Fate chooses Jesuit

Lincoln gathers to honor season

By Steve Brandon

The Portland Tribune, Dec 13, 2005, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Coach Chad Carlson greeted his players and their families Sunday with a bit of brave humor.

“Welcome to the 2005 Lincoln High School football therapy session,” Carlson said.

And what a session it was.

A few tears flowed at Montgomery Park, but they weren’t shed over Lincoln’s hard-to-swallow 14-10 loss to Jesuit in the state championship game the day before.

The banquet room was filled with emotion because it was time to say goodbye to one of the most successful teams and seasons in PIL history.

Twenty-four hours earlier, thousands of red-clad fans were chanting “you made history” to the Cardinals after the tense title game at Autzen Stadium.

Lincoln had gone 13-0 to reach the state finals for the first time, after making the semifinals for the first time since 1954.

In the last two years, the Cardinals have lost only two games Ñboth to state champions; they lost to Sprague in the 2004 quarterfinals and to Jesuit on Saturday.

The 2005 Cards came within a couple of minutes of upsetting the perennial-power private school Ñand there was little doubt at Sunday’s celebration that, as sometimes happens in sports, the better team did not win the game.

“This is without a doubt the best team in the state,” Carlson said, looking at his players. “We all know that, even Jesuit.”

The Cardinals certainly had better scoring chances Saturday than Jesuit. They just made too many untimely mistakes and had too many penalties, tough breaks and noncalls go against them.

“Everyone thought it would end in a different way, but it didn’t,” Lincoln A-back John Sheffield said. “But that doesn’t change what we did. We did something special.”

Sheffield and the other team captains, center Vini Colasurdo and linebackers Paul Partlow and Michael Johnson, all seniors, were among Lincoln’s most special players and leaders, along with the sensational junior quarterback, Connor Kavanaugh.

Johnson transferred from Jesuit to Lincoln two years ago.

“When he got here, he told me, ‘Coach, we’re going to beat Jesuit in the state championship game,’ ” Carlson recalled. “I’m like, ‘Yeah, right.’ He said, ‘Coach, I’m serious.’

“What can I say? He was our emotional leader. He’s a true Lincoln Cardinal.”

Johnson led all tacklers Saturday with 12 stops.

“You played the best game of your life against your former team,” Carlson told him Sunday at Montgomery Park. “In my mind, you accomplished what you wanted to Ñyou beat Jesuit. I’ll never forget you.”

Moments later, Johnson stepped to the podium and told the gathering, “Coming to Lincoln and playing with all you guys was the best decision I’ve made in my life. I couldn’t ask for more, and it ended perfectly for me.”

In Johnson, Partlow and twins Kenji and Koby Kurosaki, “we had the best linebacking corps I’ve seen in the state since I started coaching,” Carlson said. “And we had the best defense in the state.”

Holding the line

No one had been able to stay with Jesuit since the first game of the season. The Crusaders had humbled the state’s No. 1-ranked team, Tualatin, 42-0, the week before in a game that wasn’t that close and was over by halftime. They had been overpowering everyone with their running game and an offensive line that averaged 250 pounds. But Lincoln’s defense held them to 4.2 yards per carry, with a long gain of 14 yards. Jesuit managed only two pass plays and four runs longer than 10 yards. Jesuit also was a paltry 5-of-12 passing for 69 yards, and most of the incompletions were well off target.

“Jesuit is a heck of a team, and they earned it, but Kavanaugh and our defense had a heck of a game,” Lincoln lineman Kevin Reynolds said.

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