12/11 - 3:00 PM Football Final Complete Box Score »

CORVALLIS -- Aloha has spent seven seasons under coach Chris Casey climbing from the depths of Oregon high school football, where it toiled for the better part of two decades.



From where the Warriors stood Saturday, though, they had nowhere to look but down.



Aloha, the former doormat of the Metro League, completed its stunning rise to power with a convincing 34-13 win over previously unbeaten Tualatin in the OSAA Class 6A final in front of 5,467 at Reser Stadium. It is the first championship for the Warriors (13-1), who won 17 games in the 14 seasons before Casey arrived.



"We changed the image, there's no question about it," Casey said amid a throng of Aloha supporters celebrating on the field. "Just look at this place. It shows what athletics can do for a community."



Aloha avenged its only loss of the season by beating the Timberwolves (13-1). The Warriors said overconfidence contributed to that 33-21 defeat three months ago.





"I think when we lost to Tualatin the first time, that changed our team," Aloha senior quarterback Caylen Clardy said. "We wouldn't be here right now if we didn't lose to Tualatin the first time."

Aloha's defense, shredded by senior quarterback Matt Yarbrough in the first meeting, had five sacks, three interceptions and two fumble recoveries. And sophomore running back Thomas Tyner, held to 81 yards by the Timberwolves the first time, had 163 of the team's 262 rushing yards.

"The turnovers were a huge factor in this game," Timberwolves coach Rob Hastin said. "We haven't done that all season, but we did it tonight, and it definitely hurt us."

Said Tyner: "The first game we didn't play our best. We wanted to give them our best this time. We knew we had to come out hard, and we did."

The 6-1, 198-pound Tyner didn't get a chance to use his sprinter's speed, but he pounded at the Tualatin defense with 26 carries.

"I love that kid," Clardy said. "He started off the year kind of soft; he didn't like to take hits. Toward the end of the season we told him, 'Stop juking, lower your shoulder and just go.'"

Yarbrough completed 18 of 32 passes for 215 yards and one touchdown, a dropoff from the first game, when he went 21 of 27 for 317 yards and three scores.

"We had a very confusing game plan the first time," Aloha senior linebacker Nic Brockhoff said. "We watched film, and we made it very basic. We came out and we just played our game."

Aloha established control on its second possession with a 15-play drive that covered 88 yards, all on the ground, and ended on a one-yard touchdown run by Tyner.

Then the Warriors, who converted two turnovers into touchdowns in a 17-16 semifinal win over Lake Oswego, went to work on taking the ball from the Timberwolves.

"From watching film, we knew that they turn the ball over quite a bit, both Lake O and Tualatin," Brockhoff said.

On the first play of the second quarter, senior defensive back Jesse Bresser stepped in front of a sideline pass intended for junior Sumner Patton and returned it 40 yards for a touchdown to push the lead to 14-0.

Tualatin shook it off and drove to the Aloha 18, but John Shaffer caused a fumble with a big hit on senior running back Cole Williams, and Clardy recovered at the 13-yard line.

"Just like last week," Bresser said, "11 hats to the ball."

Later in the second quarter, Aloha senior linebacker Brock Hemphill hit junior running back Brady Watts, who coughed up the ball into the hands of Brockhoff at the Aloha 45.

Clardy threw a 31-yard strike to junior Ryan Russo, setting up a 37-yard field goal by Hemphill to extend the Warriors' lead to 17-0.

Tualatin threatened again late in the second quarter, reaching the Aloha 25, but Yarbrough threw over the middle into triple coverage, and Bresser intercepted at the 10-yard line.

After Bresser caught a 42-yard touchdown pass from Clardy to make it 24-0 early in the third quarter, Tualatin capitalized on two Aloha mistakes to get back in the game.

Warriors senior punter Deondre Rakestraw, sensing the oncoming rush, tried to run for a first down but came up far short at the Aloha 23. Four plays later, senior Cole Williams scored on a 15-yard run and Tualatin was on the board at 24-7.

Russo fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Tualatin junior Brandon Durdel recovered at the Warriors' 18. Yarbrough threw a touchdown pass to senior Taylor Altringer on the next play, and after extra-point attempt failed, the Timberwolves were within 24-13.

But Aloha's defense stiffened from there, the Warriors added a field goal by Hemphill and a seven-yard touchdown run by Shaffer, and the celebration was on.

"We just wanted that state ring ever since we first started down at Gold Beach at our team camp," senior lineman James Euscher said.

In the final minute, Casey accepted a congratulatory hug from his brother, Oregon State baseball coach Pat Casey. The Warriors missed in their attempt to douse their coach with the water bucket and settled for spraying him with their individual water bottles.

"Coach Casey is an unbelievable guy," Brockhoff said. "Some days we drive by the school at midnight, and his truck will still be there. We make jokes that he's got a cot in the back room. He's giving 100 percent effort, making every one of us better."

Casey wore a look of satisfaction and relief as he held the trophy.

"Right now I'm just worried about getting some sleep tonight," he said. "I haven't slept in about four months."

-- Jerry Ulmer