Clackamas Edges South Medford In 6A State Championship Game

Or maybe that should read games. Saturday’s title game was really 3 games in one, each unfolding differently, and not giving any indication of the twists to come, on the way to a 31-30 win for Clackamas on Jeff Nelson’s 37 yard field goal with 3 seconds left.

But then, given it was the first ever appearance for either school in the state football championship game, perhaps there was extra incentive to get the most of it.

The cold rainy weather at Reser seemed to affect undefeated Clackamas’ more built for basketball on turf than it did South Medford, but maybe it was the Panthers’ diversity instead. Either way, the Panthers looked the part of the team that had the upper hand throughout the first half, building a 24-14 halftime lead.

Further, it was South Medford that held a substantial edge in the passing game, as Robbie Patterson completed 12 of 18 passes, including 2 touchdown tosses to Jalen Owens and another to Jaylin Parnell, and 224 yards, compared to Mitchell Modjeski throwing for only 101 yards for Clackamas.

The first two touchdown passes also capped the two longest drives of the first half, yet both were took under 3 minutes to conduct.

Simply put, the results and the metrics didn’t align with the eye test to that point.