HS Football: West Linn's dominance of Washington schools continues with win at Sumner

9/19/2025

West Linn 31, Sumner 24

(Sumner, WA) West Linn has the 360, 253 and all other area codes numbers in Washington State. West Linn south of Portland has traveled to Washington State for the past 4 straight years and have taken on the best of the 4A and we know that because they have all won the state title. In 2022, took on Lake Stevens and beat the Vikings 45-6. Lake Stevens would beat Kennedy Catholic for the 4A state Championship in 2022. By the way, West Linn would go on to win the Oregon 6A State Championship.

In 2023, in the second half of the home an home series saw West Linn beat Lake Stevens again 49-30. Lake Stevens would repeat as 4A Champs knocking off Graham-Kapowsin. West Linn would get back to the 6A title game but fell short to take 2nd.

The Lions hosted the Sumner Spartans last September and the Spartans led that game until late when the Lions pulled off a 34-27 win. Sumner went on to beat Camas in a thrilling 4A contest last December to be State Champs. West Linn won the 6A Championship last year.

Bad news/good news for the Spartans and Lions. Sumner lost a game they led 21-10 in the 1st half as West Linn came to outscore the Spartans 21-3 for the rest of the game. If this trend continues it’s good news for Sumner as they will defend their state 4A title but for the Lions it looks like they will get 2nd losing the Title game.

This is a fun exercise for sure as many teams are going to have their own say in the end, including both of these teams.

West Linn coach Jon Eagle is the former Camas head coach and won 2 state titles with the Papermakers. After a trip to the college level for a few years he returned to the High School level at West Linn. He has 3 straight Championship appearances and hope to get his 4th trip to the last game of the season in what is going to be his last season as a Head Coach. Eagle announced he is calling it a career after this season.

We had a chance to talk with Coach Eagle after the game and you can see his interview below.

ESN talks with Coach Jon Eagle

The Game

Let’s get into the game that was a bruising battle in the trenches to airing it out all over the field. After forcing West Linn to punt on their first possession, Sumner got the ball and unleashed their ground and pound attack. Lance McGee is a bruising runner who ran the ball 35 times in this game. Sumner ran the ball 7 straight times with McGee plowing in from the 2 yard line. Juan Jacobo-Guzman knocked through the PAT for 7-0 lead with 7:27 to go in the 1st.

West Linn would get on the board in their next possession when Zander Morris drilled a 38 yard field goal. The drive was set up with a big 44-yard catch and run b y running back Cohen Bissell who wheeled out of the backfield and caught the ball from Sloan Baker and hit the edge getting 44 yards. The Spartan defense stiffened and held the Lions to the field goal making it 7-3.

Sumner would answer and for the 1st time of the night QB Nate Donavan dropped back to pass. McGee set up the Spartans with a 58 yard run to the Lions 19 Donavan dropped back and found Braylen Pope down the left side of the field and dropped in a perfect pass that Pope grabbed and got his feet down for the score and the Spartans went up 14-3.

West Linn would return the serve, so to speak, and would work the ball down the field with a balanced run/pass attack, although several of those runs were from Baker scrambling out of trouble and gaining yardage. On the 10th play of the drive Shane Peters burst up the middle then pivoted to the outside and got into the end zone to cut the lead to 14-10.

Sumner continued to pound the ball led by Lance McGee and their 3rd possession was no different. The Spartans would run the ball 8 times in a 10 play drive ands cap it off with McGee’s 2nd touchdown of the game, a 1-yard blast into the endzone and Sumner went up 21-10.

Lions begin to roar back

Sumner was driving again on their 4th possession looking to push their lead to 28-10 when Josiah Molden picked off a pass giving the ball back to West Linn one more time before the half. Baker made the Spartans pay for the mistake when he hit his tight end streaking down the left side with a perfect pass for a 28 yard touchdown strike pulling West Linn back to a one score game trailing 21-17 at the half.

West Linn Defense locks down

The Lions made some defensive adjustments and although McGee continued to stack up big yardage and the Spartan offense with adding another 134 yards to his 139 1st half total but Sumner moved virtually exclusively through McGee they never gave up the big scoring play. The ability to go man coverage helped the Lions focus on McGee from breaking free. The Spartan passing attack was a no-show in the 2nd half with 0 completions and a 2nd interception.

This gave the Lions some space to work their offense behind the passing game led by Sloan Baker. They needed to get their running game going after just 30 yards in the 1st half. The Lions were able to get some space for their backs and they continued to attack through the air.

West Linn’s 2nd possession saw the Lions take their 1st lead in the game. They traveled 78 yards in 7 plays when Baker found Molden in the corner of the endzone. The PAT was good and the Lions led 24-21.

Spartans tie it, but the Lions were not going to be denied

After an interception Sumner gave the ball back to West Linn who was shut down and had to punt. The Spartans would get the ball back on their own 34. They again relied on the running game and moved it back into Lions territory but faced a 4th and long from the 23 and sent out Jacobo-Guzman to attempt a 40-yard field goal. Jacobo-Guzman got a great placement from holder Aaron Black ands he hit a straight and high ball that sailed through to tie the game at 24 with 5:58 to play in the game.

On the ensuing kick-off, maybe the play of the game when Shane Peters returned the kick-off 56 yards to the Spartan 34. 5 plays later Peters blasted in from the 2 yard line and the Lions re-took the lead with the extra point, 31-24.

Sumner had one last real chance to try to tie it up but West Linn held firm and finished the job to win it 31-24.

Our Sumner Holiday Inn Express MVP of the game was tough as it came down to Shane Peters, Sloan Baker and Josiah Molden. We went with Molden for his interception and touchdown along with the blanket defense he led the DB’s for the Lions. Had Sumner pulled it off no question Lance McGee was the leader with 273 yards rushing and 2 touchdowns.

Sumner drops to 1-2 and will open SPSL league play next Friday when they host South Kitsap. West Linn improves to 3-0 and will host Camas in another non-league match-up next Friday. It will be the first time former Camas coach Jon Eagle will face the Papermakers in Eagle’s final season at West Linn.

Stats

West Linn
Total Offense: 350
Passing: Baker 16/29 245 2 td, 1 int
Receiving: Thaut 3/38 1 td, Molden 2/35 1 td, Bissell 2/56, Ritchie 3/53, Kenneybrew 3/30, Donnerberg 2/33, Marquis 1/0
Rushing: Bissell 12/68, Peters 7/15 2 td, Baker 8/22
Kicking: Morris PAT 4/4, FG 38

Sumner
Total Offense: 375
Passing: Donavan 5/15 60 1 td, 2 int
Receiving: Pope 1/19 1 td, Martemianov 3/40, Cypher 1/1
Rushing: McGee 35/273 2 td, Nabors 6/38, Cypher 1/2, Donavan 3/2
Kicking: Jacobo-Guzman PAT 3/3, FG 40