Sunset Apollos on Columbia Cup title: ‘not a state championship,’ but thankful for chance ‘to end our season on a positive note’
It was a couple of days after Sunset’s 34-21 victory over South Medford in the OSAA Columbia Cup championship game when Apollos coach Damien Merrick posed this scenario to one of his assistants.
Suppose that instead of losing back-to-back five-point games to Mountainside and Jesuit in Weeks 6 and 7 of the season, the Apollos had won those games and been Metro League champions.
They likely would have been a top-16 seed (but not top-8), meaning they would have been elevated to a top-8 seed to get a first-round home game in the Class 6A state playoffs — as Metro champion Jesuit was this season.
A first-round win over Lake Oswego would have meant a trip to West Linn in the quarterfinals — “and then we get our asses handed to us,” Merrick said.
Would being 8-3 and a quarterfinalist in the state playoffs have been a better feeling than what they were experiencing now as Columbia Cup champions? A worse feeling? The same?
Neither he nor his assistant knew the answer to that question. Frankly, none of them cared. What they knew was they had taken home a trophy as the champion of the second edition of the OSAA’s tournament for teams ranked Nos. 17-32 in Class 6A.
“I’m definitely a realist,” Merrick said. “It’s not a state championship. I’m not delusional about that. I’d love to be a top-seven team, to take a shot at West Linn or Central Catholic and let the chips fall where they may.
“But if not, the kids had a chance to compete on a more level playing field. The kids got to be together, playing football. They bought in. The community bought in. We got to be together for Thanksgiving practice, something that hadn’t been done at Sunset since 1976. They played their asses off in this tournament and had fun doing it. It was a terrific experience.”
Why Merrick referenced being a “top-seven” team comes from the research he has conducted as a member of the OSAA’s Football Ad Hoc Committee, which found that since the OSAA began bracketing the 6A playoffs using rankings rather than allotting berths strictly by conference, 90% of the semifinalists have come from the top seven seeds.
Only Canby (No. 12 in 2013), West Salem (No. 11 in 2014), Tigard (No. 14 in 2016), Barlow (No. 9 in 2019) and Jesuit (No. 9 in 2021) reached the semifinals — and all five lost in that round.
So, when the Apollos lost 26-21 at Jesuit to fall to 3-4 and realistically end their chances of making the top 16, Merrick challenged his seniors.
“The choice given to us was we have two games left or six,” said senior quarterback Drew Nees, who threw for 240 yards and three touchdowns and ran for two scores against South Medford. “It was such an easy choice for all of us. I didn’t want the season to end anytime soon, and I made sure everyone else felt the same way.”
The Apollos blanked Metro League rivals Aloha and Westview to finish the regular season, and after a first-round Cup win over Sandy, they avenged their loss to Mountainside in the quarterfinals.
They followed with wins over Barlow and South Medford to keep the Columbia Cup within the league — Westview won the inaugural title last fall.
“It was fun to have our season extend all the way into Thanksgiving break,” said senior Blake Hurley, who caught two touchdown passes and had an interception in the Cup final.
“I enjoyed practicing with my teammates and coaches for longer than I have in the past. In the beginning of the season, we lost a few close games, but the Columbia Cup allowed for us to end our season on a positive note and end on a win.”
Nees added that if the playoff format had been the same as pre-2022 — with the Apollos facing a first-round game at Sheldon, with a potential second-round game at Lakeridge and a quarterfinal against eventual champion Central Catholic — “I think we would have came with the same mindset into the first game.
“I truly believe we are a better team than a lot of the teams in the ‘real’ playoffs,” he continued. “Our commitment to each other and the coaches would have been the same no matter who we are playing.”
With this year’s postseason just completed, the question becomes whether changes to the 6A playoff format are forthcoming.
According to OSAA Executive Director Peter Weber, the feedback he’s received from the semifinalists and finalists of the first two editions of the Columbia Cup was positive, “but overall, we haven’t received much feedback.”
He added that with Merrick having taken part this year, “it will be good to get direct input from a coach and team that made its way through the bracket this year. The Football Ad Hoc group may have suggestions or ideas for the Columbia Cup going forward, and we would share those with the Executive Board as part of any other recommendations from the committee.”
Merrick said his preference is to create an Open Division similar to what Arizona implemented several years ago, where a ranking system determines the top 8 or 12 teams in Class 6A and 5A for a “best-of-the-best” tournament, with the remaining 6A and 5A playoff teams in a 16-team bracket.
One thing he knows is that the status quo ante will not be on the menu.
“There were a lot of different opinions (in 2022) about what change would look like,” Merrick said. “But nobody wanted to stay status quo. I’m happy that something different is happening.”
Nees and the 17 seniors on the Apollos roster would agree with that sentiment.
“Like I said, I think we are a better team than some of the teams in the top 16,” Nees said. “But what matters to us is that we got an extra four weeks to keep playing the sport we love with the people we love, and to get to spend Thanksgiving day with them was a memorable day.
“No matter what bracket we are in, I will have these memories for a lifetime. And I’m sure most of the team will as well.”
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Earlier:
Top stars, best performances from championship games
Complete coverage from the 2023 postseason
Photos by Leon Neuschwander
