These are Oregon’s best and worst high school football 6A programs over past decade

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A familiar cluster of teams appear atop the most-recent Oregonian/OregonLive Class 6A top 10 high school football poll: the Central Catholic Rams, West Linn Lions, Tualatin Timberwolves, Lake Oswego Lakers and Sunset Apollos.

The Clackamas Cavaliers, Lakeridge Pacers, Westview Wildcats, Jesuit Crusaders and West Salem Titans round out the next five.

One could easily mistake this week’s poll for a poll from the 2019 season. Or the 2018 season. Or the 2017 season, for that matter. This year’s state championship contenders largely resemble those from recent years.

“The same cast of characters,” South Medford coach Bill Singler said via email. “Jesuit, Lake Oswego, Central Catholic, West Linn, Clackamas, Tualatin.”

Those teams — and a few others — are among the small number of football programs that have dominated Class 6A play over the past decade (2011-2020).

According to data compiled by The Oregonian/OregonLive, five of the schools drawing votes in this week’s top 10 poll are also among the top 10 teams with the best combined winning percentage over the past decade. The newsroom compiled the records of every team currently playing at the 6A level for each year it played in the state’s top division.

Sheldon has posted the best winning percentage (95-21, .819) among 6A schools in the last 10 years, followed by the Tigard Tigers (94-22, .810), Jesuit (97-24, .802), Central Catholic (95-24, .798) and Lake Oswego (86-29, .748).

West Salem (78-30, .722), West Linn (80-32, .714), Sherwood (51-24, .680), Clackamas (75-36, .676) and South Medford (66-34, .660) round out the top 10.

The Crusaders and the Irish have been among the top 10 teams in the OSAA 6A football state championship pre-playoff bracket seedings every year since 2013. The Lions and Rams have been among the top 10 in six of those years. The Tigers and Cavaliers each have five appearances, while the Lakers, Timberwolves and Sprague Olympians each have three appearances.

Just five teams — Central Catholic (three), Lake Oswego (two), Jesuit, Sheldon, West Linn, Clackamas — have won the 6A state championship since 2011. What’s more, Sheldon (two), Lake Oswego (two), Central Catholic, Jesuit, Tigard and West Linn finished second in eight of the nine championship games during that span.

Why are those high school programs consistently among the best? What do they have in common? For starters, they have strong community and financial support. They also have very good coaching, coaching stability and a tradition of winning that attracts top athletes.

When it comes to financial resources within a community, there’s a correlation between successful football programs and monetary support. Many of the top football programs are at schools located in cities and communities where the median household incomes are among the highest in the state, an advantage that can help improve training, facilities and equipment.

West Linn, Lake Oswego, Tigard, Tualatin and Clackamas are located within or near some of the wealthiest cities and communities in Oregon. Jesuit and Central Catholic are private schools with strong support.

“We are fortunate to have some affluency within our community,” West Linn athletic director Brigham Baker said. “Money and affluency certainly help a program. But it’s not the only thing that makes them win. I think everybody would like to say money makes some things a little bit easier, but there’s been a lot of programs in the — you go down into the schools in southern Oregon in terms of football in the ′80s and ′90s and into early 2000s and they were very dominant.

“I don’t know if those communities were seen as very affluent communities. They had kids that worked hard and they had strong support groups in their communities. Not in terms of money, but in terms of support to help the product — on the field, in the gym, the auditorium or elsewhere. I don’t think money is everything in terms of winning. It makes things look a lot nicer, but it certainly is not everything.”

Lake Oswego coach Steve Coury said community support is a major factor for any type of sustained success.

“It just makes all the difference in the world,” Coury said. “You have families that are behind you. I think they see the value of what we bring and the values that we are trying to teach the kids. The support — being in the stands, supporting the program in any way they can by volunteering or whatever way, there’s just great support. It goes beyond the kids that are playing for us and the families that are part of the program. It reaches beyond that. It’s friends of theirs or neighbors. It’s really cool. It’s almost a small-town feel within our own little group at the high school.”

Compare those schools with the football programs that make up the Portland Interscholastic League (PIL).

The PIL consists of eight schools — the Cleveland Warriors, Franklin Lightning, Grant Generals, Jefferson Democrats, Lincoln Cardinals, McDaniel Mountain Lions (formerly Madison), Roosevelt Roughriders and Wells Guardians (formerly Wilson) — located within the city of Portland.

The schools’ resources and support vary depending on the location. A few are located in neighborhoods where the financial and community support are strong, however, some reside in lower-income and underserved communities. Even PIL programs with higher levels of financial and community support compared to other schools in the league have struggled to compete with the state’s upper echelon teams and fallen further behind in competitiveness during the past decade.

The PIL hasn’t produced a state champion in Oregon’s top tier of prep football since Benson Tech defeated Roseburg 35-15 for the 1998 big school championship (formerly Class 4A). Benson dropped football in 2019. Lincoln was the last PIL team to reach the championship game, losing 14-10 to Jesuit in the 4A title game in 2005.

PIL teams have collectively lost 11 of 13 games in the first two weeks the 2021 season — and they’ve been outscored 680-250 combined.

The aging PIL schools are being modernized, which could boost the league’s sagging football programs.

The $482 million School Building Improvement Bond in 2012 led to the modernization of Franklin, Grant and Roosevelt high schools. The $790 million Health Safety and Modernization Bond in 2017 already has modernized one high school — McDaniel — and is funding another rebuild at Lincoln. The $1.2 billion 2020 School Bond authorized similar modernizations at Jefferson and Benson Tech.

PIL athletic director Marshall Haskins said the modernization program has helped — and will continue to help — athletic programs across Portland.

“When you have the resources, you have success, then more kids want to be a part of that,” Haskins said. “More people in the community want to be a part of that. West Linn has, I think, like 150 sixth-graders playing football. Their program is doing well and kids want to keep playing and it just continues. Football is a game of numbers. The numbers you have at a school dictate the amount of success you’re going to have.

“We’ve got a situation where we’ve built new schools. When you’re building new schools, the population drops significantly. Then when they open, they grow. So we’ve had situations where they had struggled, but now there’s a new school (McDaniel) and more than 1,400 kids attending. Now they have more kids to choose from in terms of filling their athletic programs. I think we’ve been in a unique situation in terms of all of the factors. But, collectively, we’ve tried to address them. I think our better days are coming soon.”

Another reason for the winning tradition at the state’s best programs is coaching. A coach who played at a major college and/or in the NFL will get the attention of big-time prep athletes who can help sustain a strong program.

West Linn head coach Chris Miller was a starting quarterback for the Oregon Ducks and the Atlanta Falcons. Lions defensive coordinator Anthony Newman and defensive backs coach Alex Molden are also former Ducks who played in the NFL.

Those programs have also helped players reach the NFL, another lure for prospective athletes.

Justin Herbert, a former quarterback at Sheldon, was the No. 6 pick by the Los Angeles Chargers in the 2020 NFL draft. Central Catholic has produced multiple NFL players — including Brady Breeze, Ryan Nall and Brennan Scarlett — under coach Steve Pyne. And Jesuit coach Ken Potter has coached numerous players who are now in the NFL, including Mike Remmers (Kansas City) and Henry Mondeaux (Pittsburgh Steelers). Former NFL players such as Stan Brock and Mike Hass also are former Crusaders.

The credibility and connections attached to these coaches can be immeasurably important for prospective players with ambitions of playing in college or beyond.

“(Tualatin) Coach (Dan) Lever does a great job at getting his players recruited,” Tualatin running back/safety Malik Ross said. “We have a few players that have played college football and they know what it takes. It’s one of the pros of playing at Tualatin. A lot of college coaches know we’re one of the best teams in the state and they come to see what talent we have every year.”

Coaching stability is another factor with successful programs.

In 35 years at Jesuit, Potter has won four state championships and compiled a 326-79 record, placing him third on the state’s all-time win list.

“Ken Potter has a tremendous football IQ, he has amazing leadership and charisma, he’s got the Xs and Os and tactics down — there’s no doubt about that,” Jesuit athletic director Mike Hughes said. “But being a great football coach is more than the Xs and Os. It’s the leadership and coaching for character. If you coach for character, as Ken Potter does, the wins take care of themselves.”

Coury, coaching his 30th season at Lake Oswego, moved into 13th place among the state’s all-time win list after posting his 250th win on Sept. 3. Coury has won three state titles. Pyne, at Central Catholic, also owns three state titles as he enters his 19th season with the Rams.

Coury said he and his staff have, for the most part, been preaching the same message for three decades, a message that continues to resonate within his program.

“I‘ve got three guys on my staff that have been there since I’ve been there,” Coury said. “The next guy has been there 28 of the 30 years. Seven of the guys that are coaching with me that have all played for me and been through the program. They understand the importance of things that are important to the program and the things the program believes in and the way that we do things. Being able to keep that consistent message going with guys that have been through and been a part of it is a huge part of the longevity of it.

“We’re doing something right. I think it’s the philosophy and it’s the things that are important to us that we preach and hang our hat on and stay consistent with. We have the consistency of the same guys saying the same things every year.”

-- Geoffrey C. Arnold | @geoffreyCarnold

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