Milwaukie ends Hood River Valley’s football win streak, 28-25

HOOD RIVER — The lights went out before the party was over on Oct. 10 at Milwaukie High School, where the host Mustangs came from behind in the closing minutes to hand Hood River Valley (HRV) its first football loss this season, 28-25.

The Special District 1 game between two unbeaten teams started more than an hour late after lightning was witnessed from the stadium. Then, with 7:05 remaining, and HRV clinging to a 25-21 lead, half the stadium lights — on a timer — shut off. The outage and subsequent 17-minute delay came as Milwaukie (5-0) was mounting what proved to be its game-winning drive.

After the lights came back on, quarterback Jayden Locke continued to orchestrate the drive for Coach Jonathan Simpson. Locke, JD Harper and Blake Wheat, key cogs in Milwaukie’s unbeaten start this season — and in the win over HRV — played football as freshmen for Oregon City High. Two other starters played at nearby Rex Putnam in 2024.

Locke, a poised 6-foot-4 sophomore, capped the game’s scoring with 3:23 remaining on a 13-yard TD pass to Jay Brandon. The drive covered 87 yards and took 16 plays. Locke threw three touchdowns during the game, completing 22 of 27 passes for 281 yards.

After the post-8 p.m. lighting delay, Milwaukie struck first — and quickly. It took 13 seconds for Harper to return the opening kickoff 89 yards for a touchdown. Hood River (5-1) answered with a five-play scoring drive of its own, set up by Talon-Quinn Britt’s 62-yard kickoff return. Bam Layna, who finished with 131 rushing yards in the game, scored for the Eagles on a third-and-goal play from the seven.

Harper’s 44-yard return on the ensuing kickoff gave Milwaukie its own good field position, and it took Locke seven plays to engineer the go-ahead score. He connected with Wheat from four yards out.

Hood River, which was hurt by three interceptions, had a pass picked off late in the first half which set up another Milwaukie score. On the next play after the pick, Locke connected with Joey Brock on a 39-yard scoring strike.

Hood River pulled within 18-12 less than seven minutes before halftime on a Bodie Stuben-to-Britt 63-yard pass play, which the senior receiver hauled in at the Mustang 35, broke a tackle and won a footrace to the end zone. Stuben would finish 7-for-19 passing for 136 yards.

Hood River dominated the third period. Trailing 21-12, quarterback Stuben and senior receiver Cooper Wells connected on a 31-yard scoring strike on the Eagles’ opening possession after halftime. Nick Tuttle intercepted a Locke pass on the next play from scrimmage, and eight plays later, Layna rambled up the middle from 22 yards away for the go-ahead score. JR Mendez added the point-after kick and HRV’s unbeaten record looked somewhat sure with Coach Caleb Sperry’s team leading, 25-21.

A short time later, things looked even better for the Eagles when a shanked punt gave HRV the ball at the Mustang 37. But two penalties, including a 15-yarder for unsportsmanlike conduct, forced Hood River to punt on the second play of the final period. Milwaukie took possession at its own 13, setting up the winning drive — which took up 8:24 on the game clock plus the 17-minute light delay for half the field lights to regain brightness.