Mark Wiepert's game for the ages powers Wilsonville over Mountain View for another 5A title

The senior quarterback accounts for an Oregon championship game-record eight touchdowns as Wildcats beat Cougars in 5A final for second year in a row

This year's championship game played out much differently from last year's, but the result is the same — Wilsonville defeats Mountain View for 5A crown. / Photo by Rene Ferran

HILLSBORO — For most of the season, Wilsonville coach Adam Guenther kept his senior quarterback, Mark Wiepert, in third gear.

Finally, a couple of weeks ago, Guenther removed the restrictor plates and allowed Wiepert to go full throttle.

And after a scintillating performance in an OSAA Class 5A state semifinal victory over Silverton, Wiepert took his game to an even higher level Friday night at Hillsboro Stadium to lift the Wildcats to a second consecutive state championship.

Wiepert finished with 477 all-purpose yards and accounted for an all-classifications state championship game record eight touchdowns as Wilsonville rolled to a 56-35 victory over Mountain View in a rematch of last year’s final.

Not too shabby for a baseball player — Wiepert is an all-state catcher who has committed to Oregon State.

“We knew what he’s capable of,” Guenther said, his eyes dancing. “I mean, there was no secret. I said in the preseason that if we wanted to, he could be a 3,000-yard passer and 1,500-yard rusher, but it’s like, do you want to put his body through that kind of anguish through 13 weeks?

“I mean, this is a violent game, and we didn’t want to risk getting him dinged up any more than we had to. It’s hard to keep the (2023 5A) defensive player of the year off the field. But in the last two games, he hasn’t come off the field, and you can see. He’s that kind of kid.”

Wiepert, for his part, remained humble after putting on one of the most prolific performances in a state final.

“Honestly, I’m just excited for this team,” said Wiepert, who ran for a season-high 169 yards and five touchdowns on 18 carries and was 17 of 26 for 271 yards and three scores through the air. 

“You put in so much work. Football is really a unique game because we’ve got a lot of respect for that team over there, too. And your body goes through so much, so it makes it all that much sweeter. So, I’m super thankful.”

While this year’s title game matched last year’s finalists, it could hardly have played out differently.

A year ago, the Cougars led 20-7 late in the third quarter and 23-14 in the fourth before the Wildcats rallied for a 29-23 victory.

This time, it was Wilsonville that got off to a fast start, leading 28-7 just 30 seconds into the second quarter and 35-21 at halftime before bursting out of the locker room in the third quarter with three touchdowns in a three-minute stretch to trigger a running clock.

“Last year was a bit more of a heart attack-type game,” said senior Nick Crowley, who caught two of Wiepert’s touchdowns among his five catches for 134 yards. “This year, we just took care of business and did what we should have done.”

“We just came out firing,” Wiepert added. “Everything was kind of clicking. Our offense just became unstoppable. It was really cool.”

The Wildcats (11-2) converted Crowley’s interception on the second play of the second half into a 1-yard scoring run by Wiepert. After a three-and-out, Wiepert returned a punt 37 yards to set up a 24-yard touchdown pass to Crowley.

It was Weipert’s 51st touchdown pass of the season, moving him to fifth on the state’s all-time single-season list — and third among Wilsonville signal-callers behind Nathan Overholt (59 in 2018) and Kallen Gutridge (57 last year).

Carter Christiansen forced a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, and after Oliver Latta recovered for the Wildcats at the Cougars 22, Wilsonville needed two plays before Wiepert found a seam and rumbled untouched 10 yards for the state final record-breaking touchdown.

“He’s just a crazy athlete,” Crowley said of Wiepert, who was his receiving partner a year ago when Gutridge directed the Wildcats offense. “And he’s so poised. You know, whenever he has fear and anxiety, he just gives it to God.”

Cougars coach Brian Crum could only marvel at what he saw.

“He’s a kid that probably should be playing Division I football,” Crum said. “I mean, he is on another level. Just the size and the athletic ability, and obviously he is an incredibly intelligent kid to be able to make the plays he does and to be able to run the offense. So, it really makes you have to play solid team defense, but when he’s that athletic, he’s just a difference-maker.”

For the second year in a row, the Cougars (12-1) arrived at Hillsboro Stadium undefeated, although this time after having to replace 18 of 22 starters from last year’s runner-up team. 

Crum thought when his team answered Wiepert’s 46-yard touchdown run late in the second quarter with a quick score of its own that they’d built some momentum.

“We haven’t played a team yet this year that’s that fast and that physical, and it took us a little while to settle in,” Crum said. “But we end up throwing that pick, and then they score, and that was kind of the ballgame.

“But to get to this point and to battle to where we were, to run league and to win three playoff games, to grow and find out who we were with a whole bunch of new guys, there’s just a lot of things we can say about this group where not a lot of people really thought that that’s who we were going to be.”

The Wildcats always believed they’d be back at Hillsboro Stadium — even after getting humbled by Lakeridge in a nonleague test and falling to Silverton in Special District 2 play dropped them to the No. 5 seed in the bracket.

They won at Churchill in the quarterfinals and avenged their loss to the Foxes in last week’s semifinals before putting an exclamation point on the season with back-to-back championships.

“Whenever you make a deep run into the playoffs, you gotta get a little lucky, you gotta stay healthy, and you gotta be clicking at the right time,” Guenther said. “We were very lucky along the way, but our guys just came out and made an impression. 

“You get one opportunity to make a first impression, and that’s what we said. We wanted to jump on them from the start and just go, and they wholeheartedly took the challenge.”

Wilsonville 56, Mountain View 35

Wilsonville – 21 - 14 - 21 - 0 — 56

Mountain View – 7 - 14 -  0 - 14 — 35

First quarter

W — Mark Wiepert 4 run (Evan Hoobler kick), 8:48

W — Keona Tam 39 pass from Wiepert (Hoobler kick), 5:04

MV — Jack Foley 91 kickoff return (Krew Harrison kick), 4:50

W — Wiepert 9 run (Hoobler kick), 1:55

Second quarter

W — Nick Crowley 45 pass from Wiepert (Hoobler kick), 11:27

MV — Jordan Best 59 pass from Mason Chambers (Harrison kick), 8:55

W — Wiepert 46 run (Hoobler kick), 0:43

MV — Brady Kennedy 15 pass from Chambers (Harrison kick), 0:14

Third quarter

W — Wiepert 1 run (Hoobler kick), 9:25

W — Crowley 24 pass from Wiepert (Hoobler kick), 6:55

W — Wiepert 10 run (Hoobler kick), 6:23

Fourth quarter

MV — Chambers 8 pass from Ryder Carpenter (Harrison kick), 11:48

MV — Kennedy 8 pass from Chambers (Harrison kick), 4:31

STATISTICS

Rushing—Wil: Wiepert 18-169, Roman Kealoha 10-43. Total 35-207. MV: Carpenter 8-34, Angel Valenzuela 7-22. Total 19-56.

Passing—Wil: Wiepert 17-26-0-271, Tervor Glos 0-1-0-0. MV: Chambers 13-24-1-168, Carpenter 1-1-0-8.

Receiving—Wil: Kealoha 7-63, Crowley 5-134. MV: Best 5-109, Kennedy 3-23.

Defense—Wil: Wiepert 6 tackles; Riddick Molatore 6 tackles; Carter Christiansen 4 tackles, forced fumble; Crowley 3 tackles, interception; Lincoln Mason 2 sacks. MV: Carson Bottemiller 9 tackles; Braven Peiler 9 tackles; Valenzuela 6 tackles, 2 for loss, sack, forced fumble; Gabe Pinkerton 6 tackles, 2 pass breakups; Garren White 6 tackles.