle or whatever, they’re relentlessly playing and they’re playing for each other.”
