The Tigard football team won a combined four games the last two years.
Through five games this year, Tigard is 3-2. The Tigers won their first three games to open the year before dropping a heartbreaker on the road to Milwaukie. While the team is in a good spot, the schedule doesn’t ease up, as the Tigers will play their Three Rivers League schedule the rest of the way.
Head Coach Will Whitley, who is in his first year as head coach of the program, is ready for the challenge.
“We’re feeling good,” said Whitley after the loss to Milwaukie. “There’s nothing to worry about right now. We’re going to bounce back. We’re off to a 3-1 start. I’m proud of the boys. We’re going to get ready for next week and the start of league play.”
Through four games, Tigard is averaging more than 41 points a game, having scored 40-plus three times already. Last year, the Tigers scored more than 40 points twice. They didn’t score 40 points in any games in either of the two previous seasons.
A big reason for the offensive outburst early into the season has been junior running back Taison Cepeda, who has eight touchdowns so far this year.
“Taison has been our workforce,” Whitley said. “He grinds day in and day out. When we put the ball in his hands, he does his part.”
In the loss to Milwaukie, Cepeda scored three touchdowns on the ground, and all coming while he was lined up under center. He opened the game with a touchdown to give Tigard an early lead. Milwaukie answered back to tie the game, and on the next drive, Cepeda took the snap and raced to his left, darted around a number of defenders and scored from around midfield.
Tigard jumped out to a 21-7 lead after one quarter against Milwaukie, and led 28-17 at the half. The Tigers couldn’t pull away as Milwaukie chipped away at the lead. After three quarters, Tigard led 28-24.
With the Tigers needing a score to slow down Milwaukie’s momentum and retake a two-score lead, they put the ball in Cepeda’s hands for an entire drive. On every play, he lined up under center and ran. The drive ended with another Cepeda touchdown, his third in the game, and a 35-24 lead with around 11 minutes left.
“It feels good to produce, but I’m more focused on being a team player and winning games,” Cepeda said.
Milwaukie answered with a touchdown drive and a two-point conversion to trail 35-32 with 6:41 left. Tigard had some issues moving the ball after that, partly thanks to penalties, which was a recurring issue in the game for the Tigers.
They punted back to Milwaukie, who got the ball back on its own 45-yard-line with 4:42 left and trailing by three. Milwaukie didn’t take long, however, connecting on a slant pass to end up going for 55 yards and a touchdown to give Milwaukie its first lead with 4:07 left.
Tigard put together a bit of a drive after that, setting up a fourth-and-four from the Milwaukie 25-yard line with about 2 minutes to go. Tigard was called for a false start, making the play a fourth-and-nine.
Tigard didn’t convert, but had all three timeouts remaining. The Tigers stopped three straight runs by Milwaukie to force a punt, giving them one last chance to win. The Tigers’ final drive started at their own 32 with 1:09 left in the game and no timeouts.
Quarterback Aris Dimick connected on a few nice throws to Arrelious Peterson, who was often able to make a catch near the sidelines and get out of bounds to stop the clock.
Ultimately, the drive stalled out shortly over midfield, giving the Tigers their first loss on the season. Still, Whitley thinks there is plenty his team can take from the game as they head into the back half of their season.
“We got to learn how to finish,” he said. “It’s just that simple. We’ve got to fix our mistakes. We beat ourselves tonight. We’ve got to tip our hat to Milwaukie. They played a good game. Their athletes make a few more big plays than ours.”
Dimick threw two touchdowns in the game, one on a slant to Jaxon Lee, who broke a tackle in the middle of the field and then out-ran a few more defenders for the long score. The senior quarterback’s other touchdown pass came on a floater in the end zone that junior receiver Caleb Watson leaped high for and pulled away from a defender.
Whitley said all three of them have been playing well this year. He also said he’s excited to get to the second half of the season when Tigard plays all its league rivals, especially now that the team knows what it feels like to lose.
Cepeda said that kind of talk has been one of the things that has stood out about Whitley.
“It’s been a big culture change with the new coaching staff, Cepeda said. “I feel like we’ve just got a lot more grit. It’s been amazing. I’ve been loving it so far. They’re a great group of coaches to learn from. They teach us more about how to be men than just football players.”
He added that he thinks the team will be ready to start league play after the loss.
“We’re coming off a rough one right now, but our greatest strength is perseverance,” Cepeda said. “I like our ability to bounce back after facing some adversity.”
