Oregon High School Football Week 4: Who's Up, Who's Down

Week 4 of the Oregon high school football season is in the books, and there were notable results around the state — none bigger than what took place at Douglas Memorial Coliseum, where two top-five teams in the High School On SI Oregon Top 25 Football State Rankings clashed in one of the games of the year.

So, who saw their fortunes rise as we hit the halfway mark in the regular season? And who will be looking to rebound as the second half of the season awaits?

Three Up

Nelson

There were still some question marks about the Hawks despite them winning the Mt. Hood Conference for the first time last season and reaching their first 6A semifinal.

Their overtime loss in Week 0 to Grants Pass in a game they led by 21 with six minutes remaining was a head-scratcher. But coming out of their bye week, they went into the Lions Den and went toe-to-toe with West Linn, absorbing every shot the Lions threw at them and coming away with a 36-35 victory when Kevin Cohen scored on a 2-yard run with 7 seconds left, followed by this gutty two-point conversion by senior QB Braylon Gaines.

Nelson leads West Linn 36-35 after @BraylonGaines_0 keeps it. Nelson wins. pic.twitter.com/BHE6mDjDzA
— Andrew Nemec (@AndrewNemec) September 26, 2026

“We had a hiccup in our Week 0 game, and we learned a lot about ourselves,” Nelson coach Aaron Hazel said. “The theme of the week was, you know, it was going to be a fight, like a 12-round heavyweight fight, and we were going to win with body blows. I don’t know that we necessarily wore them down, but we did enough to give ourselves the chance to win. And, you know, 5’s pretty dang good.”

Roseburg

The Indians are one of three remaining unbeaten 5A teams following a 33-14 victory at North Eugene — their first 4-0 start since 2021 that has them believing they could win their first league title since 2005. Junior Leto White had another big game for Roseburg, rushing for 198 yards and two touchdowns, while Nick Ruiz had two sacks among his team-high nine tackles.

Harrisburg

With senior Chase Herrera serving as a one-man wrecking ball, the Eagles continued their successful rise from the 2A ranks — where they made their first playoff appearance in 2018 a year ago — to 3A this fall with a 33-20 victory over Scio to improve to 4-0. Herrera was 7-of-12 passing for 98 yards and a touchdown, ran for 49 yards and three touchdowns, and had two touchdowns, including a game-clinching 66-yard pick-six in the fourth-quarter.

Three Down

Marist Catholic

The 2024 Class 4A state champions opened the season with a 35-0 rout of Stayton but have since dropped three in a row, the latest a heartbreaking 37-34 overtime home loss to Sweet Home.

The Spartans drove 75 yards in the final three minutes to tie the game at 31-31 on Brody Gilliam’s 39-yard touchdown pass to Gabe Dietmeyer, then took the lead in overtime on Tripp Murphy III’s 42-yard field goal. However, with Griffin Cheney bearing down on Huskies QB Kyle Zajic, the senior found Bradyn McClure in stride on the goal line for a 25-yard touchdown.

Bend

The Lava Bears were hoping they’d turned a corner with their young core coming of age this fall. Instead, they have been on the losing end of three 20-14 decisions during an 0-4 start — the latest of these 20-14 defeats coming Friday at Crook County to drop to 0-2 in Intermountain Conference play. Ira McKinnon’s 2-yard touchdown run with 9:26 left gave the Cowboys a 20-7 lead that Bend could not recover from.

The Lava Bears’ previous one-possession losses came to Springfield and Roseburg, who have a combined 7-1 record.

Weston-McEwen

The TigerScots were 2A finalists in 2022 and 2023 and have made the playoffs five straight years, but they fell to 0-4 with a 26-8 loss to Grant Union to close out the nonleague portion of their schedule. They still have to play Heppner, the No. 1-ranked team in 2A, in Blue Mountain League play in three weeks, although they will have a chance to avenge their loss to the Prospectors when they meet in a BML matchup Oct. 23.

Who rises and falls next? High School On SI will return each week with Three Up, Three Down from around the Oregon high school football scene.

Add us as a preferred source on Google