In the landscape of Klamath County football, Saturday was uncharted territory.
Before this year, the county had never had multiple teams make a state championship game in the same season, let alone compete on the same day at the same venue. The momentousness of the occasion wasn’t lost on either team; Lost River head coach Dennis Dunlea and Henley head coach Alex Stork shared a hug as Dunlea’s Raiders were leaving the field and Stork’s Hornets were coming on for warmups at Caldera High School. Stork congratulated Dunlea on his team’s win, and Dunlea wished Stork good luck. A few hours later, Stork would hoist a blue trophy of his own, and Henley would become the second Klamath County team that day to head home as state champions.
Here’s how both games unfolded.
Lost River goes back-to-back with 30-20 win over Crane
On paper, Lost River had an easier path to the 1A[8] state championship this year as the No. 1 seed than it did last year, when it won the title as the No. 3 seed. But Dunlea knew from the start of the season that the road to a repeat would be challenging with the Raiders unable to catch anyone by surprise.
“It’s easy to be the underdog and come play,” Dunlea said. “It’s a lot more difficult when you know everybody’s going to give you their best game.”
Crane, which also came into the state championship game undefeated, kept Lost River on its toes for much of the first half. The Mustangs went up 8-0 three plays after recovering a fumble near midfield on the Raiders’ opening drive as Josh Zander threw a 27-yard touchdown pass to 6-foot-7 tight end Cody Siegner and Keegan Sallee ran in the 2-point conversion. Lost River responded with an 11-play, 69-yard scoring drive that took 6:11 off the clock and ended with Kayden Hartman running in the 2-point conversion after Chase McAuliffe’s 16-yard touchdown pass to Connor Dunlea.
The teams traded three-and-outs until Lost River got the ball at the Crane 46-yard line after the Mustangs had to punt from their own end zone. The Raiders scored in two plays, with McAuliffe throwing a 14-yard pass to Hartman before breaking off a 32-yard touchdown run. McAuliffe threw to Emmett O’Brien for the 2-point conversion, and with 10:08 remaining in the first half, the defending state champions had their first lead.
Crane had an answer, though, as Zander threw another deep ball to Siegner to give the Mustangs a first-and-goal at the 9-yard line. On fourth-and-goal at the 6-yard line, Zander found running back Carter Nichols for a touchdown, but his pass on the 2-point attempt was broken up by Dunlea. Once again, Lost River responded with a lengthy scoring drive, going 64 yards in 12 plays and 5:47. McAuliffe ran for an 8-yard touchdown and threw to Dunlea for the 2-point conversion to give the Raiders a 24-14 lead with 1:20 until halftime.
Crane nearly answered again, with Zander throwing a 17-yard touchdown pass to Nichols as time expired but releasing the ball just past the line of scrimmage. The penalty gave the Mustangs an untimed down, but Zander’s pass was incomplete.
Lost River put themselves firmly in the driver’s seat with a 13-play, 63-yard scoring drive that lasted nearly two-thirds of the third quarter and ended with McAuliffe throwing a 4-yard touchdown pass to O’Brien. Kayden Hartman was stopped short of the goal line on the 2-point attempt, so it remained a two-possession game as the Raiders led 30-14 with 4:13 left in the third quarter.
Crane had multiple chances to rally after that but couldn’t finish enough drives offensively. On the Mustangs’ ensuing possession, a run for a first down on third-and-6 at the Lost River 18-yard line was called back for holding, and the Mustangs ended up turning it over on downs. It looked like things might take a turn when Crane recovered another fumble at midfield four plays after Zander found an open Trenton Potter for a 32-yard touchdown to cut Lost River’s lead to 30-20 with 7:24 remaining in the fourth quarter. But that drive also lasted just four plays, with O’Brien making back-to-back tackles (including on fourth-and-2) to force a turnover on downs.
From there, Lost River was able to run out the last 5:12 to secure their second straight state championship and fourth in program history. All four of the Raiders’ state championships have come with Dennis Dunlea on staff; he was an assistant coach on the 1997 title team and led Lost River to the 2004 crown.
Chase McAuliffe earned player of the game honors after completing 12-of-15 passes for 118 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for 101 yards and two touchdowns on 17 attempts. He also led the Raiders with eight tackles on defense, where he spent much of the game matched up with Cody Siegner, who finished with four receptions for 102 yards and a touchdown.
“He’s hard to guard,” McAuliffe said. “He’s a big target and he’s pretty fast, but I had some help over the top with Connor [Dunlea, who had seven tackles].
“In the end he didn’t do as much damage as he normally does against teams, so I thought we did good.”
Dunlea finished with five receptions for 41 yards and a touchdown while rushing for 65 yards on 13 carries, and Emmett O’Brien finished with three receptions for 20 yards and seven tackles on defense. JC Navarro had two receptions for 33 yards and four tackles and two pass breakups on defense.
For Crane, Josh Zander completed 16-of-28 passes for 187 yards and three touchdowns and Carter Nichols ran for 88 yards on 20 carries. Trenton Potter finished with five receptions for 48 yards and a touchdown.
Lost River’s senior class–McAuliffe, Dunlea, O’Brien, Navarro, Joel DeJong (who had five tackles in the state championship game), Erick Bracamontes, Cy Dugan, Christian Zendejas and Carlos Venegas–ends their high school careers having won their last 20 games.
Crane, which had 18 players to Lost River’s 35, graduates only Nichols and Michael Willsey.
Henley makes history with 42-28 win over Marist Catholic
There were multiple times during the 4A state championship game when Henley could have folded.
It could have happened when Marist Catholic, which hadn’t lost to a 4A team this season, took a 6-0 lead on a 30-yard touchdown pass after the Hornets turned it over on downs. It could have happened when the Spartans took a 14-7 lead on a 73-yard touchdown pass and successful 2-point conversion three plays after Henley jumped in front. It could have happened when Joe Janney threw an interception in his own territory two plays after Marist Catholic cut the Hornets’ lead to 28-20 early in the fourth quarter.
Heck, it could have happened before the game even started. In the middle of the week, Henley learned that its record-setting running back Logan Whitlock, who scored a total of 45 touchdowns this season, wouldn’t be able to play after sustaining an injury in the Hornets’ 42-13 semifinal win over Scappoose.
Losing a superstar like Whitlock would throw most teams at least a little off balance. But as they showed throughout the season, the 2023 Henley Hornets were not like most teams.
“In our minds, it doesn’t matter who we lose or who’s playing or who’s not playing,” wide receiver and defensive back Chris Janney–who took snaps at RB in Whitlock’s absence–said. “In our minds, we had just as much confidence that we were going to…complete the end goal that we’ve had all year.”
That confidence never seemed to waver for the Hornets, even as they found themselves trailing for just the second time all season and first since Week 4 when Marist Catholic quarterback Nick Hudson connected with Aaron Bidwell to put the Spartans up 6-0 with 4:43 left in the first quarter (the PAT missed wide right). After the teams traded three-and-outs, Henley quarterback Joe Janney–Chris’ younger brother–found him for a 16-yard touchdown pass to put the Hornets up 7-6.
On third-and-3 at the Marist Catholic 27-yard line, Hudson–who entered the game having thrown for 3,432 yards (second in Oregon) and 43 touchdowns (third in Oregon) this season–launched it downfield to a wide open Christian Guerrero for a touchdown before finding Bidwell for the 2-point conversion.
Trailing 14-7 with 9:34 remaining in the second quarter, Henley embarked on a 12-play, 80-yard scoring drive that lasted an even six minutes and ended with a 1-yard touchdown run by Joe Janney. Marist Catholic drove as far as the Henley 11-yard line on their ensuing possession before an intentional grounding penalty helped the Hornets force a turnover on downs.
With the ball at their own 30-yard line and 27 seconds left in the half, Henley called a draw for Joe Janney. He took it 70 yards for a touchdown, and the Hornets took a 21-14 lead into the locker room.
Receiving the second half kickoff, Henley managed to bleed 7:06 off the clock and advance to the Marist Catholic 22-yard line before turning it over on downs. Three plays later, Hudson threw his first interception of the playoffs to Luke Bennett, who ran it back to the Spartans 25-yard line. Six plays later, Joe Janney scored on a 12-yard run to put Henley up 28-14 with 1:57 to go in the third quarter.
Marist Catholic answered with an 11-play, 69-yard scoring drive that lasted 2:03 and ended with Hudson throwing a 4-yard touchdown pass to 6-foot-6 receiver Kaden Erlenbush. Another missed PAT meant Henley got the ball back leading 28-20 with 11:50 remaining in the fourth quarter.
On the second play of the Hornets’ drive, Joe Janney’s pass was tipped twice before falling into the hands of the Spartans’ Dennis Jackson Jr., which set Marist Catholic up at the Henley 43-yard line.
This was arguably the deciding moment of the game for the Hornets. The defense, having only just come off the field after being carved up on its last drive, would have to find a way to stop the Spartans’ momentum or risk them going on a big run.
Marist Catholic made it as far as the Henley 26-yard line before turning it over on downs after back-to-back incompletions. But the Hornets offense went three-and-out, giving the Spartans the ball back at their own 38-yard line.
That was when things started to get wild.
In addition to being an unstoppable running back, Logan Whitlock was also a force at linebacker for Henley this season. Having to fill that void against a high-powered passing attack forced the Hornets coaching staff to get creative. They moved Chris Janney to Whitlock’s linebacker spot and put Joe Janney in his brother’s now-vacant defensive back spot. Alex Stork said the decision was made because of the younger Janney’s speed, which would be needed against Marist Catholic’s receivers. But Joe Janney hadn’t played a snap at DB all season; there was a significant risk the move could backfire.
On the second play of the Spartans’ drive, Joe Janney intercepted Hudson’s pass at the line of scrimmage and returned it 36 yards for a touchdown to give Henley a 35-20 lead with 6:26 left in the game.
Still fired up, the Henley defense forced an incompletion on the first play of the ensuing possession. Then, Cohen Redman sacked Hudson. Then, Kyle Nichols picked off Hudson at the Marist Catholic 37-yard line.
Three plays later, Joe Janney broke off a 25-yard touchdown run to put the Hornets up 42-20 with 3:44 on the clock.
Despite taking what looked like a knockout blow, the Spartans got right back up, with Hudson finding Guerrero for a 9-yard touchdown 1:04 later on the fourth play of a 71-yard drive. Hudson then threw to Erlenbush for the 2-point conversion, which cut Henley’s lead to 42-28 with 2:40 remaining.
It seemed like things were starting to take a turn for the extraordinary when Marist Catholic recovered an onside kick. But it was none other than Joe Janney who snuffed out the Spartans’ hopes for good, intercepting his second pass of the night at the Henley 29-yard line on the very next play.
Six plays and two first downs later, the Hornets took a knee to secure their first state championship in 41 years and become the only team in program history to go 13-0. Whitlock, who dressed for the game and participated in warmups, was put in for the final kneel down. Immediately after taking a knee, Joe Janney got up, handed Whitlock the ball and embraced him along with the other nine Henley players on the field.
Whitlock was also the first player to hold the state championship trophy.
In possibly the easiest decision the selectors will ever make, Joe Janney was named player of the game after completing 13-of-20 passes for 133 yards and one touchdown with one interception, rushing for 180 yards and four touchdowns on 19 carries, and recording three tackles, a pass breakup and two interceptions (including a pick six) on defense. Jason Kern, who started at running back in place of Whitlock, rushed for 50 yards on 14 carries with a 24-yard reception and tied Kyle Nichols for the team lead with seven tackles on defense. Chris Janney finished with six receptions for 56 yards and a touchdown while recording five tackles and two pass breakups on defense.
For Marist Catholic, Nick Hudson completed 22-of-41 passes for 330 yards and four touchdowns with four interceptions. Christian Guerrero had eight receptions for 173 yards and two touchdowns. James Harvey had 19 tackles, Aiden Hazen had 15 tackles and Brody Buzzard had 12 tackles.
The Hornets held the Spartans to 18 rushing yards and finished the season with 10 interceptions in back-to-back games against the No. 2 and No. 1 passing offenses in 4A.
Marist Catholic’s senior class–Harvey, Jackson, Hazen, Erlenbush, Brady Bidwell (who had four receptions for 61 yards and four tackles in the state title game), Ben Rohman and Bryan Valvidares–departs with three championship game losses. The Spartans also came up short in 2021 and 2020 (the 2020 4A first place game was not sponsored by the OSAA and is not listed in the association’s record books).
On the other side, winning the title should give plenty of closure to Henley’s senior class–Whitlock, Chris Janney, Bennett, Nichols, Redman, Jaime Pizano (who went 6-for-6 on PATs and averaged 40.6 yards per kickoff with one touchback in the state championship game), Wyatt Fussell, Anthony Faunce, Lane Frank, Michael Quintero, Braeden Morris, Justin Elbert, Emiliano Ortiz-Banderas, Luke Chase, Alex Chaves, Matt Iversen, Quinton Alter-Pena, Andrew Benjamin, Jason Barrett, Caleb Swanson-Utley and Thomas Bocchi–which lost to the eventual state champions in the quarterfinals of the 2022 and 2021 playoffs.
It’s also particularly meaningful to Stork; his wife’s grandfather, Lee Schroder, was the head coach of Henley’s 1982 state championship team, which previously held the school record with 12 wins.
“Really excited that him and I get to celebrate this together,” Stork said. “He’s been a great mentor for me.”
