Blue Jays hold off late charge to beat Alsea

CLASS 1A FOOTBALL – Abel Araya scores twice in Lutheran's 28-24 win

By Jack Greene

The Gresham Outlook, Oct 8, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009

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The last time Portland Lutheran strapped on football spikes and came away with a victory on the gridiron was back in 2001 just before the school discontinued the sport. But Saturday, on a windy afternoon before a hometown crowd, that all changed as they held off a late surge by Alsea for a 28-24 victory.

"We're brand new, our first year back, and the win gives the boys some confidence" Blue Jays’ coach Jeremy Nichols said. "We knew that Alsea was athletically speaking, more on our level. They only bring about 15 kids, same as us. We knew it would be a good matchup."

He couldn't have been more right. Lutheran held a 22-18 lead late into the fourth quarter, but the Wolverines were driving for the go-ahead score, moving to the Blue Jays’ 30-yard-line before hitting a 4th-and-1 roadblock.

Alsea gave the ball to sophomore running back Trevor Olsen, all 6-3, 212-pounds of him, but he was taken down forcibly at the line of scrimmage by Abel Araya, giving the ball back to Portland Lutheran with about eight minutes to play.

The Blue Jays took over and churned out what proved to be the game-winning drive. It was a series that took almost six minutes off the clock, ending with workhorse running back Shelby Grubb shaking off three tacklers before getting into the left corner of the end zone.

Portland Lutheran had what appeared to be an insurmountable lead at 28-18 with 1:59 left.

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