MaxPreps Oregon Team of the Week: Sherwood football

To call Sherwood (Ore.) High School's 68-19 win over Milwaukie Academy of the Arts a team victory would be a vast understatement.

No less than 17 Sherwood athletes carried the ball in the resounding win, which featured 243 yards rushing and four touchdowns by senior running back Keegan Lawrence, who is the son of head coach Greg Lawrence.

For their team play and resounding win, Sherwood has been selected as the MaxPreps Oregon Team of the Week to start the season, presented by the Oregon National Guard.

After holding a 28-13 lead in the first quarter, the visiting Bowmen, No. 2 in the state according the The Freeman rankings, scored 30 straight points over the next two quarters to win going away.



"We fumbled the ball first and went down 6-0 off the bat," said Greg Lawrence. "We settled down and put things together. We established the running game like we usually do and even threw the ball a little bit, which doesn’t happen often for us."

Senior quarterback Kevin Larkin completed 6 of 10 passes for 102 yards and besides Lawrence, no Sherwood player carried more than six times. Jake Reimer and Mickey Schaefer also rushed for touchdowns for the winners.

For Greg Lawrence, it has been a joy to watch his son develop over the years.

"(Keegan's) got really good speed and reads his blocks very well. He’s got great vision," Greg Lawrence said. "In the offseason he dedicated himself in the weight room and doing the extra things. He’s only 185 pounds and can squat 430. We just try to get him in the open field, plus our guys did a great job blocking for him.

"Sometimes it’s a little hard, but I have to treat him just like he’s any other player. When I put on my dad hat it’s extremely fun to watch him play."

Seven different players carried the ball once for the winners, who finished 13-0 last season and won the state's 5A division, outscoring opponents 689-221.



Greg Lawrence's team also won the state 5A title in 2010, also at 13-0, and 103 games over the last nine seasons, the most in the state.

"We have a very strong youth program," said Greg Lawrence. "We have a ton of kids playing youth football from third grade on running our offense. By the time they get to high school it's just fine-tuning technique."

On Friday, Sherwood piled up 716 yards, 614 on the ground on 45 carries (13.6 per carry). Milwaukie Academy of the Arts was one of the feel-good stories of 2012 with a 7-3 record after back-to-back one-win seasons.

Defensively on Friday, Brian Lee, Jordan Kurahara and Martin Layna had four tackles each, Jacob Church, Nick Dickson and Austin Goldstein contributed sacks and Zak Taylor added an interception.

Last season, Sherwood rushed for a remarkable 6,188 yards (476 per game), going for at least 389 yards in six games.

Sherwood continues its season Friday at Aaron Contreras Stadium against West Albany (1-0), a 17-7 opening-game winner over Marist.



Do you know a team that deserves consideration for Oregon Team of the Week? Email us with your nominations at ORteamoftheweek@maxpreps.com.