Jesuit High School - Speculum Yearbook (Portland, OR)

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It ls Life - Couch John Allen The first half of the 1968 football campaign was easy for the team but difficult for the coaching staff. Except for one scare from an old adversary, Reynolds, and another from an upstart in the Wilco ranks, Central, the team swept through the Wilco League with relative ease. One and one-half minutes after the opening kickoff of the season against The Dalles Indians, Jesuit's Mike Wilkins carried the pigskin 46 yards for a touchdown. From here the Crusad- ers went on to stomp the Indians 45-0 in the most impressive scoring game of the season. In the second season game the Jesuit men met Centra1-Mon- mouth on Cronin field. Central scored the only touchdown all season against John Allen's first string defense. The 13-6 vic- tory over Central reminded some over-confident Jesuit hearts that Jesuit teams were still human. The Crusaders met Sandy on their own Cronin field. After Jesuit made six touchdowns in the first half the only questions concerned Sandy's chances of scoring and Jesuit's chances of punting. Sandy did score in the second half and played a real good game against John Allen's reserves, scoring three times. Following five days of spirit-building color days, costume days, and team challenges in open practices, students overflowed the bleachers at Reynolds to see the Jesuit Crusaders survive rain and mud for a 7-0 decision over the Lancers and undisputed supremacy in the Wilco League. Allen's shock troops, hitting lighter and less-disciplined opposi- tion with severity, often won psychological victories within the first several minutes. The green machine steam-pressed Wy- 'East, Silverton, Molalla, and Canby. JIM BERGMAN l63l and Phil Hass l30l combine efforts to nail a Reynold s Lancer in a muddy 7 0 victory 93

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Nine Wins Start o New Brand of Football Jesuit High entered the second half of their season, the state playoffs, as the best A-1 team in the state. Not only were they one of the only two repeaters in the playoffs, but they were sporting the longest undefeated string in the A-1 ranks with 21 games under their belt. Before their 100-day drive would end, that figure would stand at 24 undefeated, 12 straight wins, and two state championships. John Al1en's stalwarts were coming into the state champion- ships well prepared. They had been waiting for this berth ever since the 14-14 tie with Grants Pass in the 1967 champion- ship game. Strengthened by such All-State picks as Dan Christianson and Joe McDonnell, Jesuit was determined to be the best team in the state. With the guidance of the coaches and the backing of the students, the Crusaders would pull through the victors. One week after a league title-clinching 47-14 victory over Canby, the rumbling Green Machine faced the Pendleton Buckaroos, victors in the Intermountain circuit. There was a break in November weather, and about 500 fans watched the Crusaders outrush, outpass, and outplay the Bucks in a 14-7 victory. Superior discipline and line-play were the difference in the win. A soggy Cronin Field kept much of the play be- tween the two thirty-yard lines, but the potent ball-control offense of the Crusaders kept the ball on the ground much of the time in scoring in the middle periods. Eating away at the clock, Jesuit scored on drives of 48 and 58 yards, the first capped by a three-yard dive over center by Christianson and the second on a 47-yard scramble by Mike Wilkins. John Tuhy's defensive line, averaging 225 pounds from end to end, bottled up a wide-open Buck offense. J esuit's semi-final adversary was the Albany Bulldogs. The big front four came to the rescue once again on offense and de- fense by stopping the Bulldogs at every turn in the 20-0 win. Keeping to the ground. Jesuit threatened often, completing just one pass, a 47-yard scoring strike from quarterback Pat Leary to sure-handed Leo Bauer. Meanwhile the defense throttled Albany's attack. The Bulldogs could only penetrate Jesuit territory once, and that belated drive stopped on a Pat Keene interception. Dan Christianson led the scoring with two touchdowns, and Joe McDonnell added the extra points. Christianson hit pay- dirt in the first quarter on a 45-yard romp and again in the second quarter, scooting in from seven yards out. Two impressive wins thus set the stage for an even more re- sounding victory in the finals which was to come the follow- ing Saturday as the climax to the season. JOE McDONNELL l64l pulls down a frenzied Pendleton Buckaroo as Mike McMenniman t78l and Jim Bergman l63l offer assistance. SETBACK Mike Wilkins follows Joe lVlc- Donnell's block through the Albany line.