The sun is just over the horizon, a fierce crowd litters the Wolf Den and the visiting Silverton Foxes line the field for the kickoff. Tualatin opts to receive with senior running back Malik Ross manning the backfield, ready for what comes his way.
As the pep band begins a drum roll, Silverton launches their kick to the 15-yard line in direct trajectory to Ross. From here, the field is all his. Ross slipped through the Silverton line, juked a gunner and ran the distance for a touchdown to shock the Silverton sidelines only 12 seconds into the game. Kicker Matthew Ramirez capped off the possession with a PAT and brought the Wolves to an explosive 7-0 start.
“I try to give as much credit to my block since they set me up with a big hole on the sideline,” Ross said. “I was fired up. I got some family here that haven’t watched me as much, so I got to start it off that way.”
But should this have been so easy?
Silverton is a power in the 5A division and is projected to be a top contender in this year’s 5A finals. They started off the season with a 41-7 win over Grant High School with their seasoned quarterback, Jordan McCarty, passing for 322 yards on 12 of 22 completed passes.
Tualatin (6A), on the other hand, has the three-time starting quarterback Jackson Jones leading the pack with plenty of rushing potential – seniors Ross, Cole Prussia and Peter Burke to name a few. So, this matchup, although a mix of divisions, was sure to bring out the most of these teams… right?
Coming after Ross’ 85-yard score, Tualatin kicker Dominic Borges landed the ball down at the 30-yard line, but a catching error by Silverton led to a mad scramble for possession with Silverton making the recovery seven yards back.
Little by little, the Foxes whittled away at the distance until the Wolves forced a turnover. Jones followed up by completing a 12-yard touchdown pass to Burke to give Tualatin a 14-0 lead going into the second quarter.
Silverton still struggled to make any ground on their possession. And, after getting the ball back, consecutive runs by Ross, Burke, Scott Wright and Prussia secured a third touchdown for the Wolves to finish out the half.
But the domination would not last. Jones was sacked early in the third quarter, injuring his right throwing shoulder and sidelining him for the remainder of the night and the next few weeks.
“We’ve got a bunch of guys out right now,” Head Coach Dan Lever told Tualatin Life. “So, we’ve got to get healthy the next couple weeks for us to survive the donnybrook league schedule that we face.”
This development prompted the teams to trade scores. The Foxes followed this up with a 16-yard touchdown pass from McCarty to Vandon Fessler to cut the deficit to 13 heading into quarter four.
Silverton really pumped into gear with a 25-yard touchdown, shortening Tualatin’s lead to only six. To add fuel to the flame, Silverton promptly picked up an onside kick after two Tualatin players blundered the recovery. In a stroke of luck for the Wolves, Silverton couldn’t make anything of the play, and it was shortly followed with a clutch 63-yard scoring run by Ross and a two-point conversion from Burke for a more comfortable 35-21 lead with 4:07 on the clock.
Silverton, following the theme of the night, fought back and ran it home to shrink their deficit to 35-28. A tie was certainly possible and overtime the goal for the Foxes. By their next possession, they brought the pigskin to the 10-yard line with 50 seconds remaining. This was an optimal chance for Silverton, but Ross had his eyes on an interception.
“I think I’m really good at reading the quarterback’s eyes,” he said. “Before the play, he kind of looked over real quick and saw I was on the other side (of where he was going to throw). I noticed that and ran over as fast as I could.”
Silverton’s McCarty attempted the endzone pass.
“He threw it a little low and I bent down,” Ross said. “Shoot, I didn’t care where he threw it, I was going to dive for it.”
Ross made the interception, securing the 35-28 win against the 5A power and dissolved all hope of a turnaround victory for the Foxes.
“Sometimes you’re better lucky than good,” Lever said to the team in his post-game speech.
“I definitely think we’re seeing the results of a lack of a full year of preparation,” Lever said. “This is the most physical game there is, so I definitely think that not having a full calendar year to hit the weight room is going to affect everybody.”
This win comes after the previous week’s bus ride to face Menlo Atherton out of Atherton, California where they came away with a 44-33 win.
The Wolves have the potential to play as a top-rated Oregon team, but a gauntlet of competitors in the Three Rivers League still await with excess injuries impairing the team.
