
Central Catholic football is the Week 14 winner Oregon Team of the Week, presented by the Oregon National Guard.
Photo by Larry Lawson
Week 14 Winner: Central Catholic Football
They huffed and they puffed, but after 60 years the
Central Catholic (Portland) Rams finally blew the championship door wide open.
Powered by 196 yards rushing and three touchdowns from
Ryan Nall,
the Rams won their first Oregon state championship since 1953 with a
38-28 6A title-game victory over Jesuit Saturday at Jeld-Wen Field.

Ryan Nall, Central Catholic
Photo by Larry Lawson
Central Catholic had been knocking at the door, according to
Oregonlive.com, losing seven times at the quarterfinals or deeper since 1999.
But
these Rams, led by a high-powered offense that scored 764 points (54.6
per game), finished 14-0 and won the ever-elusive championship in the
state’s largest division.
For their perseverance and historic
title, the Rams were the obvious choice as MaxPreps Oregon Team of the
Week, presented by the Oregon National Guard.
"It is very
humbling," said Central Catholic coach Steve Pyne. "It has been 60 years
since the last one, we have had lots of tries and put in a lot of work.
We have a lot of alumni who are very happy, proud coaches and the
players are very excited. We will enjoy this for a while and then it's
back to work."
The Rams piled up 320 yards on the ground, including 10 carries for 78 yards and a score from
Cameron Scarlett and five carries and 51 yards by
Aidan Wilder en route to the victory.
Defensively, Central Catholic intercepted three passes, two by
Aaron Washington and one by Nall.
"Physically,
(Nall) has the whole package," said Pyne. "The physical piece is
obvious because he is able to run the ball really well. He's such a good
leader for our team and he is a quiet leader."
"Ryan is able to
involve other players and gets the players on his team to play better.
He has an outstanding attitude all the time. In our championship game he
had a fumble and when he came off the field, he looked at me and said,
'Man, that kid made a great play on me.' Most players would have been
angry or upset, but Ryan respects his opponents and has fun playing the
game."
Opening with a 55-14 win over Grant and following up with a
wild 59-49 victory over Sheldon, indeed the Rams were off and running —
literally — en route to their landmark season. They scored at least 41
points in all but two games, broke 50 eight times, 60 five times, 70 two
times and topped out with an 83-49 semifinal win over Tigard when
Scarlett (15-356-5) and Nall (14-320-4) each surpassed the 300-yard
rushing mark.
The Rams piled up 678 yards rushing in that game (18.32 per carry) and finished with a season-high 780 yards overall.

Steve Pyne, Central Catholic head coach
Photo by Larry Lawson
Quarterback
Aidan Wilder was 6-for-11 for 102 yards and a touchdown in that game.
For
the season Nall and Scarlett were spectacular, each surpassing the
1,600-yard mark. Nall led the way with 1,684 yards and Scarlett with
1,640. Each, poetically, rushed for 22 touchdowns. Wilder also rushed
for 12 touchdowns.
Even though the Rams were primarily a running
team, Wilder was more than efficient, completing 131 of 204 passes for
2,148 yards with 27 touchdowns and just six interceptions. He spread the
ball around beautifully as four different receivers had 20 catches, led
by senior
Zach Davis (35 catches, 645 yards, 9 touchdowns) and Scarlett (33-674-7).
Nine different defenders had at least 40 tackles, led by junior
Matt Vanoudenhaegen's 73 and 65 from junior
Tyson Cooper.
Ronnie Rust led the team with seven sacks and Washington had 10 interceptions. No one else had more than two.
Kickers
George Kapellakis and
Emmett Dooney shared PAT duties, which was a major undertaking. Dooney made 54 of 58 and Kapellakis was 45-for-47.
This
was only the second time since 2004 under coach Pyne that the team had
amassed 10 wins. The other was in 2011 with a 10-3 campaign. During that
stretch, the team had won at least eight games nine of 10 seasons. But
14 was a major improvement.
"We had a really good group of kids
with lots of talent and they had great chemistry together," said Pyne.
"What we did differently — that stood out to me, that had to do with the
National Guard — was that during our first week of daily doubles we
took the whole team out of town and went and visited a National Guard
base for a week. This solidified our team chemistry because we were all
hanging out together, bonding, and making great memories."
Do you know a team that deserves
consideration for Oregon Team of the Week? Email us with your
nominations at ORteamoftheweek@maxpreps.com.